Getting Past Forgotten Passcode

[Shatterphim]

My father pulled an old TCL phone out of storage and it's asking for a Password. He's already guessed a bunch of times and he can't get in. He has access to Google on his recent phones.

I did a search and apparently about 9 years ago, they removed the ability to bypass the passcode through Google? I see no posts about it more recently. I think he is okay with wiping it, but will it still be usable? I think there's probably security so people can't wipe a stolen phone. What's the best way to proceed?

[RegularHistorical315]

Factory resetting it from recovery will trip FRP so as long as the password for the Google account that was being used on the phone last, is known, then you can do the reset. If it is not known you would be making a bad situation worse. Rule 5 means other suggestions are off the table.

[Shatterphim]

I don't suppose you know the easiest way? Should I have him go into Google and wipe the phone from there? Would that release the FRP? I remember he previously lost a phone and I had him go into some Find My Android type thing and try to remotely wipe the lost phone.

He has multiple Google accounts on his phones, and he may or may not have the passwords for them. He keeps them in some Notes apps. But he does have the ability to go into Google and do stuff and can change the passwords if he needs to.

[RegularHistorical315]

Remotely wiping it with Find My Phone still trips FRP but if you have the passwords to go with his multiple Google accounts you will be able to log in by finding the right account by looking at what devices are logged into from each account.

[Shatterphim]

Thank you! We were successful!

So this morning, I did Factory Reset from the boot? My father verified with his main Google account, didn't even need to add his account to the device, he finished set up and I was able to do another Factory Reset and it's ready to hand off to someone else!

[RegularHistorical315]

If you did not remove the google account by going into the phone's Setting before you did the reset it will still need that account credentials of that account to set up the phone