Lock Screen suddenly asks for Password (always used fingerprint or pattern before)

[HelloPatricia]

I have been using the lock screen pattern for a little over a year now and I always remembered it so it was no biggie. Today, literally out of nowhere, my phone asks me to enter a password. I have no idea why it asked me this, so I tried entering a variety of passwords. All it does is lock the phone for 30 seconds before I can try entering another password once I've had too many tries.

I have no idea what password it wants from me, I only have so many and I tried all of them. It says: "Use password after restart (before I restarted it said Use password to unlock screen), Your password contains at least 4 characters, including at least 1 letter." What password?! See, that's why I hate installing updates, this is just bull*****. I also tried to unlock my phone using Find My Phone and it does not work as it is not connected to the network (I tried restarting it before and I guess that screwed me now). I honestly don't even know if a factory reset would work at this stage, since it does not show any notifications either (apart from:  Phone restarted, Unlock your phone to get app notifications).

Did anyone run into the same problem as I did and find a solution? I honestly don't want to try a factory reset (and I don't really think it's gonna work anyway since it's not showing any incoming notifications, either and I can't let my phone ring using Find My Phone).

This seems to be a major issue as I use my phone for work and can't log into the various accounts now as it is a two step verification...

[iang]

I don't have a Samsung account on this phone

[nafitlum]

Just an update about this, luckily, I have unlocked my phone by using another samsung device. I'm happy that I have setup my samsung acct and all the needed details for 'Find my mobile' before, that's why I was able to unlock it by logging in my samsung account. I'm not sure why this issue happened to me, but I think it's because of signing my outlook account. That's the last thing I did before my phone got locked, so beware.

[Gerryx]

Great Thanks Kevin, that was it! It happened to me as well with my Galaxy S20 FE when I changed the password of my MS Outlook. It seems Samsung's lock screen binds to the MS Outlook password so they get syncronized. Outlook's password will be required only when resetting or powering off the cellphone. I'll keep it only for security purposes but I think there's a way to unbind them from Security and Privacy -> Lock Screen.

I hope this works for everybody else having this issue.

[Jfruhnie]

I forgot the password to enter the phone options. The method to enter recovery mode does NOT work either ! I can not shut the ***** phone off either cause it is asking for the password. The FIND My Phone does NOT FULLY work either. I can ring the phone but when I go to unlock it, the message comes up that says it is not connected to a network, when in fact it is. The tech support voice number also lacks one number. It has 2 numbers in the exchange after the area code.

[hari93]

I faced the same issue in December 2022 (a day before my wedding). I got locked out and when I took it to the Samsung service centre, I lost everything as they performed a factory reset on my device. They said they simply cannot do anything else.

THE CLARITY:

In retrospect when I think about it I understood that it was because of an Authenticator App they installed on my phone at work, which ONLY uses number password and not patterns. Whenever this happens they will ask you to set such a number password. You will think that it is only for that particular login. NO. IT IS ALSO FOR THE PHONE.

Recalling that, I just wished that I could have been patient and tried out all the passwords that I knew.

[Nimesha1103]

Have you found the way to open your phone ?

[Nimesha1103]

Yes I am struggling in this matter . I have tried several ways but couldnt open it .

[Asuke00]

This one worked for me, thx

[S85]

1. Hold the power+volume down keys to restart phone
2. Hold down the Power and Volume Up buttons together for a few seconds, and let go when you see the Samsung logo and feel a vibration. If your phone has a Bixby button, then you must hold that down as well.
3. You should briefly see the Android mascot on screen before the recovery menu appears, now press volume down until you get to Wipe Data/Factory reset > press power > Yes > press power > now type in your google account password when it asks you

[meholden]

this worked for me also, very strange. had the phone for over a year and never had this. the screen just locked saying

for security you need to enter password (or something similar)

ive never set this up so had no clue, using my outlook password worked.