Android could soon save you from losing all your data when you forget your smartphone's PIN or password.

We've all been there. You set up a PIN when configuring a new device, but then rarely use it because you mostly rely on face or fingerprint unlock. But Android does ask you to enter your PIN or password from time to time for verification (be it after a software update or restart), but there's always a chance you simply can't remember it.

Right now, if you've completely forgotten your PIN or password, your options are pretty limited. You have to factory reset the phone, lose the data that isn't backed up, and then set up the device again using your Google account. Losing your data over such a small and pretty common mistake is a huge bummer, and I've had friends and family lose access to their data because of exactly this.

Thankfully, Google could soon have a solution. According to a report from Android Authority, Google is developing a new feature in Android 17 QPR2 Beta 5 that could allow users to unlock their smartphone using their Google account if they've forgotten their PIN or password.

The feature would essentially give you another way to verify that the phone belongs to you using your linked Google account, potentially saving you from having to factory reset the device and lose your data.

Forgetting your PIN may no longer mean a reset

According to the report, the Device Unlock section in the latest Android release contains references to a new option called Unlock with Google account. The description reportedly reads, "If you forget your PIN or password, unlock your device using your linked Google account."

Interestingly, Google recently also added a feature that lets users verify their identity and access their Google account using a selfie. It's unclear if the two features will be connected, but I could see Google using something similar here to make sure it's actually you trying to regain access to the phone.

The feature isn't functional just yet, but considering references to it have now appeared in an Android 17 QPR2 beta build, there's a chance Google could roll it out with a future Android update.

From what we've seen so far, Unlock with Google account also appears to be an optional feature that's disabled by default. Users would have to manually enable it in Settings before they could use their Google account as a backup way to unlock the device.

And that makes sense considering the security implications. If someone somehow gains access to both your phone and Google account credentials, you wouldn't necessarily want them to have another easy way into the device.

Still, this could come in clutch for plenty of users who simply forget their PIN and would otherwise be forced to reset their phone. The feature isn't working just yet, but we'll update this page if Google enables it in a future beta build.