How to Factory Reset Android Device

How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone and Tablet

Nov. 12, 2014 11:26 am / Updated by Bobby Hills to Mobile Phone Tips
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Wanna get rid of your personal data before you sell your Android phone? The easiest way to do this is something called factory reset – an option that enables you to bring your device to the state it was in right out of the factory floor: no personal photos, no sensitive documents, no any other data and settings.

Disclaimer: Once you do a factory reset, ALL of your personal data will be deleted off your device. Make sure you have backed up all your important data firstly.

How to Factory Reset an Android Device from the Settings Menu?

Depend on which version of Android your device is running or in some cases depending on which manufacturer (Samsung, HTC, Moto, etc.), the Factory Reset Option may reside in a different place, but the idea is similar. Find it!

• 1. Press "Menu" button and go to "Settings" from the Home screen.
• 2. Tap the "Backup & reset" option on the latest versions of Android or tap "Privacy" if you're using Android 2.3.
  
  
• 3. Select "Factory data reset".
  
  
• 4. Tick "Erase SD card" if your smartphone or tablet has expandable storage. Press "Reset phone".

The process may take a few moments, but the phone will eventually reboot and ask you for your credentials. Once logged in, if you selected for apps to restore themselves, they will begin downloading after opening the Android Market and agreeing to the Terms of Service again. Additionally, any other services you had synced to the phone will restore their data as well.

How to Restore your Phone to Factory Settings Remotely

Let's say, unfortunately, your phone is stolen or a broken display is keeping you from accessing the settings menu of an otherwise functional handset. What do you do? Fortunately, there is still hope for you to perform a factory reset of your smartphone. The catch is that you will hopefully have previously installed Android Device Manager and enabled the remote lock and erase option. If so, follow these simple steps:

• 1. Log into your Google Play account (the one registered to your lost or broken phone)
• 2. Tap the gear icon in the upper right corner
• 3. Click "Android Device Manager"
• 4. Select the desired device from the drop down menu in the dialog box hovering above the location map
• 5. Click "Erase"
• 6. When asked to confirm, click "Erase" again.
  
  

The result will be the same as if performing a factory reset directly from the phone via the settings menu.

Usually, it's at this point when you'll realize you forgot to back up a whole bunch of things you can't live without. Fortunately, you can use a piece of useful software named Android Data Recovery Pro. It can recover contacts, photos, text messages, videos, music, documents and other data on your Android phone and tablets. It covers all Android models like Samsung Galaxy S5/Note 4, HTC One M8 and all Android versions including the latest Android Lollipop. It also has a Mac version Android Data Recovery Pro for Mac if you're using Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite and under.

Get Android Data Recovery Pro Now