How to Hard Reset an Android Phone?

Whether it’s an iOS device or an Android device, you’ll find that as you use your phone for longer periods of time, it will slowly become laggy, which can be caused by not having enough memory, running too many apps, etc.

In most cases, the easiest solution is to reboot your device. When your system is turned off and on again, the phone’s background apps will be cleaned up and you’ll restart in a new way. But sometimes a simple reboot is not enough. Your system may refuse to reboot at all, in which case you will need to perform a hard reboot. If that doesn’t work, you may even need to perform a factory reset. That’s why we’ve provided you with a guide on how to reset your Android device here.

How to Reset an Android Phone to the Factory Settings

A factory reset will delete all data you have on your phone, which is the reason why you must create a backup if you don’t want to lose all your contacts, videos, images, or music. Once all your files are safely backed up you can choose the factory reset method you feel the most comfortable with.

Different Android phone manufacturers utilize different types of user interfaces, and for that reason, the location of the feature that enables you to wipe your phone clean may differ. Nokia, Motorola, and other industry-leading manufacturers use stock interface, while Samsung’s models usually run on One UI.

Factory Reset Phone by Reinstall Android OS

Normally, regular methods will erase the device’s data. So you may be thinking how to reset your phone without deleting anything? No worries, DroidKit may help you. It’s a PC software that allows you to reinstall and update Android OS on your phone using PC. Through the process of auto-matching firmware and downloading the firmware package, you can install a fresh Android OS on mobile. And you can finish this reinstallation on your Windows PC or Mac computer.

• All Samsung phones & tablets with Android OS 5 to 14 are supported to reinstall.
• Windows 11/10/8/7 and macOS are supported.
• At the same time, DroidKit will fix many system issues after reinstalling OS, such as black screen, stuck issues, etc.
• Besides, DroidKit’s Clean System Junk tool can help you find and delete unwanted APK files, caches, background apps, etc.

Here are the steps to reinstall Android OS using PC:

Step 1. Get DroidKit installed and launched. Preview DroidKit as below and choose “System Reinstall” mode.

Step 2. Tap on Start button.

Step 3. After connecting your device, DroidKit will automatically match the right system version. Please choose a version to download.

Step 4. Select and Download a firmware version, then click Start to Reinstall.

Step 5. Follow the on-screen instructions to put your phone in Download mode. Then DroidKit will start the reinstall process immediately till the System Updated Successfully page shows.

Further Reading: How to Reset Android Phone When Locked >

Use System Reboot

The easiest way to restart Android is to press and hold the power button for a few seconds. This will usually be found near the top right of your device. But on biometric phones, for example, the button will be on the back. After pressing and holding the power button for a while, you will see a menu with options to power off or restart. Just choose Restart and wait your phone to reboot.

Perform a Hard Reset

But sometimes even if you press and hold the power button you still can’t restart your device. This usually happens when your phone has completely frozen. In this case, you need to perform a hard reboot.

On some devices, you can perform a hard reset by pressing and holding the power button. This can take as long as 20 seconds, so you need to be patient and wait for things to happen. If there is no response after 30 seconds, please try holding down the power and volume up buttons at the same time. This should cause the device to shut down after about 20 seconds. At this point, you can reboot your Android as normal.

Resetting from the Settings Menu

If you don’t care if your data is lost, then the easiest and fastest way to reset an Android phone to the factory settings is to use its reset options. These options are located in the Settings app on nearly all devices that run on an Android OS. So here’s what you need to do to reset your phone to factory settings.

Step 1. Locate the Settings app on your device. You can do this by browsing through all apps on your phone or alternatively you can use the app drawer to find the Settings app. Tap on the app once you locate it and navigate to the System menu, located at the bottom of the screen.

Step 2. On your Huawei phone, go to Settings > Backup and Reset. It may be either under the “Personal” or “Additional Settings” depending on the Android version you’re using.

Step 3. Choose the Factory Data Reset option.

Step 4. Click on the Reset Device option and the reset process will begin.

The process we just described is going to be slightly different if you have a Samsung phone, as the reset functions are located in the General Management tab that can be accessed by opening the Settings tab.

All other differences are most nomenclatural since the feature that starts the reset is called Erase all data instead of Factory Data Reset, but they perform the same function. Like all other Android users, the owners of Samsung devices have to insert the PIN code in order to initiate a factory reset.

Factory Reset Android Phone in Recovery Moede

In case an update or malfunctioning software is preventing you from accessing the Settings app and restoring the device to the factory settings, you can use the phone’s hardware to access the Recovery Mode.

However, you should take into account that your device may be protected by the feature called Factory Reset Protection which was introduced by Google a few years ago with the aim of preventing factory resets of stolen phones. Consequently, you will be required to sign-in to your Google account, and if you fail to do so, you won’t be able to finish the setup.

Here’s how you can restore an Android phone to the factory settings from the Recovery Mode:

Step 1.  Make sure that your phone is switched off, and then hold the Power and Volume Down buttons until you see the Start arrow pointing towards the Power button. Use the Volume buttons to navigate to the “Recovery Mode” option, and then press the Power button to select it.

Step 2. Your device will reboot, and the ‘No Command’ message will be displayed on the screen. You should hold the Power and Volume Up buttons in order to enter the device’s recovery mode. A menu will appear on the menu, and you should use the Volume buttons to navigate through that menu and use the Power button to select the “wipe data/factory reset” option.

Step 3. You will be asked to confirm that you want to reset the device to the factory settings, so just select “Yes”, and use the Power button to initiate the reset. The recovery mode menu will appear on the screen after the factory settings were restored, and you should select the “Reboot System Now” option in order to continue using your phone.

The process of resetting a Samsung device to the factory settings is almost identical to the one we just described. The only major difference is that you need to press the Power button along with the Volume Up button to reach the Recovery Mode menu. Afterward, the “Installing System Update” message is going to appear on the screen and the device will enter the Recovery Mode automatically.

Remove the Battery

We usually also meet this situation, that is, even if long press the power button and volume button, etc. still can not reset/restart the device, this may be because the Android system is frozen. In this case, we can try to remove the power and put it back.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I do a hard reset on my Android phone?

Usually, if your phone has only minor problems such as slow operation, then hard reset can be fixed. But it will erase all the data on your device. So please be careful.

What if My Phone is Bricked?

If unfortunately your phone is bricked, then you first need to determine if it is hardware damage. A hardware-damaged phone will not respond in any way, in this case, you need to go to a cell phone store for repair. But if your phone can still turn on or flash the screen, then you can try DroidKit system fix function to help you fix it. It can fix system issues, such as Stuck in Boot Loop, Stuck in a Certain Mode, Not Responding and so on.

How can I get my data back after factory resetting?

If you are used to using Google account, you can easily recover your data from Google account, like contacts, call history, etc. If you want to know more about how to recover data from factory reset Android phones, please read this article carefully.

The Bottom Line

To hard reset your phone is a simple matter. You can also use factory reset and recovery mode to reset your device, but this will erase your device data. Of course, to preserve your device data, you can try DroidKit to reinstall the Android OS. Moreover, it can also help you fix Android errors, transfer Android data and so on.

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