New Participant

Question

Lock pattern changed LOCKED OUT OF MY OWN META QUEST 3!

25 replies
2781 views

Picture i took of the changed locked pattern through my phone.

Hello team, hope this finds you well.

Today a notification prompted that said to put a screen lock on, with different options i.e pin or pattern, i chose pattern. I set a lock pattern and turned my meta Quest 3 off.

Upon turning it back on i find out that the lock pattern design has been changed completely from a 9 dot (basic unlock pattern) it changed to a octagonal shape thingy (I have attached a picture of the lock screen and the changed pattern design) Which only consists of 8 dots which can be seen in the picture, so its practically impossible for me or many others users having same issue to login with the pattern we set.

The only option it has is forgot password, and the only thing we see once we click on it is a guide to factory reset the meta quest 3 because thats the only solution according to it.

I request the team to work on this lock pattern bug and let us know ASAP if theres any solution to it.

(Picture attached)

(Publishing from a different meta account than that in meta quest 3)

regards

Zxytro

MetaStoreHelp

Community Manager

Hi there,

Because this particular problem obviously involves security and logging in, we'd appreciate it if you can reach out to us privately here on the forum, so we can gather some more information and look into this for you!

- Please select our name to get to our profile page, or click here.
- Next, click "Send a Message" to privately message us!

Please remember, you must be signed into the community forum first to send us a private message.

If you're the author of a thread, remember to mark a reply as the Accepted Solution to help others find answers!

C

CydPL

New Participant

Don't waste your time! Answering with ask for PM is just trying to hide a problem.
Useless AI responses to file a bug and factory reset anyway (I just received it)!
What a joke!

V

VaaleaD

Up and Coming

I asked their livesupport if they were actually a human and then kept asking them to escalate 🫣

canned responses sound like AI.

there can be issues with polishing your email tone:

"Can Feel Emotionally Inauthentic - When someone gets back a clean, curated, polite response, it can feel cold or even dismissive."

"It Can Seem Like You're Avoiding Accountability - The more it sounds like a press release, the more likely the recipient is to feel gaslit, condescended to, or stonewalled."

" It Can Trigger Distrust or Defensiveness - the tone tells people you’re more concerned about appearing right than making things right. It tries to control perception rather than build connection."

"It Can Undermine Emotional Validity - Especially problematic in power-imbalanced dynamics..can feel invalidating... people may escalate just to be heard."

"It Can Be Perceived as Performative or Fake - it comes off as inauthentic or even manipulative."

steve40

Honored Contributor

What version software and build number is your Quest 3 on? I was under the impression that that 8-dot lock pattern was actually the OLD pattern, and the 9-dot pattern was the NEW pattern (I could be wrong). Have you somehow downgraded your software?

Anyways, the only solution is to factory reset your headset to erase the lock pattern, then set up your headset again from scratch.

Given all the software screw-ups from Meta, I would suggest sticking to a pin number, not lock pattern, in the future.

S

skippington

Participant

This happened to me too. I'm on the PTC and I think I was on v83. The device prompted me to add an unlock pattern and presented me with 9 dots arranged in a square grid to set the pattern. However, to unlock the device presents the 8 dots arranged in a hexagon. This is clearly a bug.

There are a couple of threads on Reddit with a few users experiencing the same thing and are locked out of their devices until some kind of fix is made available. Customer support told me to factory reset the device.

Some users with dev mode enabled were able to unlock the device using ADB and entering the unlock pattern as numbers. I do have dev mode enabled, but I have to authorize the device from within the headset first (which can't be done while it is locked).

There has to be some kind of better answer. Perhaps Meta could provide update that can be manually sideloaded that can present the 9 dot grid so the unlock pattern can actually be entered?

M

Maccyb123

Honored Contributor

It's very annoying for sure, but even to fix the pattern, you'll probably have to factory reset anyway. If I were you I'd just back up everything, games and apps, through the headset then just go ahead and reset. I had to do it due to a stalling update. It's not so much hassle and you can reload your stuff quickly. And, don't use a pattern, use a pin to be safe.

Maccyb

S

skippington

Participant

Unfortunately my Quest won't connect to my phone until the unlock pattern is entered, so I can't backup or change device settings. I can't do anything in the headset until the unlock pattern is entered. I don't have anything very important on my Quest that needs backing up, so a factory reset isn't the worst, but there may be others with a different situation.

I'm seeing more and more people on reddit asking about the bug, so it's something Meta devs should address.

J

JxLouxAuBR

New Participant

Same prblem. Arrrghhhh....So FACTORY RESET only,. This sux.

