How to Bypass Factory Reset Protection on LG Devices

Security is a major concern on every Android device. To make your device more secure Google introduced a new security measure in Android 5.0 A.K.A. Android Lollipop called Factory Reset Protection (FRP). If you are already familiar with the term factory reset, you may have figured out what FRP is. Factory Reset protection keeps your data safe in case your device gets stolen. It does so by requiring authentication after a factory reset to make the device usable.

Imagine this scenario: You lost your device or your device got stolen. Now, the first thing that a thief will do is to factory reset your device so that he can use it by himself or sell it to someone else. But since you have already attached your Google account with your device and have set a security option (PIN, Password, etc.), the thief will not be able to factory reset it from the settings. He will have to do it via stock recovery option (which is pretty simple, BTW). Once the factory reset is done and the process to setup the device begins, the device will ask to enter the Google account and password that was previously linked with the device. This is Factory Reset Protection. Now, the device is not useful to the thief. Thank you, Google!

What if, instead of losing your device, you forget your password and Google account details? You are stuck; you can’t even make it usable via factory resetting your device (thanks to FRP). You already know that in order to activate FRP you must attach a Google account to your device, set a security option, and factory reset your device via stock recovery menu. If you happen to have an LG device (probably a recent one like LG V10, LG G4, etc.) than the Factory Reset Protection can be bypassed in just a few minutes. Here’s how to do it.

Requirement for Performing This Procedure:

• Make sure that your device is connected to WiFi.

Bypass Factory Reset Protection on LG Devices

Method #1

1. Turn off your phone, enter into the recovery menu and factory reset your phone.
2. When it turns on again, follow the setup wizard. On the main screen, tap on “Accessibility” to enter accessibility menu. We are going to turn on some settings here.
3. Turn on “Switch Access” from the menu. Now go to the settings and scroll to the bottom. Tap on “Key combo for Overview”. Once the popup appears click the volume down button on the back. This will change the key combination for the overview.
4. Taping on back button twice will take you to the main menu. Tap on “Vision” and then on “Talkback”. Scroll to the bottom and tap on “Settings”. Scroll to the bottom again and tap on “Privacy policy”. This will launch the internet.
5. Tap on the Google logo at the top. This will take you to Google’s homepage.
6. Use the search bar to go to www.rootjunkydl.com and tap on “Apps” in the navigation menu.
7. Download “samsung.bypass.google.verify.apk”.

Once it downloads, press the volume down button to enable overview and then tap on “Dual window”. From the next screen, you can easily access the file manager.

1. Now, locate the downloaded APK file and install it. Open the app and it will direct you to the phone’s settings options.
2. Samsung devices let you factory reset the device from this setting but LG does not support this feature. But there is a work around here.
3. In the settings, go to “Users” and add a new user using any Google account.
4. Once the setup is complete, you’ll enter the phone as a guest user.
5. Now, go to settings and then to users and then switch to the owner.
6. Now you can factory reset the phone from settings without worrying about the FRP.

The requirement for FRP to appear is that a Google account must be attached and your phone must have security option enabled. Since neither of these requirements is fulfilled while factory resetting the device for the second time, FRP will be bypassed.

Now follow the setup wizard, enter details of a new Google account, and you are good to go.

The credit for this trick goes to RootJunky. Thank you for this awesome trick.

Method #2

In case the first method does not work for you, here’s another method that you should give a try. This method is easier to perform as it does not require you to download anything. Let’s go.

1. Turn off your phone, enter into the recovery menu and factory reset your phone.
2. When it turns on again, follow the setup wizard. Turn on your Wi-Fi connection and get connected to the internet.
3. Touch “Next” and you’ll be prompted to enter the Gmail account which was associated with the device previously.
4. Touch “Back (<)” and go back to the main setup page.
5. On the main screen, tap on “Accessibility” to enter accessibility menu. Touch “Yes” when you get a popup asking for confirmation.
6. You’ll now enter accessibility settings. Tap on “Motor and cognition”.
7. On the next screen, toggle on “Touch assistant”. You’ll get an icon in the bottom right corner. Long-press it.
8. You’ll get a few options. Long-press the option titled “Home”.
9. Next, you’ll get access to the Google app installed on your device.
10. You’ll get two options on the both corners at the bottom – “No, thanks” and “Sign in”. Tap “No, thanks”.
11. Type “Settings” in the Google search bar. You’ll see the phone settings app in the suggestions. Tap on it to enter phone settings.
12. Once in the settings, scroll down and look for “Apps”.
13. Tap the three vertical dots at the top right corner and select “Show system” from the options. This will show all the system installed apps.
14. Scroll down to look for “Setup Wizard”. Tap on it and then disable it.
15. Restart your device.
16. Follow the setup process. You won’t be asked to enter a Gmail address. Once the setup is complete, the phone will boot into the home screen.
17. Go to phone settings, tap “General”, scroll down to “Backup & reset”. Next, scroll down to “Factory data reset” and reset your device deleting all the data.
18. Your device will reset now. Once it’s done, it will restart.
19. You’ll see the initial set up page. Set up the device; there won’t be any more complications now.