Please Help: Forgot PIN, and locked out of Android 15

mobilenewbie · 2025-07-05T01:54:23+00:00

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I am using a Pixel 8 that runs Android 15.

I am locked out of my device, as I can not remember my Bitdefender PIN.

I am repeatedly informed I have the wrong PIN, and then the message "Bitdefender Security" appears on screen.

I am then locked out for incrementally longer periods of time (measured in seconds) — ranging so far from 5 - 15 minutes.

I have Bitdefender Mobile Security for Android installed on my device.

This is becoming quite a desperate situation.

I'd be really obliged if someone could help.

Are there humans at Bitdefender who can help in these situations too?

In advance, many, many thanks

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Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/104540/please-help-forgot-pin-and-locked-out-of-android-15

Kindly follow the steps below:

1) Visit Bitdefender Central at https://central.bitdefender.com , and log in to your Bitdefender central account.

2) Go to My Devices, select your device, and click View Details.

3) Select Rename Device—this will display the Application PIN section, where the current PIN is shown. Use the displayed PIN to unlock your device.

If the issue persists, kindly contact Bitdefender support by visiting https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/help/

Select, How to's & Troubleshooting Bitdefender products→Troubleshooting→I don't know→Contact Support→ You will get the option of chat, call or email.

To get an immediate update, kindly use the chat option. Also, ensure that no ad blockers or privacy extensions are enabled in your web browser, as they may prevent the chat window from appearing.

Regards

mobilenewbie

Follow-up Questions:

Have you heard of others ever having experienced my situation? i.e. even when copy and pasting the PIN they obtained via the Rename function on Bitdefender.com, that they are unable to access their device?
In such situations, is there even a remote possibility that a higher-up tech specialist can remedy the situation?
Should I proceed to a hard-reset of my phone, without waiting for a response?

A more substantive and contextual response below:

Hello Flexx,

I'm writing to thank you for both having taken the time and expressed an interest in replying to my 'call for help.' Sounds a bit dramatic, I know, but frankly, it feels that way, especially as I am on Day Two without access. What makes it more dramatic, are the reasons why I need access, which I'll omit from detailing here.

I wanted to share some reflections on the service level from Bitdefender, and then perhaps ask some further questions:

The frontline workers servicing the real-time chat at Bitdefender have been exceptionally efficient, helpful, and empathetic. Really first-class, in my humble opinion.

However I find it difficult to reconcile that a company that expends resources to staff such incredible front-line staff, would also be so seemingly slow in responding when the frontline staff bump up an issue to product specialists.

Again, I am close to, if not already in, the 40+ hour mark of being denied access to my phone.

When I asked the frontline staff to estimate how long until I could expect to receive an email reply from the higher up tech specialists with a response, they were unwilling (or perhaps unable) to provide an estimate. It's becoming clearer why that may have been the case….

I think I would have appreciated more a response along the lines of, "Sorry, you won't hear back from them before Monday."

I intend to continue detailing my experience here on this forum, to help others deciding whether to adopt and/or stay with the Bitdefender ecosystem. Where praise is worthy, I will share it. Where critique is warranted, I will equally share it.

Again, thank you so much!

Flexx

https://community.bitdefender.com/en/discussion/comment/355108#Comment_355108

@Alexandru_BD, who is the admin of the Bitdefender Community Forum and an employee of Bitdefender, will provide more insights here.

Alexandru_BD

Hello @mobilenewbie,

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and for continuing to provide such valuable feedback here on the Bitdefender forum. I genuinely appreciate both the praise you've given and the concerns you've raised.

First and foremost, I’m truly sorry to hear that you’re still without access, especially knowing that the reasons behind the urgency are personally significant to you. It’s completely understandable that this situation feels frustrating.
I can't imagine being locked out my phone for that long…
I'm glad to know that you’ve had such a positive experience with the support team so far. Your kind words mean a great deal to them and to all of us. The Support teams always strive to provide every customer with swift assistance and tailored guidance, and they do this with care and dedication. Thank you for recognizing that.

At the same time, I fully acknowledge your frustration regarding the delayed follow-up from the technical specialists. While they always aim to resolve every case as promptly as possible, the response time from escalated support may vary between 24 to 48 business hours, depending on several factors, such as the complexity of the issue, current case volumes, or whether the inquiry needs input from a specific technical department. In some situations, especially those requiring deeper investigation or coordination between teams, it might take a bit longer than anticipated. That said, your wait has clearly exceeded a comfortable threshold, and for that, I sincerely apologize on behalf of the Support teams.

To better understand your case and ensure they follow up accordingly, may I kindly ask:

When did you first open a support ticket regarding this issue?
Have you received any response yet from the escalated support team?
What steps have you already tried in an effort to resolve the issue?

