Every smartphone user should take a lock screen password/PIN/pattern set. If you don't, stop reading now and prepare one upwardly.

Seriously.

Fix it upwards now.

I cannot tell you how many times I have been contacted with "I've forgotten my lock screen password/Pin/countersign and can't get into my telephone! Help!!!!" Some of those missives were suspect, but some were genuine.

Once upon a time (Android iv and before), you lot could intentionally enter the Pivot/password or describe the blueprint five times and then take a reset code sent to your Gmail account, simply that is no longer the case. You have x tries to enter your password/Pin/pattern correctly or the data will be deleted and the phone will be reset.

That'south right — a reset is the merely way to get around the lock screen. You can either enter the password/Pin/pattern incorrectly x times, or you tin can go through the Android Device Manager.

The reason why Google's dropping the ability to reset the password is obvious: security. Information is precious, and we carry around a lot of it in our mobile devices. The good news is that, once you wipe the device and re-associate information technology with your Google account, much of your information will automatically return.

What yous need to do

If you forget how to get by your lock screen, sign in to the Android Device Director and select the smartphone or tablet you need to reset from the device drib-down (Figure A).

Figure A

Resetting a Verizon-branded Droid Turbo through the Google Device Manager.

Once the device is selected, click the Erase button. To confirm, click Erase a second time. The control will be sent to the device, and it will automatically and immediately practice a manufacturing plant reset.

This is a heavy-handed fashion to get around a forgotten password/PIN/pattern, but information technology's a necessary evil since mobile devices carry so much important data. The fact that Google has finally seen to it to jettison the ability to bypass the lock should bespeak mobile security is crucial.

Lesser line: Remember your password

For those that might complain about Google revoking the ability to reset that password/PIN/design, yous demand to seriously consider all of the sensitive data you carry around every day. The concluding thing you want to do is hand over the keys to your social, business, and financial kingdoms. Information technology's an insecure world out there, and anything you can do to secure your data should be considered a necessity.

Your best bet is: don't forget that countersign.