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...

[rogersdave77]

Do you have access to your Google account? I think you can go into your security and changed lock pin from there...not 100% sure though 🤷

[HelloPatricia]

Thank you Roger, I have access but there was nothing I could do from there since my phone had no network access since I rebooted it...

I had to do a factory reset now, that seemed to have been the only solution. Luckily I saved most of the data on my SD card which I removed before resetting but that stuff is a pain in the butt.

[irishgirl]

My phone is doing this its driving me insane..where do go on google

[Chand1]

Hi Patricia and everyone,

I got the same issue. I was using the same password for years and never forget it in my life. Also, my password is  not 4 characters and one letter. I'm sure, it's Samsung issue.

One important thing is-----I haven't installed the latest update of Samsung for over a month even though the notification keeps showing continuously. If you too ignored the Samsung latest update then we can 100% confirm that it is Samsung issue.

It would be great if a person from Samsung replies here

[Chand1]

Hi GUys

I found out, this is a Samsung issue

https://www.cyclonis.com/how-to-fix-samsung-galaxy-s10-keeps-asking-for-password-problem/

[BeateK1]

I have the same issue for the past months, except my phone asks for my PIN, which i never set up. Same story, i use finger print and pattern as well as facial recognition.

I have unlimited data so i always keep my network connection on, so i had no trouble unlocking it with FindMyMobile. 

But this is so incredibly annoying to do every other week or so. After one such time i decided, OK, i will create a PIN in case this happens again, and guess what - the PIN i made was not working!!!

I see this as quite a big issue and don't understand why Samsung would not fix this after many months. This is my first Samsung and i am starting to regret buying it. I was trying to find a way to report the problem,  but i can only chat with a robot or call  support where they just tell me to use FindMyMobile.

[Kevin B]

Found the problem. When I first tried to set up my email or my outlook app on my S22. It kept asking me to set up a new password. I finally figured this out and it took me to settings and I just used the same password again for my outlook email password. 

Today all of a sudden my phone locks me out and is asking for a password. I had no idea what password it wanted, then I read something about a password set up in settings and I remembered I set up a password in settings for my outlook email, I tried that password and my phone immediately unlocked and functioned normally again.

[Members_4qVw7xn]

Kevin B - thank you for the above.  I set up Outlook email on my new S22 ultra this week so will bear it in mind when mine next locks up.  I've had this problem since I used a train charge socket last November (irrelevant but it never happened to me prior to then).  I had a galaxy S10 then.  Now got a new S22 ultra and sim but it still continually locks me out, won't recognise any password, and a relative has to re-set the password for me remotely.  Ridiculous situation.  Are Samsung looking at this?

[Members_4qVw7xn]

edit re the above - first sentence should have said re-set up Outlook email (as I had it on my phone previously).