How to unlock a locked Android phone with a cracked screen

The interaction between the user and the device became much more comfortable when touchscreen panels began to occupy the smartphone market. One of the biggest drawbacks of a smartphone, today is the fragility of the glass panel or display. The smartphones are much vulnerable to drop down from hands (or wherever else) that the screens might get broken easily. When the only I/O surface of the device breaks and there is no easy way to unlock a locked Android phone with a cracked screen.

If your smartphone screen broke for any reason, you would not be able to access the device anymore. In most of the devices, the screen lock needs to open to transfer all media to PC or Mac. If your smartphone has a fingerprint lock, then you can unlock in that way. But in many cases (especially in LG smartphones), the fingerprint access also become out of whack when the screen and related circuits are broken. Here we introduce you several ways which you can approach backup all the data on your android phone yourself into another machine.

Guide to unlock a locked Android phone with a cracked screen

Here, I am sharing few methods. They all work, but depending on the phone, you might have to try all to figure out which works with your phone.

Use OTG Mouse to input password on the locked screen

Almost every smartphone from entry-level category to the flagship supports OTG (On-The-Go), which enables you to add peripherals, USB Thumb drives, Mouse, Keyboards, etc. to your smartphone and use them to control your smartphone. So get an OTG adapter which suits your smartphone USB Port (micro USB 2.0 or USB Type-C), and then connect the mouse to the smartphone.

OTG mouse to connect with Android Phone

If your screen is partially visible, then you will be able to see the mouse pointer. Now you can unlock the device by inputting the password or lock pattern. If the screen became all black-ut and cannot see anything, you may need to move the cursor with some assumptions.

Use ADB Commands to input password to unlock your phone

As the Android Operating System is an Open Source as well as customizable from the root, there are several features like ADB (Android Debugging Bridge) which you can use to access the smartphone through several commands.

To use ADB Commands, you need Android SDK package installed your Windows/Linux/Mac system. You can download it directly from here and install it on your computer. You can also avail the Minimal ADB Fastboot Command line applications for the PC. It has same features but minimal in size. It also installs the necessary Android drivers for the smartphone.

Warning: Avoid doing this method if you are no expertise in ADB Commands and execution.

You can unlock any Android smartphone using ADB commands if the screen is locked with a PIN or a Character password. Follow the steps for unlocking the device.

Use ABD to unlock a locked Android phone with a cracked screen

  1. Install Necessary Drivers, Android SDK
  2. Open CMD (Command Prompt on your Windows PC) and enter “cd
    [directory]”. Replace the [directory] with ADB installed directory (it is “C:/Android/platform-tools” mostly). You can also go to the ADB directory > Shift+Right Click > Choose Open Command Prompt here (or “Powershell” in some latest Windows 10 versions).
  3. Enter the command “adb device”
  4. If your smartphone is recognized, go to Step 5
  5. Type-in the following command on the window
    adb shell input text [password/pin]
    
    Shell input keyevent 66
    
    Replace the [password/pin] with your screen lock password/PIN.
  6. You can proceed to backup all the device data now

You can use the following ADB commands to back up the data manually

Adb shell
 echo "persist.service.adb.enable=1" >>/system/build.prop
 echo "persist.service.debuggable=1" >>/system/build.prop
 echo "persist.sys.usb.config=mass_storage,adb" >>/system/build.prop

Advanced users can also use it to recover data from the phone.

Unlock using third-party software

There are many third-party software packages available that you can use to unlock the smartphone without even knowing about the coding or ADB commands. It is much easier, as the process will complete within a couple of clicks. Currently, Wondershare dr.Fone is one of the best packages suits your need. You have to install the software and open it.

Software to unlock a locked Android phone with a cracked screen

Click on the “Unlock” option and Click “Start”. Follow the steps shown in the window and wait for the task completion. Make sure that the PC is connected to the Internet, to enable the tool to download necessary packages. This is probably the easiest way to unlock a locked Android phone with a cracked screen.

Download it from here

About the author

Akhil G

Skilled technology writer and widely-read journalist. Social media Influencer, FB India Media Partner. Managing multiple news portals and writing for many. Google Hall Of Fame award winner. Youth Icon of the year - Government of Kerala 2018.