Restriction type
Forgotten screen lock
PIN, pattern, password, or a phone that disabled itself after too many guesses. The official path is almost always an erase.
What this actually is
The screen lock is local. It sits in front of your photos, apps, and 2FA. On every current iPhone and Android, the manufacturer will not read that code back to you. If you cannot remember it, they will tell you to wipe the device.
That is not us being grim. That is how the hardware is designed. Anyone offering to “keep your data and skip the PIN” on a modern phone is not describing an official path.
What you should do first
Check whether a cloud backup already exists — iCloud.com, photos.google.com, a Mac that used to sync the phone. Write down the date of the last backup. That date is the real cost of the reset.
If the phone is online, prefer a remote erase (Find My / Find Hub / Samsung Find). It is cleaner than guessing recovery-mode timing with a dying battery.
What a reset does not fix
After the wipe, Apple will still want the Apple Account (Activation Lock). Google will still want the Gmail (FRP). A carrier SIM lock is unchanged. If the phone was stolen, none of this is a path around that fact.