How to unlock Galaxy S20 when you forget the password or PIN (without resetting the phone)?

You can unlock Galaxy S20 in Samsung Find My Mobile if you forget the password or PIN for Galaxy S20, S20+, or S20 Ultra, or any other Samsung Galaxy phones.

This Galaxy S20 how-to guide explains the requirements for you to unlock Galaxy S20 without a password or PIN, steps to unlock Galaxy S20 if you forget the password or PIN using Samsung FGind My Mobile, and how to remotely lock and secure your phone with Samsung Find My Mobile services.

In most regions, you can unlock Samsung Galaxy phones if you forget the password or PIN using Samsung Find My Mobile service.  So, this guide applies to most Samsung Galaxy phones, including Galaxy S21, Galaxy S20, S10, Note 20, Note 10, S9, Note 9, S8, Note 8, and other popular Samsung Galaxy phones.

Can I reset the password (unlock Galaxy S20) on Google Find My Device (Android Device Manager) if I forget the password or PIN on Galaxy S20?

No, Google removed the remote unlock and password reset features from Android Device Manager (now, Find My Device) in 2016.

So, if you forget the password or PIN on Galaxy S20, Google Find My Device can only help you erase (reset) the phone, i.e., factory data reset (FDR), or lock up the phone.

Google Find My Device will never unlock Galaxy S20, or reset the password/PIN. It can lock the phone (if it is unlocked) remotely. Some users confuse the “lock” and “unlock” feature in Google Find My Device.

Please note, the factory data reset will erase all of your data and settings. This is only useful if your phone is lost or stolen. You can reset Galaxy S20 in the recovery mode as well.

If your Galaxy S20 is still in your hands and you only forget the password or PIN for the lock screen, then probably it is not necessary to reset the phone.

Currently, for Galaxy S20 and other Samsung Galaxy phones, only Samsung Find My Mobile can unlock Galaxy S20 without a password or PIN.

The requirements to unlock Galaxy S20 when you forget the password or PIN

If you need to unlock Galaxy S20 and you forget the password or PIN,  you need to meet the following requirements:

1. The phone is online.
2. You added your Samsung account to the phone.
3. You enabled  Find My Mobile on the phone. By default, it is enabled when you add your Samsung account.
4. You did NOT disable Remote unlock on the phone. It is enabled unless you manually disable it when you enable Find My Mobile.

When you add your Samsung account to the phone, by default, Find My Mobile  (and remote unlock) will be enabled automatically unless you manually disable them.

Anyway, if you never use a Samsung account, you can stop reading now. In this case, if you forget the password or PIN on Galaxy phones, you have to factory data reset the phone.

Steps to unlock Galaxy S20 when you forget the password or PIN

If you have a Samsung account, you can try the following steps to try to unlock Galaxy S20 and reset the password or PIN.

Step 1:  Access Samsung Find My Mobile page

You can access Samsung's Find My Mobile website (https://findmymobile.samsung.com/) from a PC, or a tablet or a mobile phone.

It is recommended to use the Chrome browser or Samsung's Internet to access it.

As shown in the screenshot below, you need to tap Sign in to proceed.

You need to sign in with your Samsung account, not a Google account (unless you linked them).

If you have multiple Samsung accounts, you must use the one that you used on the phone to be unlocked.

Step 2: Locate the phone you want to unlock

Once you log in on the Find My Mobile page, by default, the latest phone that added your Samsung account (or that was located by Find My Mobile recently) will be shown as shown in the screenshot below.

Samsung Find My Mobile will get location info (from GPS, mobile network and WiFi) and some other info of the phone (e.g., battery status, WiFi network status).

For example, Galaxy S20 Ultra is listed on the page. There are many functions and features in Samsung Find My Mobile.

The following two features are related to unlocking Galaxy S20 without a password or PIN and reset Galaxy S20 lock screen password/PIN.

1. The navigation menu to switch to other phones.
2. Unlock the current phone.

As shown above, after tapping the navigation menu (hamburger menu, makes as 1), you can find all of your devices with the Samsung account.

In this example, the Samsung account was added to eight devices.

You can switch to any of these devices if you need to unlock them.

Step 3: Unlock Galaxy S20 remotely without a password/PIN

In this example, we want to unlock Galaxy S20 Ultra because we assume we forget the password.

So, on the Galaxy S20 Ultra page shown above, tap Unlock (marked as 2) to unlock Galaxy S20.

As shown below, you now need to confirm that you want to unlock the phone.

There is a warning about remote unlocking Galaxy S20 with the Find My Mobile:

If you use this function, all of the screen lock information (Pattern, PIN, Password, and Biometrics) on your phone will be deleted.

