How to Recover Your Xiaomi Password Without Losing Data

When you pick up your smartphone, type in a pattern lock or a digital code, and the device reports an error, this is familiar to many Xiaomi owners. This can happen due to trivial forgetfulness, random tapping in your pocket, or after a system update, when old input methods stop working correctly, panic at such moments is a natural reaction, because hundreds of important contacts, personal photos and work documents are stored inside the gadget.

The main question that arises at this point is: can you restore access to your phone without erasing all the information? Unfortunately, modern Android security systems, especially with the MIUI shell, are designed to make unauthorized access as difficult as possible. However, there are legitimate methods that allow you to bypass the lock screen if you have prepared in advance or remember the data from your account.

In this article, we will take a look at all the working ways to unlock Redmi and Poco, assess their effectiveness and risks.It is important to understand that there is no universal “magic button” and the success of an operation often depends on the specific device model and version of the operating system.

Before you get into action, you need to calm down and take a hard look at the situation, and if you remember your Mi Account and your password, your chances of getting your phone back to life without losing data are very high, and if the device is completely locked and the account is unknown, the task becomes more difficult, but there are still options.

Use Find Device through your Mi Account

The most reliable and regular way to unlock a device is to use a cloud service from the manufacturer. Find Device allows you not only to track the location of the gadget, but also to control its lock remotely.

The process of access recovery is as follows: you need to go to the official website mi.com or i.mi.com from any other device (computer or tablet), entering the username and password from your account, you will be taken to the control panel, where your locked smartphone will be displayed.

From the control menu, select Unlock, the system will send a command to the phone and the screen lock will be removed, and then you can set a new, more memorable password. It is important to note that this method does not work on all versions of MIUI, as new security updates sometimes eliminate the remote unlock function in favor of a complete reset.

• 🔑 Make sure that the phone is geolocated and data enabled, otherwise the command won’t reach.
• 🌐 Internet connection is critical: without a network, remote control is impossible.
• 📱 The method works only if you remember the password from the Mi Account, and not from the lock screen.

⚠️ Note: If the Find Device function was disabled in the phone settings before locking, this method will not work.

Reset via Google account (for older versions of Android)

On devices with Android version below 5.0-7.0, there was a convenient mechanism to restore access through a Google account. If you enter the pattern lock several times, the system will suggest restoring access via Gmail. Although this method is rare on modern Xiaomi with MIUI 12, 13 and 14, it can still be relevant for budget models or older devices.

To activate this method, you need to enter the wrong password five times in a row, and then the waiting timer or the “Forgot Password” button will appear on the screen, and you will have to click on it, you will have to enter the login and password from the Google account that was synced to the phone.

Once authenticated, the system will suggest a new way to protect the screen, a method that is considered data-safe because it does not affect the memory partition with user files, but only changes the access parameters.

With the release of new versions of Android, Google has strengthened security measures, and now simply entering a password from the mail is often not enough. SMS.

Unlocking through Safe Mode (Safe Mode)

If a third-party application (e.g., antivirus, blocker, or parental control) locks the screen, the standard system password may not be required to enter Safe Mode, and only system services are loaded in this mode, and third-party blockers are not activated.

To log into Safe Mode on most Xiaomi smartphones, you must:

1. Press the power button until the shutdown menu appears.
2. Press and hold your finger on the "Switch off" item on the screen.
3. After a request to go to safe mode, confirm the action.

Once the device is loaded, the corner of the screen will say, "Safe Mode." Now you can go into the settings, find the app that blocks the screen, delete it or disable it. Once you reboot it in normal mode, the lock should disappear.

This method is effective only if the blocker is not the MIUI system itself, but third-party software. If you forgot the system pin code, safe mode will not help to reset it, but will save access to files for copying.

Use of USB and ADB debugging (for advanced ones)

For tech-savvy users, there is a method of unlocking through a computer using the Android debugging bridge (ADB). This method allows you to delete the file that stores the password hash, but it works only under one critical condition: the phone must be pre-enabled “Debugging by Debugging” USB» (USB Debugging).

If this function was activated before the lock, the algorithm of actions is as follows:

adb shell rm /data/system/gesture.key


adb shell rm /data/system/locksettings.db




adb shell rm /data/system/locksettings.db-wal




adb shell rm /data/system/locksettings.db-shm

By running these commands on the console of the computer connected to the phone, you delete the files responsible for storing the pattern lock or password. After reboot (adb reboot), the phone will ask you to enter any password, and the screen will unlock.

Unfortunately, on modern devices with data encryption, the /data partition is not available for reading and writing without an unlocked screen, even with ADB rights. Therefore, this method works mainly on older Redmi Note models or devices with Android versions below 6.0.

⚠️ Attention: Attempting to execute commands ADB On devices with encryption enabled and no superuser rights, Root can only cause an access error, but it won't damage the data.

Scenarios when data cannot be saved

Despite all efforts, there are situations where password recovery without data loss is technically impossible due to the Android security architecture.Modern Xiaomi smartphones use full encryption of the user partition.

This means that without the right password, the data is physically a collection of unreadable code, and even if you sell the memory or connect the phone to a programmer, you can't retrieve photos or contacts, and this is done to protect personal information in the event of a device being stolen.

In which cases data resetting is inevitable:

• 🚫 You forgot your Mi Account password and Find Device is not working.
• 🚫 There was no debugging on the phone. USB, The old methods don’t work through Google.
• 🚫 The device requires unlocking after resetting (FRP — Factory Reset Protection and you don’t remember any of your accounts.

In such cases, the only way out is a full reset to the factory settings (Hard Reset), which will delete all photos, contacts, apps and settings, returning the phone to the state of “from the store”.

Prevention: How to avoid losing access in the future

To avoid facing the lock problem again, it is important to set up the device correctly immediately after purchase: Write down your pattern lock or pin code in a secure place (notebook, password manager) where you have access even without a phone. This seems trivial, but often saves in a critical situation.

Be sure to link the device to your Mi Account and enable synchronization of contacts, calendar and notes, in which case, even if you have to do a complete reset, you can quickly recover all important information just by logging into your account.

Alternative unlocking methods are also recommended: not only is a fingerprint or Face ID convenient, it also serves as a backup login method, and some models can set up a Smart Lock that keeps the phone open in secure places, such as at home.

Back up your data regularly. You can use the built-in Mi Backup app to save data to your computer or the cloud. Having a fresh copy ensures that even if you block it completely, you will only lose the data you have accumulated since the last time you saved it.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions