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Why is 4382516 the pin of my Samsung phone?

Note: This is the first time I post on this stackexchange, I hope I did it right. I think this is a puzzle that you will find fun. It has a unique solution that can be found by anyone and you will know that it is the solution when you find it.

Since it has been 24 hours, I think it is appropriate to add a hint:

You have to look up the Samsung lock screen.

It has been another day, so I will add another hint:

The Samsung lock screen for inputting a pin does not seem to be the same for everyone based on my google search. The one that I have comes up multiple times in the top 10 search results for my (simple) query.

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  • $\begingroup$ I hope you might have read the definition of password tag which means to figure out password. But here you are giving out password yourself. Are you sure that this has been tagged accurately?? $\endgroup$
    – Dreopa
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 15:48
  • $\begingroup$ @LakshaySura you are right indeed. My bad. I hope riddle is more fitting $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 16:13
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    $\begingroup$ Definitely not a riddle (a "what am I" type puzzle describing an unidentified thing in a cryptic way). I've re-edited the tags for you :-) $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 16:23
  • $\begingroup$ @Randal'Thor You added the password tag again? $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 17:32
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    $\begingroup$ Thank you, I was agreeing that the tag is appropriate. $\endgroup$
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 20:52

8 Answers 8

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Your PIN is made up of

the numbers of characters in each word of the sentence "your PIN contains at least 4 digits". This message appears on the lockscreen of some Samsung devices (or possibly other brands as well) when you enter the PIN.

I couldn't have seen the solution before the second hint because my phone does not show that message. I expect some users to be pretty disappointed by this solution haha

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  • $\begingroup$ Shoot I was using the wrong screenshot. Nice find. $\endgroup$
    – Amoz
    Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 2:17
  • $\begingroup$ Yes well done. I hope not too many are disappointed. As it was my first riddle, would you have done something different to avoid that? $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 8:57
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    $\begingroup$ I'm no expert either, but I think this puzzle is meant to disappoint those who look for more complex patterns. Maybe you could have been clearer in the first hint or in the answer to @mihomir (though you've already made up for that). $\endgroup$
    – The Footprint
    Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 12:06
  • $\begingroup$ Ideally solution should be simple but unexpected. The first thing I did was check word lengths in my screenshot so this may have been too easy. The main improvement is that a puzzle should not contain specific unattainable knowledge (the version of your phone) though your second hint fixed that. $\endgroup$
    – Amoz
    Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 12:34
  • $\begingroup$ @AmosZoellner As you say yourself it was a bit too easy just to count words, so I wanted the finding of the right screenshot to be part of the riddle. More of a research riddle than a math riddle. Maybe I should have marked it differently then? $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Aug 3, 2020 at 11:24
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You're Dutch and used het alzo ("it's like this") as your password because it's easy to remember (Wat is het wachtwoord? Het alzo…). Your phone has Q and Z on the 1 key.

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  • $\begingroup$ Sadly not correct but interesting approach. $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 20:51
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Just an idea, not a complete solution:

Samsung has 7 letters, the pin is also 7 digits long. So there could be some mapping between each of the letters of Samsung and the pin.
Also, 6 looks a big like a capital G.

However:

The two S in Samsung map to different digits. So if my first assumption is correct, it is not a straight substitution and you have to take into account something else, for example the position of the letter in the word. Or the difference could be because the first S is uppercase while the second is lowercase, and those would be considered different in this mapping.

EDIT after the hint, still not solved:

I assume by "the Samsung lock screen" it means the one where you can enter a PIN. To me it seems like a standard phone keyboard where several letters are mapped to a digit. I can't see the connection yet, though.
If we try to spell "Samsung" using the phone digits it would be 7267864. It's interesting that "Samsung" this way ends with "864" and the PIN starts with "438". Which is almost the same in reverse, but I it could just be a coincidence.
It is also interesting that all the digits of the PIN are different, and include everything from 1 to 6, but then skip 7 and go straight to 8.
It is also interesting that the penultimate digit is 1, which doesn't map to any letters. So we can consider it as a space. I thought the PIN can match the phone's model, but it seems that all Samsung phones are "Galaxy (something)" which poses two problems - Galaxy is 6 letters long, if we then include a space and the letter for the model, it doesn't fit the PIN.

