How to Recover an HTC Phone When It's Locked

Sign in with your Google account

Try your PIN or pattern five times. To bypass the lock screen, you must enter your password five times. The phone will be locked again and give you the option to sign in using an alternative.

Tap "Forgot Password" or "Forgot Pattern". The Google account login screen will appear, allowing you to log in by providing the Google account information associated with your phone.

Enter Google account information. Enter your Google account name and password. This should be the account you used when your phone was first set up. If you can't remember your Google password, you can recover it by trying to log in to Google's site using a computer.

You need to make sure you are connected to a mobile network or WiFi. To log in this way, the phone must be connected to the internet. If airplane mode is on, press and hold the power button until the power menu appears. Tap the airplane icon to turn off airplane mode.

Set a new password. After successfully signing in, set a new screen lock password so you can continue to lock and access your device securely. Click the Settings or Settings app, choose to lock your phone with a PIN, pattern or password.

Restart your phone

Power off the phone. To get to the Recovery menu, you need to restart your powered off phone. Press and hold the power button until the power menu appears. Click the Power icon to turn off the phone. Restarting the phone will erase all internal data, so this should be considered a last resort effort.

If the phone is 'frozen', you can turn it off by removing the battery from the back.

Open the Recovery menu. Press and hold the volume down button, then press and hold the power button. Press both buttons for 30 seconds. Once the Android image appears, you can release the keys.

Proceed to the Factory Reset step (Reset the device to Factory Settings). Use the volume down button to navigate the menu. Select 'Factory Reset', then press the power button to continue. The process of returning the device to factory settings will take a few minutes.

When selecting Factory Reset, the data in the device will be erased.

Sign in and reset your phone. After resetting to factory settings, you will be asked to set up your phone again as it was when you first purchased it. If you're signed in to the Google account associated with your phone and you've previously enabled backup, your old settings will be restored.

You can redownload any apps purchased through the Play Store as long as you're using the same account.

Any contacts stored in your Google Contacts directory are automatically synced to your account.