How to bypass forgotten PIN/Pattern on your Android device using recovery

Bypass forgotten PIN or Pattern on your Android device using a custom recovery like TWRP or CWM easily in a few steps now.

We often forget the PIN or Pattern set on our phone’s lock-screen. This happens most of the times when tend to change the phone’s lock-screen security every now and then. Forgetting the Pattern or PIN can leave your locked out and the only option you apparently have is to either unlock your phone using an email ID or just go ahead and factory reset your smartphone. Both of these options are not very much suitable at times. Not every time users are going to be lucky with an email ID and factory resetting the device simply means wiping off all your data and everything from your smartphone. The issue demands a simple solution which can keep your data safe and unlock your phone for you.

XDA forum user adithyan25 has come across such a solution. It’s very easy to tweak some files of your phone’s lock-screen security using a custom recovery and unlock your phone in the blink of an eye. All that without having your phone rooted, without factory resetting it and without going through any hard and fast rules. The only catch is that you need a working custom recovery like the TWRP recovery on your phone. We will have a look on what exactly unlocks the phone in case you forget your PIN or Password.

1. Download and install a TWRP recovery on your Android smartphone.
2. Now open TWRP on your phone. The methods for all smartphones vary. The most common methods to boot into TWRP are pressing Volume Up + Volume Down + Power Key or Volume Up + Home + Power Key combinations.
3. In TWRP recovery, tap Advanced > File Manager.
4. In File Manager, go to /data/system folder.
5. Now find the following files in the /system folder and select them and then delete them.
   1. password.key
   2. pattern.key
   3. locksettings.db
   4. locksettings.db-shm
   5. locksettings.db-wal
6. Now reboot your phone. Do not install SuperSU if it asks you for installation.
7. As your phone boots up, you will find that lockscreen has been wiped off.
8. That’s all.

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