M

Maccyb123

Honored Contributor

Yes, it's a right pain in the asteroids. Just bite the bullet, get it over with and use a pin next time, remembering the pin of course. I couldn't remember mine but then remembered where I'd written in down 😂

Maccyb

L

lrodriguezesc

New Participant

Same issue here.

jameswood32

Inspiring

Hi Zxytro,

I totally understand your frustration — getting locked out of your own Meta Quest 3 is really stressful, especially when the lock pattern changes unexpectedly. Unfortunately, the behavior you described — the pattern changing from the 9-dot design to an 8-dot “octagonal” layout — seems like a bug in the system. Right now, the Meta Quest 3 doesn’t provide any way to recover access to the device if the pattern lock becomes unrecognizable, aside from a factory reset.

Here’s what you can do:

Factory Reset (the official method)

Hold the power and volume down buttons together until the boot menu appears.
Use the volume buttons to navigate to Factory Reset and press the power button to select.
Confirm the reset.

Note: This will erase all data on the headset, including downloaded games and account info.
Before doing a reset

If you had your Quest linked to your Meta account, some content and game progress may be recoverable after you log back in.
You could also try logging in via a different Meta account on another device to double-check if anything can be synced or recovered.

Report the bug to Meta Support

Make sure to report the pattern lock bug through the official support page or via the in-device support (if accessible).
Include your screenshots — this helps Meta track and fix the issue for future updates.

Stay updated

Keep an eye on system updates for your Quest 3. Meta may release a patch addressing this exact lock pattern problem.

I know a factory reset isn’t ideal, but unfortunately, that’s the only way to regain access if the pattern is truly inaccessible. Once reset, consider temporarily using a PIN instead of a pattern, at least until this bug is confirmed fixed.

Hopefully, Meta addresses this soon so others don’t run into the same problem!

P

piotrunio

Participant

Are you fuc#@3g kidding us? This is your solution?

How soon will Meta resolve this. This was over two months and I've just stubble on the same problem. Pattern changed. How can this still be. Lot's of people must be mad as I am.

C

carjones51

Participant

They're not gonna solve it. I've been back and forth w/them for two months now. Meta simply doesn't care. They created this problem and just tell everyone to factory reset to fix it. It's a real joke. I certainly won't be buying any of their products again or trusting any "security" they release.

This happened w/my Quest 2, and I didn't even need the stupid pattern. I feel like an idiot for installing it when it never had it before. Meta is a crap company.

mychataa

Up and Coming

I'm having the same problem. I hadn't set a pattern lock before, but after updating to v81, Quest3 notified me that setting a pattern lock would be more secure, so I did. I set a 3x3 pattern, but after restarting, it's a diamond pattern, and I can't unlock it no matter how many times I try.

Ugh, how could I make such a basic mistake?

P

piotrunio

Participant

You didnt. Meta did.

V

VaaleaD

Up and Coming

I was freaking out last night because I couldn't find https://www.meta.com/gallery/quest/ and thought/assumed that all my screenshot/video files were locked on my headset and somehow accessible only when my headset was unlocked.

But also they don't seem as high quality? Could that be right?

Anyway, I'm chatting with MetaStoreHelp saying "Please consider adding an automatic backup or sync option for headset photos and videos through the Meta mobile app.

iPhone users in particular could benefit from seamless uploads to iCloud or automatic import into the iOS Photos app — rather than manual transfers. This would protect user-generated content if a factory reset or lockout occurs.?"

~And they said "We understand you do not wish to lose the data on your Meta Quest 3, but a factory reset of the headset would be the only way to reset the password."

MetaStoreHelp nor meta livesupport advised-reassured me I could still access my data/media files via https://www.meta.com/gallery/quest/ even when locked out of the headset. Seems like the easiest way to convince people to factory reset is clearly advise them what will and what will NOT be affected and deleted in a factory reset.

sooooo like:

- Are these cloud-synced media files stored in their original quality?

- The factory reset will restore these media files to the headset after I log back into my Meta account or what happens?

I don't want to just jump into a factory reset without fully understanding the situation.... 🙃

I think most of what I care about is on the cloud and my main concern was video and screenshots... but what else is there affected that I'm not thinking of....

P

Pistolao

New Participant

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaan Meta must be joking, seriously, that's a rookie mistake on developing and after two months of your reply, nothing has changed...

V

VaaleaD

Up and Coming

After losing my Supernatural workout streak I finally did a factory reset on my headset about 2 weeks ago. My pictures and videos were back from the cloud (but lower quality?)

then last week Facebook disabled my account, no suspension and no email saying why. And no way to ‘speak’ to anyone about it. No appeal pop-up window or anything they say should happen. It’s happening to verified accounts too I understand. One tip I got from that is delink your Meta accounts because if one linked account goes down, they all do. My Insta went down with Facebook but I heard people without linked accounts were able to get back on Facebook via “verified” support on Insta.

I forgot to submit a bug report but not sure how that works after a factory reset.

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