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    $\begingroup$ This answer is the closest so far, but still some way to go. $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Jul 31, 2020 at 19:47
  • $\begingroup$ I got to that same spot and have resigned to awaiting the next hint. :( $\endgroup$
    – Amoz
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 1:49
  • $\begingroup$ Ok I think I have to clarify, with some way to go I don't mean it has to be more complicated, I mean it has to be quite a bit different. It is only close in a small part, but closer than any other answer. $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 22:42
  • $\begingroup$ As the solution is out, I want to clarify what I meant in case I was just confusing you: ROT13 Gur vqrn bs pbhagvat yrggref jnf pbeerpg, lbh whfg hfrq gur jebat jbeq. $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Aug 2, 2020 at 9:02
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Found a pattern but it is almost certainly random luck and not the solution...

Samsung on the pin pad = 7267864
In order to reduce hacking, I propose you obfuscated it with 2 rules:
1. Count backwards by the # of letters on the key (beginning the count on your letter) if your letter is on the right side of the key, else count forwards by the # of letters on the key (beginning the count on your letter) if your letter is on the left side of the key (essentially moving opposite the implied direction), else if your letter is in the middle of the key just count backwards 4 (beginning the count on your letter).
2. If you land on a number already used, work backwards to the next open number to ensure no numbers are repeated, as unique numbers deter hackers
S (right)=7=move left 4 (this key has 4 letters)=7,6,5,4 = 4
A (left)=2=move right 3 = 2,3,4; but 4 is in use so go back to 3
M (left)=6=move right 3 = 6,7,8 = 8
S (right)=7=move left 4 = 7,6,5,4; but 4 & 3 are in use so go back to 2
U (middle)=8=move left 4= 8,7,6,5 = 5
N (middle)=6=move left 4 = 6,5,4,3; but 3 & 2 are in use so go back to 1
G (left)=4=move right 3 = 4,5,6 = 6
Luckily yielding 4382516... one can find a math pattern in any sequence; but I'll keep looking for a more elegant one...

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  • $\begingroup$ Nice effort, but this is not quite the way to go, the solution is actually quite a bit simpler. $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Aug 1, 2020 at 22:41
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Another approach.

The sum of all these numbers are 29 and 29 is a prime number and probably referring to Samsung Prime series of mobile.

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    $\begingroup$ No that would be very random, wouldn't it? $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Jul 31, 2020 at 9:29
  • $\begingroup$ @findusl totally agreed. But I wanted to post it anyway. $\endgroup$
    – Dreopa
    Commented Jul 31, 2020 at 10:00
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Is it because

You're roughly drawing a star and Samsung's company name means "three stars"?

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  • $\begingroup$ I did not know that, interesting funfact. But not the solution $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Jul 31, 2020 at 19:44
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May be it is important date for you 4.3.82 and you bought samsung a517 so you salted the password and added 516

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    $\begingroup$ There is no information specifically about me needed to solve it., so that is wrong. $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Jul 31, 2020 at 9:29
  • $\begingroup$ You can add the spoiler effect by adding >! before your answer. $\endgroup$
    – Toby Mak
    Commented Jul 31, 2020 at 14:12
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It may be your pin because of the

squares

$4^2 = 16$
(1st digit squared) = (last 2 digits)
Or
$(4 - 0)^2 = 16$ (if a zero is added to the front)

and

$(8 - 3)^2 = 25$
(3rd digit subtracted from 2nd, then squared) = (4th and 5th digits)

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  • $\begingroup$ Isn't it interesting how one can find a math pattern in any sequence it is just a question of how complex the pattern is? A+ for trying but no that is not the solution $\endgroup$
    – findusl
    Commented Jul 31, 2020 at 19:45

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