Your input will help us paint a clearer picture of what exactly happened and hopefully accelerate the path to a resolution. If you have an open ticket with Bitdefender Support, I can have a look and ask my colleagues to prioritize your request. Kindly provide me with the case number (if available) using the private message function.

Once again, thank you for your patience, your constructive voice, and for continuing to engage with us transparently. We truly value your commitment to sharing your experience, both the positives and the areas where we can do better.

Regards,

Alex

mobilenewbie

@Flexx, I want to again thank you for your timely response and willingness to assist. If you knew just how grateful I was to you.

@Alexandru_BD I thank you for your offer to assist; in terms of where I was in the process of interfacing with the 'Technical Support Engineers,' I don't believe there is anything you could have done to have incentivized them to have acted quicker, or more comprehensively.

As promised, I am here sharing my feedback of the whole experience. In the end, I executed a factory hard-reset myself. This has resulted in many lost files, lost time, and loss of hair that has regrown grey.

Thank you again for your offers to assist.

=========

As promised, I want to share my experience with other users -- both here on the forum, and elsewhere -- as to my experience of having been locked out of my phone for 3 whole days.
This is my top-line assessment of Bitdefender, after trying to solicit their assistance in extricating myself from being locked out of my phone.

This lasted three whole days -- from late on a Friday, until late on a Monday. At that point, I aborted the mission of realistically obtaining assistance in a meaningfully timely way, and I effected a factory hard-reset of my phone by myself.

This itself was not without its longer-lasting negative consequences, as I'm still trying to re-build things as they were. But waiting for Bitdefender Technical Engineering Support to reply to my please for assistance in a timely way, was causing more stress and anxiety than it was worth.

Consider this an effort to contribute to due-diligence in decision-making for persons considering using Bitdefender. Hopefully you can go in to the decision-making matrix with 'eyes wide open.'

EXCELLENT FRONTLINE CHAT WORKERS
Frontline workers who work the 24/7 real-time chats are empathetic, efficient, and enthusiastic in their attempts to find solutions.

WHEN THINGS GET COMPLICATED, TECHNICAL SUPPORT ENGINEERS SUDDENLY DISAPPEAR
Complex and/or atypical cases are bumped up to 'technical support engineers.'

The one such 'technical support engineer' I dealt with proved to be useless in assisting me. Why? He went AWOL/Silent when I shared a screenshot with him demonstrating that contrary to his assertion, my interface was different than the one he was describing. Further, I was inquiring about suggested next steps.

In other words, when the proverbial '!@#$ hit the fan' in terms of complexity, suddenly he wasn't quick to answer.

UNPROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION
I don't expect miracles, but he could at least have demonstrated the professionalism to admit that there was an issue to which he may not have an immediate solution, and the next steps he anticipated trying in an effort to remediate the situation (e.g. confer with XYZ colleagues, and that I could expect to hear back in ABC time-frame, etc.). This would have helped to set realistic expectations.

When instead I received no reply whatsoever...put yourself in my shoes, and ask yourself how you would feel?

ROMANIAN BUSINESS HOURS
It seems that 'technical support engineers' are staffed primarily or exclusively during Romanian business hours. Even during Romanian business hours, any assurances that a case has been flagged as warranting greater urgency, were seemingly meaningless.

NO WEEKEND SUPPORT BEYOND STANDARD CHAT
'Technical support engineers' are not staffed on weekends.

At the end of the day, following way too long periods of non-responsiveness, and despite my request that someone at least assist me with a real-time walk-through of my attempts with a hard reset (i.e. I was encountering a 'NO COMMAND' error message), I decided to troubleshoot this myself.

I believe that with more transparency and honesty about the limitations of their 'advanced' technical support, I could have been spared three days worth of stress and anxiety. I resent this deficit of transparency and honesty. Especially for a product tied to security, it would seem unwise to breach my trust.

Moving forward, if I again require support, I will collaborate with entry-level, real-time chat support, and then proceed directly to a hard-reset. I won't waste time waiting on 'technical support engineers.'

I do not see myself renewing my subscription when it comes due.

I will try to find other solutions to remedy my security concerns, whether that means exploring different 3rd-party applications, or security measures native to Android itself. Moreover, I will have either further impetus to explore whether my understanding is accurate that a closed ecosystem such as iOS may be more secure than Android, thereby expediting my migration to iOS, to avoid a reliance on products such as Bitdefender.

Maybe you are generally more tech-savvy than I am. Maybe you won't be in a situation where other people depend on being able to reach you by phone, and delays won't matter to you as much as they do to me. Maybe you are more experienced than I, and therefore you have already tempered your expectations of tech support generally, including how fast/slow they respond.

And if not, then I hope this review is helpful to you.