Correct pin/swipe pattern not being recognized anymore, cant change lock type either

[Sataniael]

As the title says, my S22 started experiencing a problem with the locking feature after the One UI 6 update. On January 4th 2024 in the middle of the day I was unable to unlock my phone with my fingerprint. I kept getting something along the lines of "Fingerprint data has been corrupted, please use the pattern to unlock your device". Problem was that even the pattern wasnt working anymore and it kept telling me "wrong pattern". I did a force restart by holding down the power button and volume down button. Once it restarted it started working normally up to 3x when unlocking before the problem started happening again. Now after 2 days it doesnt work at all and i had to remove the locking type and change it to swipe since thats the only way i can unlock my phone at this point. If i try to change it to any other locking type it tells me "Lock type has already been changed. Please try using the new lock type". I have performed both "wipe cache partition" in recovery mode and factory resetting my device but neither has fixed my issue.

This is extremely inconvenient as my bank app requires me to have a lock on my phone to use it. I've tried clearing partition cache and that didnt help. I then did a factory reset and that didnt help either.

Is anyone else having this problem or should i consider RMA-ing my phone with my carrier, as the phone was bought in August 2023? This started happening at the exact time i got the option to update to One UI 6, i don't know how that could cause this major of an issue though.

[Dw3l1erNo890]

Coming in from 2025 with this same problem; 3 days ago I was unlucky enough to get hit with this issue, I was unlocking my phone using the pattern lock for the 72 hour requirement and immediately got the "Incorrect passcode" which I thought I inputted in wrong so I tried again (I've used this same code for over a year so usually it was muscle memory, and it was working just fine the weeks before), I was confused when I couldn't get in and started trying variations of my correct code thinking maybe I memorized it wrong suddenly (All the variations were wrong). Ultimately after trying the other variations (and non of them feeling right) and spending a long time recalling the pattern, I realized the first one (where it was pure muscle memory) I did was the correct one but no matter how many times I input it, it was always wrong and didn't recognize it (This was when I did some digging and found others having similar issues) and I kept having to wait 24 hours until I could try again. I force restarted the phone really hoping I can get in and it still didn't work and unfortunately had to factory reset and lost alot of my valuable data and progress. Thank you Samsung, its all gone now. This has caused a lot of problems such as re-adding accounts to my authenticator app (which needs authentication that I can't give).

I just want to know, could there have been or were any other way to get in instead of factory resetting?

[MapelSyrup]

My pattern just randomly worked after not touching my phone for 3 days and battery being at 15% it was a 1 time thing and i had to factory reset anyways but that 1 unlock was good enough to transfer all my important files to a hard drive. Don't use pattern unlock, it seems it only happens with this.

[Nuray3]

Hello, I have a Samsung Galaxy A52 (SM-A525F), and today (May 19, 2025) it suddenly stopped unlocking with my usual pattern. I’m 100% sure I’m entering the correct pattern — I’ve been using the same one for a long time , but the phone keeps saying it’s incorrect. There was no damage to the screen, but I recently installed the One UI 6.1 update. I also checked via Find My Mobile, but there is no “Unlock” option. I tried using Lost Mode and set a PIN, but I’m not sure if that helps either. Has anyone faced this issue before? Is there any way to unlock it without factory reset? I don’t want to lose my data.Thanks in advance!

[Gobblegobble44]

There is no satisfactory fix. You may be able to simultaneously press the volume down and power button, and hold both until the phone restarts itself. From there your old password may work to initially login, if you're lucky. Change your settings to finger or face login,  if you can, and you might make it a few days before it asks for your passcode to login and you need to repeat the cycle. It's terrible and there is no fix outside of a factory reset. 

[BroomfieldPete]

I have a Samsung A25 5G (SM-A256B/DSN) purchased in April 2024.
All has been fine until a week ago it didn't recognise my unlock pin.
At first it appeared that the Ok button was greyed out. However, if I entered an incorrect pin it showed incorrect pin but if I entered my correct pin it just didn't do anything.  It wouldn't recognise my fingerprint.
A few days before I had changed both my Samsung account password and my Google account password. I suspect this started the chain of events. I think it was about 72 hours later that the problems started.
Out of despair, I put my Sim in my old Samsung A21 phone and did a factory reset on the A25 phone and used my old Samsung A21 to copy most of the Apps from. I spent about a day rebuilding everything on my A25.

However, 72 hours later it prompted me for my unlock key (i had used the same key as previously) and the problem has returned where it doesn't recognise my unlock code. I did a soft reset (volume down and power buttons) to get my phone back up and running but this is not satisfactory, and in any event will need to be repeated very 72 hours. There is clearly a problem with something like a corrupt cached security file on the phone. Samsung please advise what to do next? My phone is still within warranty and I have proof of ownership.

[Nuray3]

Samsung continues to ignore this problem? I've been without a smartphone for a week

[Gelo17]

This is very disappointing.  I always keep my device updated through Software Update. Just this morning, I excitedly installed the update for June security patch for my S25 Ultra. After the restart, my pattern was nor recognized anymore, same to most of the followers here. I called the authorized service center and they said that there's no option to unlock it but through Factory Reset. 

It's a shame for a 3 month old flagship device. Hopefully the fix will be out soon!

Their customer support cannot do anything useful to resolve. I just hope that the remote Unlock feature could be enabled in this kind of bug from software updates. 

[BroomfieldPete]

Gelo17, Have you tried the soft reset option (volume down button and power button)?
I found this allowed me to insert my pin once and then it was up and running. It didn't recognise the pin after that (only fingerprint or face) so after 72 hours it will do it again so you'll need to repeat the soft reset. I did this three times (after each 72 hours) and then, strangely, it now seems to be recognising my unlock pin code everytime. It has been ok now for about two weeks so i'm hoping it has sorted itself out (fingers crossed)

[Gelo17]

Yes. I tried soft reset twice, but right now I'm still waiting for around 2 hours since I failed multiple attempts today. 

Should I do the soft reset consecutively? I.e. after the first one, do it again without trying to unlock?

Btw I'm using pattern. Thanks

[Gelo17]

Does it work with s25 ultra?