So, essentially, the lock screen security will be reset.  Not only the PIN and password but also all your fingerprints and face data will be erased after unlocking Galaxy S20 in this way.

You need to sign in with your Samsung account again to proceed.

After a few seconds, the Galaxy S20 should be unlocked.

On the Samsung Find My Mobile page, as shown above, it should tell you the phone is unlocked.

Now, you can swipe to unlock Galaxy S20.

On the Galaxy S20 notification panel, you should find some notifications from Find My Mobile. The notification icon should also be shown in the status bar.

As shown in the screenshot below, it indicates that the phone is tracked by Samsung Find My Mobile and the screen lock was reset.

Step 4: Set up a new password or PIN on Galaxy S20

The  Galaxy S20 lock screen security on the phone is reset as Swipe to unlock. All facial recognition and fingerprints data are removed as well.

You should set up the lock screen security based on your needs.

If you set up a fingerprint for Samsung Pay, you need to re-register your fingerprint again.

Actually, in the notification panel, you should also get a notification like the one shown below.

How to enable Find My Mobile and Remote Unlock on Galaxy S20?

You need to add a Samsung account on Galaxy S20 first in Settings — Accounts and backup —Accounts — Add account.

After adding the Samsung account, you can enable the Fine My Mobile in Settings — Biometrics and security — Find My Mobile, as shown below.

You can use the switch to enable it directly.

By default, the Remote unlock will be enabled once you enable Find My Mobile.

You can also tap the text filed of Find My Mobile to customize some features.

As shown above, you can enable or disable:

• Remote unlock.
• Send the last location.

It is safe to turn off send the last location if you do not want to receive so many notifications.

It is recommended to enable remote unlock.

Why I cannot unlock Galaxy S20 (and any Android phones) with Google's Find My Device (Android device manager)?

As mentioned earlier, Google removed the feature in 2016 due to possible legal responsibilities.

So, you cannot unlock any Android phones with your Google account. You cannot reset the lock screen security with Google's Find My Device service.

As shown in the screenshot below, in the Find My Device page, you can:

• Locate the phone.
• Ring the phone (Play sound).
• Secure the phone. It can lock the phone remotely if it is unlocked (e.g., unlocked by smart lock, or you did not set up lock screen security). But it can NOT unlock the phone remotely. You can also display some messages on the lock screen if you forget the phone somewhere.
• Erase the phone (factory data reset).

If you forget the password or PIN, and you are not using Samsung account on the phone, the only option is to reset (factory data reset) the phone.

Factory data reset can be done locally by rebooting Galaxy S20 into the recovery mode.

You can also factory reset Galaxy S20 with Samsung Find My Mobile and Google Find My Device (Android Device Manager) if the phone is connected to the internet.

Please note, after factory data reset, you must use the Google account existed on the phone (before the FDR) to set up the device. You cannot use other Google accounts to set up the device.

Why I cannot use face recognition or fingerprint and Galaxy S20 demands PIN/password/pattern?

In some cases, PIN (or password or pattern) is required, for example

• After you reboot Galaxy S20. All your personal data including your fingerprint and facial data are encrypted with the PIN (password/pattern). So, you cannot unlock Galaxy S20 with face recognition or fingerprint before the PIN is used to access the facial features and fingerprints. This is due to how biometric data are saved (and secured) on the phone. For the same reason, if you set lock screen security as none or swipe, all facial feature and fingerprint data will be erased.
• When you want to change lock screen security settings. Because the PIN/password/pattern is considered more secure than biometrics, you will be asked to use them when you want to change security or privacy-related settings on the phone.
• Every 24 hours.  Samsung asks you to use the PIN (or password or pattern) at least once every 24 hours.  The 24-hour is purely artificial. Its intention is to let you remember your PIN/password/pattern. At the same time, it makes sure the phone is unlocked by a real person. Facial features and fingerprint may be spoofed.
• After the phone is locked (idle) for more than 6 hours.  Samsung thinks it should be a fresh session.

Anyway, it is clear that the PIN/password/pattern is the first tier for phone security. You have to use it often.

Do you have any questions on how to unlock Galaxy S20 when you forget the password or PIN? Can you use Samsung Find Mobile to unlock Galaxy phones without resorting to factory data reset?

If you have any questions on unlocking Galaxy S20  (any other Galaxy phones) when you forget the password or PIN, please let us know in the comment box below.

The community will help you get the answer.

If you have any questions on Galaxy S20, you may check other Galaxy S20 guides:

• Galaxy S20 new features guides.
• Galaxy S20 how-to guides.
• Galaxy S20 camera guides.
• Galaxy S20 accessories guides.
• Official Galaxy S20 user manual in your local language.

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