Forgotten your Google Pixel PIN? How the Titan chip affects your options

Since the Pixel 3, Google has used its own security chip called Titan M, followed by its successor, Titan M2, since the Pixel 6. This chip manages the device encryption keys separately from the main processor.

One feature of this chip is crucial to your case: it counts failed attempts itself and enforces waiting periods in hardware. On many other Android devices, this counting is handled in software, and software can be bypassed. Not on the Pixel.

This is not about discouraging a sale; it is why we often turn down newer Pixel devices. A provider who guarantees they can unlock a Pixel 7 or 8 should make you wary.

Unlike Huawei devices, the Pixel has the full suite of Google services. Google's “Find My Device” therefore works. It can locate your Pixel, make it ring and erase it remotely.

It cannot unlock it. And the erase function is precisely the button that ends your chances of data recovery. Anyone who clicks Erase in the hope of achieving “something” has lost their photos for good.

• Find My Device does not unlock devices; it can only locate them, make them ring and erase them.
• The erase function is permanent, and even we cannot reverse it.
• Resetting through recovery mode has the same effect.

Even if a Pixel is reset, it remains linked to the last Google account signed in on it. Without those login credentials, it cannot be set up again. Google calls this lock Factory Reset Protection.

It is secondary when it comes to your data, because after a reset the data is gone anyway. It matters for another reason: if you still have your Google login credentials, it is worth trying Google's account recovery before considering a repair shop.

The type of lock determines the size of the search space. On the Pixel, the Titan chip's limit makes things harder, because attempts cannot be sped up arbitrarily.

If you remember parts of the code, such as its length or the first digits, this is particularly valuable on the Pixel. Every detail reduces the search space, and that is exactly what matters when the number of attempts is limited.

Each of these steps overwrites the storage and cannot be reversed.

• Erase remotely using Find My Device.
• Reset to factory settings through the menu or recovery mode.
• Unlock the bootloader. This formats the storage.
• Install new firmware.
• Keep guessing. The Titan chip increases waiting periods with every failed attempt.

Because the prospects for a Pixel depend heavily on its generation, we clarify this before any device is sent in. This saves you shipping and waiting time.

1. 1You tell us the exact model, the type of lock and what has been tried so far.
2. 2We classify the device by generation and security chip and tell you honestly whether sending it in makes sense.
3. 3If there is a prospect of success, the device comes to our workshop for assessment.
4. 4You receive an assessment with a binding price and then decide.
5. 5After successful decryption, we back up the data to an encrypted USB drive.

The price is around1.000euros and depends on the model, encryption and condition. This is not a fixed price; we provide the binding amount after diagnostics. If recovery is unsuccessful, only the processing fee of 29,90 euros applies.

If you would like to address the issue now, book a diagnostic assessment directly via Password unlocking. There you can see the process, how much the diagnostic assessment costs and how shipping works.

We decline Pixel cases more often than those involving other brands. This is due to the technology, not the effort involved.

• Pixel 6 and newer with a lock enabled. Generally not possible with current methods.
• Password made up of letters and special characters, regardless of generation.
• The device has already been reset or remotely erased.
• Accidentally deleted files on a working device. We cannot recover deleted data.

If we decline a case, we also explain why. A refusal before shipping costs you less than an invoice afterwards.

The prospects are often better with other manufacturers: Forgotten Xiaomi PIN, Forgotten Huawei PIN and Forgotten Honor PIN.

If your Pixel no longer starts at all or is stuck in a boot loop, the lock is not the problem. For more on this, see Google Pixel bootloop. An overview of all cases is available under Smartphone data recovery.