A quick guide to accessing a locked phone with a cracked screen

[cicis777]

Hi!
Any solutions to offer for a blank screen? I dropped the Galaxy S5 phone and the screen is broken, can't see anything, and the phone is locked with a pattern lock. I downloaded Smart Switch which only works on unlocked phones.
I am at desperate to get my contacts and my beloved pet's pics off the phone
Thanks,
Cici

 

[Jennisemc]

Hello!
I am having the same situation as Cici ...I dropped my Galaxy S5 phone and the screen is broken, can't see anything, and the phone is locked with a pattern lock. I downloaded Smart Switch but it really only works on unlocked phones.
Im just desperate to get my contacts and some downloaded pics. Please let me know...I have 10 more days to send my broken phone back to Telus since they already sent me the replacement this week.
Thanks,
Jennise

 

[Escritora69]

First I'd like to say a huge thank you to Transtang z28 for posting this! Your advice was incredible helpful. I cracked my screen on my LG G3 . I knew there had to be a way to retrieve my photos but because I had a pattern lock instead of a code (or even a code as a backup), no one could help me. After reading the original post, I went to Amazon to purchase a mouse and an OTG cable. As I type this now, I am in process of uploading my pictures that were on my phone into Google Drive. If you have a pattern lock like I did, please follow Transtang's directions. You won't be disappointed.

 

[MsUndastood]

I LOVE YOU!!!!

no seriously. I do

I broke my lcd screen and just refused to return the phone because I have pictures of my daughter's graduation and holiday things and I thought they were gone because they were encrypted.. but the otg cable and wireless keyboard (since I am passWORD protected) did the trick!

I have my pictures. I'm so happy
THANK YOU!!!

 

[Kelly1129]

I need help with my Samsung Galaxy S4.
My phone slipped off the coffee table, onto the carpet, and now my phone has a black screen. It has power as the indicator lights light, and the phone vibrates.
I can always replace my contact list, but I am devastated that I have so many photos in my gallery that I need to transfer onto a usb or the lap top. Would you email me?

 

[matt_pilk]

Thanks for taking the time to write this article Transtang z28.

I find myself in the same situation where I have lots of images of my daughter on my phone (HTC One M8) with no back up and the screen broke this week and it will no longer connect to my computer. I tried calling HTC and all they said was to do a factory reset, but then I loose everything.

I'm planning on trying the usb mouse technique you described, but was wondering if you could provide any more specific instructions for how to unlock a phone using a pattern lock rather than a pin as I don't really understand how to do it?

Does the mouse start in the same position each time you attempt to unlock it? If not, how do you know where your starting point is?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks :-[

 

[Transtang z28]

Hi Kelly,
I saw you had another thread you started looking for help but mentioned you found a local repair person to help. Did that work out for you?

Hi Matt,
I didn't get a chance to test this out last night but I have access to an M7 and I will see how it reacts with a pattern code and mouse. I am also wondering if pattern codes will respond to a numerical keyboard as well, maybe it would let us try numbers on a 9x9 keypad as if they were the little spheres in the pattern unlock. That might be wishful thinking, though.

If you have already given this a try, would you let us know how it worked out, please? I will also see if I can make time to experiment tonight. Don't give up!

 

[matt_pilk]

Hi Transtang z28, thanks for the quick reply. I think I've tracked down an OTC cable from my chromecast, so will try using a usb mouse on it tonight with my wifes samsung galaxy to see how it responds. I don't have a usb keyboard, so if you're able to test that for me that would be amazing. With the recent run of bad luck, I'd be surprised if it was as simple as using the keyboard to crack the patter lock, but fingers crossed!

Thanks for your support!

 

[BrainiakZ]

OTC cable --- got it at Best buy after reading this. -- Did the "swipe" and then plugged into my PC. At first it wanted to "install" the drivers, but then it switched back to the internal drive.

Samsung S6 Edge --- No screen, no touch. This guide worked getting the system unlocked so I can copy images and videos off the device.

Thanks!

 

[matt_pilk]

No luck with unlocking the pattern lock with a keyboard. I went into Maplins and a kind sales assistant helped me test it by plugging in a keyboard via an OTC cable and while it let me tab between input fields, sadly it wasn't recognising number keys as inputs for the lock. I think Transtang z28's guide using the graph paper is the only way to crack it if you've got no screen.

On the plus side when I was in Maplins, the phone ran out of battery and shut down. When we plugged it in the charge symbol came up on screen for a second indicating that the screen wasn't the fault and it it was something to do with the software. I left it off then charged it overnight before trying to turn it on again and it booted up as normal with data in tact - so relieved!

When it booted there was a pop up saying that the phone had experienced a problem (no sh*t!) and to report the issue to HTC, so I'm assuming from this that it recognised that there was an issue and I reported it, so hopefully if they can work out what happened they can patch it in a future update.

I hadn't been able to test running it down and rebooting it before as where the phone was unresponsive but still on, I couldn't turn it off using the physical button and where it wasn't getting used it took 4 days for the charge to run down. Glad I didn't panic and send it back to HTC as soon as it happened as they would have just wiped it.

Anyway happy ending to this story, got back up on my back up now!
Thanks for the advice and support.
Cheers : )

 

[godittor]

Thank you so much for this post! Very useful guide.

 

[mjlovesyou]

Dude, big thanks! Completely cracked screen, and completely black (couldn't see anything). Followed your advice by tracing on paper and got it to work. Thanks again!

 

[peroff]

Thank you.

 

[tony marples]

This works great on the samsung and sony, but not on the LG nexus 4. Still looking how to get the contacts from the phone.

 

[Jujuyes]

This is great and still current!
I recently smashed my Samsung Galaxy S5 and the backend was working however the screen was black.
I've done exactly the step by step and was successful in unlocking my phone.
I then backed it up in my computer.
Thank you so much!

 

[Guapa111]

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all having a lovely day!
My situation is as follows: I have a Samsung Galaxy S 4 of which the screen is badly damaged to the extent where I can't control anything from that phone on the screen. However it still functions as normal because I can restart it and even receive notifications. On the other hand I will be getting a Samsung Galaxy S 7 Edge.
I really want to transfer everything from the S 4 to the S 7 Edge.
I know there are shops where they repair screens but at the moment I am not working due to heavy study schedule and on top of that I have a parent who is not understanding that I have had the S 4 for 3 and a half years and there are a lot of memories on there which are meaningful to me, and is not willing to hear me out that it will only cost £70 for a screen repair.

I am really hoping that with the question below I am not expecting anything impossible or looking for something which hasn't been yet invented but I am very curious.

Is there an app or accessory or anything which can extract all of my data from the S 4 onto the S 7 Edge (or even the computer) automatically, without me having to control anything from the S 4?
For example, I install an app onto the S 7 Edge which extracts anything and everything without me doing anything with the S 4.
In regards to the accessories, for example I connect the S 4 with the S 7 Edge via USB cable and the S 7 Edge transfers things on its own with me choosing options from the S 4.


Thank you

 

[Dave In San Fran]

Thanks for the awesome idea! I bought the OTG cable years ago so I could use a PS3 controller with the phone. I had our broken screen unlocked after 10 minutes of practice with a cheap mouse and about 3 attempts.

I created an account here just to thank you for taking the time to help fellow Android users.

Cheers!

 

[TierraMccroy]

thank you for that guide. that help me alot

 

[char2299]

Any idea how to get past a pattern lock with a cracked screen??? Cheers guys

 

[KatelynJS]

Plugging a keyboard into the OTG cable worked a treat!! Thanks.