If you ever have serious issues with your Android device, or if you plan to sell information technology, you might demand to do a mill reset.

Here, nosotros'll teach you lot how to perform a factory reset on Android. Nosotros'll also cover how yous can recover data after a factory reset.

What Is a Factory Reset?

Android looking at phone

A factory reset is a process you lot perform on a device, such as a phone or a tablet. It deletes all your personal data stored on the device and returns it to the original land it was in when it left the factory—hence the "mill" reset name.

You may likewise see a manufactory reset called "main reset" or "system restore." Sometimes, people will refer colloquially to "wiping" a device, which ordinarily means a factory reset.

Why Perform a Mill Reset?

In that location are plenty of reasons you might desire to perform a factory reset on your Android device. First, if you desire to sell your device, you don't want the heir-apparent to have any access to your data. And then you should ever perform a factory reset before passing your device onto someone else.

Second, perhaps you've had your device for a while and it's full of apps you don't want. Since it'southward running slowly, performing a factory reset will revert everything to a clean state and should brand your device run faster. From there, yous can reinstall only the apps you lot demand.

Finally, if your device has meet some sort of software problem that you can't fix, performing a factory reset can assist to resolve the upshot.

How to Factory Reset Your Android Device

Android comes with an choice for performing a factory reset in its settings, so it'south easy to practise.

Before you perform a reset, make sure that you lot have backed up all the important data on your Android device. You may besides want to back up app settings, a list of your favorite apps, and ensure that media like photos, videos, and music are stored in the Google Cloud.

To perform a factory reset on a Google Pixel or other Android device, practice the post-obit:

  1. Go to Settings on your Android device, which you'll find in the app drawer.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the carte and select System.
  3. Hither, yous'll see several settings including Reset Options, or if this isn't available, the selection to show more in the Advanced subheading. Tap on Advanced.
  4. Now, select Reset options.
  5. In this carte, you lot'll run across an option labeled Erase all data (factory reset). This is the option you want, so tap information technology.
  6. You lot'll see a confirmation page titled Erase all data (mill reset). This page warns you that going ahead will erase data from your device such as your Google account, system and app settings, downloaded apps, music, photos, and other user information.
    1. The screen also indicates which accounts you lot're signed in to on the device. This includes Google accounts as well as others like Telegram, Microsoft, and WhatsApp.
  7. If y'all're sure that y'all want to perform the reset, striking the Delete all information push button at the bottom of this page.
  8. The device will ask you lot to enter your Pivot or password. Once you've done this, tap Next.
  9. To confirm the deletion, tap Delete all.
  10. This begins the factory reset procedure. Once your device has been reset, y'all tin can set it up as if it was a new device.

Perform a Factory Reset on a Samsung Milky way Device

The process for performing a factory reset is a little unlike on Samsung devices. On a Samsung smartphone running Android eleven and later, this is what you need to do:

  1. Get to Settings on your Samsung device.
  2. Scroll to the section titled General management, or on older Androids, Organisation.
  3. Here, tap Reset.
  4. Yous'll now come across several reset options. To perform a factory reset on your Samsung device, tap Factory data reset.
  5. Earlier your telephone resets, you'll run across a confirmation page explaining the data that volition exist erased during the reset process. You'll too run into a listing of apps that will exist uninstalled from your device and a list of accounts that y'all are currently signed in on.
  6. If you're certain that you want to perform the reset, scroll to the bottom then hit Reset.
  7. This begins the factory reset process. Once your device has been reset, yous can set it up as if it was a new device.

Can You Accidentally Manufacturing plant Reset Your Phone?

A mill reset can have serious consequences, and equally such, software developers have tried to ensure that it's non possible to perform a factory reset past accident. To perform a factory reset and wipe your data, you will need to go through several steps, and y'all may even demand to enter your passcode earlier the deletion begins.

That being said, it is still possible to perform a factory reset past blow if you are messing around in your settings or aren't 100% aware of what you are doing.

If yous've just performed a manufacturing plant reset on your phone and recall yous've lost everything, and so while yous may not be able to reverse the factory reset, you'll be glad to hear that you lot may be able to recover some of your information.

Can Data Be Recovered After a Factory Reset?

Afterward a factory reset, tin your information be recovered or does a factory reset delete everything? The brusque answer is aye, some data can be recovered. People often think that once they perform a factory reset, so their data is completely removed from the device and is no longer attainable. However, this isn't necessarily the case.

Information technology is possible to recover data from a factory reset. This can be benign if you've accidentally performed a reset, and y'all want your data dorsum. But information technology can be a trouble if you lot performed the reset to protect your information.

Android Comes With Built-In Encryption to Protect Your Data

Years ago, Android devices were not encrypted by default. This meant that fifty-fifty after performing a mill reset, some data was still accessible on the device's internal storage.

There are tools available that could connect to an already-reset device and excerpt deleted files, which could include personal data like contacts, texts, or photos. To protect your data, you needed to encrypt your device earlier mill resetting it.

However, since Android 6 Marshmallow, Android devices transport encrypted past default. This means that you don't accept to worry most people accessing your deleted data using forensic tools. Even if tools are able to extract deleted files from your device, these files are encrypted, so they can't be read by anyone else. This is one of the many reasons why you lot may want to enable end-to-cease encryption.

Cloud Backups Can Be a Good and a Bad Matter

cloud backups can be a good thing
Paradigm Credit: Faithie/Depositphotos

However, encryption doesn't hateful that your data is entirely gone. Most services at present have some kind of cloud backup, where your user information is stored online. Your Google account, for example, may have synced data from your Android device.

This data tin can include app data, calendar, browser data (if you utilize Chrome), contacts, documents and other files stored in Google Drive or Docs, and your Gmail email information. If your media is automatically stored on the cloud, then this makes it easy to recover photos afterward a factory reset. If you need to restore this data, you can do so after a reset during the setup process.

While cloud storage is a great safety net, there are withal some security concerns. Cloud security has improved drastically in recent years, merely there are still steps that you can take to keep your cloud storage safety and secure.

Fifty-fifty and so, your data may still be vulnerable due to insecurities in cloud backups. To destroy your data completely, you'll need to close all your accounts that employ cloud backups.

How to Destroy Data on Your Android Device

If y'all want to make certain that your data is not accessible afterwards a factory reset, there are tools available that can overwrite the data on your device with garbage data. This ensures that your personal files are completely inaccessible. To exercise this, y'all can use an app such as Shreddit. This app will erase data from both internal and external storage on your device.

To use an erasing app, outset past ensuring your device is encrypted. Download and run the shredding app, then perform a factory reset. This volition completely wipe all information from your device. This is the best method if you plan to sell your device.

Perform a Factory Reset on Your Android Device

Using these steps, you tin can perform a manufacturing plant reset on your Android device to delete the data from information technology. This tin assistance to brand your device run faster or deal with whatsoever nagging software problems. However, resetting your device will non necessarily delete all of your personal data.

If yous plan to sell your device, you should take extra steps to protect your data before passing information technology on to someone else. Apps similar Shreddit can destroy your data before you perform the reset to make sure no one can recover it.

A mill reset tin can be a useful way to bargain with software problems on your phone. But before you choose to reset your device, be sure that you accept exhausted all other options first. If you've performed a factory reset by accident, then you may be able to recover data such as pictures and files from the cloud.