Hi everyone. My partner sadly passed away last month from metastatic breast cancer. I would dearly love to save her photos from her phone but do not have the password. I've tried Samsung, find my phone, the cloud, connecting to a laptop, all kinds of things but no success. Has anyone else had this problem and managed to get round it?
Hi CLA80, So sorry for you loss and for finding yourself in this group, none of us want to be a part of.
I had the same problem when my Andy passed away in October. I didn't know his phone passcode, laptop login nothing!(I didn't need to know) Andy had an iphone, Apple were great but had to block the phone for 28 days - they then talked me through it when I could gain access and stayed on the line until all his photos downloaded.
The laptop was slightly different as I got someone to reset it and they said anything saved on it would be wiped (I had a feeling he had written me a letter or something as he didn't want me to move the laptop from his side, think that was just wishful thinking) managed to find some videos and photos though.
Try Samsung again, the bereavment team maybe able to help. Or a local phone shop, maybe able to gain access!
Fingers crossed you find a way to get the help to view them. I even paid for a 2 year contract on Andys phone so I still sit and go through photos, videos etc daily - does give me some comfort. I will find a way to download and save them all at some point (Andy had some of our wedding photos on his phone that i didn't have. We only got married 18 days before he passed away)
I'm pleased to hear that Apple were helpful and you have now managed to access your Andy's photos, they are all so precious.
I've tried local phone shops but they can only unlock by wiping all content. I'll give Samsung another try but they seem to have exhausted their suggestions.
I can't believe that all material possessions can be passed to us but yet precious memories on phones seem out of reach and so unobtainable.
Thanks for your suggestions and I hope you continue to enjoy those memories.
Ask about with friends or kiddies, they sometime know how to 'hack' into phones! I went through all options, only because I locked it by trying it so many times and getting the passcode wrong was Apple able to help.
I have since been an advocate in telling everyone to write down all passwords etc and keep them in a sealed envelop either with your will or give to a friend/family member for safe keeping.
I couldn't even turn the heating or lights on without access to Andy's phone as he did everything via technical apps!
Did you manage to get into the phone? A very similar thing happened to me after my husband died of metastatic melanoma 10 weeks ago. It took me 7 weeks and a lot of tears and heartache to get into his photos etc. Vodafone, Samsung, little phone shops…. No one could help me without saying they would wipe the phone. I couldn’t believe that no one could do anything! I had no idea of the passcode as I never needed to and he died quicker than expected so I didn’t get chance to ask him. Did your partner have a Google account linked to her android phone? As this was my key to backing up the phone to enable me to access everything. So the first thing I did was put the SIM card from his phone into an old mobile phone to get the 6 digit codes when you hit the forgot my password option. I had to change the passwords on his email accounts etc. Then when I accessed Google (that took 7 weeks as they thought I was a hacker) and his Samsung cloud account I could back up the phone. He had a very new phone so one of the phone shops told me he would have backed it up recently to transfer it over. All of his photos etc were backed up on Google photos so when I accessed Google they were there. I then bought a cheap Samsung phone and then put it all on there using his Samsung account. I could have done it with Google too. I know the new phone is not ‘his phone’ but it was better than nothing and I still can’t get his actual phone open with no passcode. It took a lot of figuring out and a very techno savvy teenage son to get things sorted. Hope you got sorted. I’ve never replied to anyone before but when I read your dilemma I have some idea of how it feels.
