How to factory reset an Android smartphone

There are a number of reasons why we often need to replace factory to our Android phone. Overloaded with applications and too slow, or we have recently done an update and it is causing problems with some features of the phone. Or simply because we are going to sell the smartphone.

Whatever the reason, here’s how to reset through your phone’s settings or from the bootloader if your phone isn’t booting properly. As there are many different models and brands of Android devices, we will use the Nexus 6P and the Samsung Galaxy S7 as examples, although the process should be quite similar on other smartphones.

Notice: Before explaining how to perform a factory reset, you must be aware that it will completely erase all data on the phone. If you haven’t backed up your contacts, photos, videos, documents and anything else, you’ll regret not doing so, so consider yourself warned.
It is also important to have the battery above 50% charge to avoid the risk of the process failing halfway through.

Reset your phone from the settings menu

Nexus 6P

1. Tap the Settings icon
2. Swipe up to scroll down until you find the Backup and reset menu
3. Tap Reset. data/factory
4. Tap Reset Phone.
5. Tap Delete all

The phone will restart and complete the entire process and boot again.

Samsung Galaxy S7

1. Tap the Settings icon
2. Swipe up to scroll down to the bottom of the Settings menu.
3. Tap Backup and Restore.
4. Swipe up to scroll down
5. Tap Restore data from factory.
6. Tap Reset Phone.
7. Tap Erase everything.

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The phone will restart and complete the entire process and boot again.

Reset the phone from bootloader/Recovery

If your phone is having a problem and is unable to boot up properly, you will need to go into boot mode. recovery. To do this, you typically need to boot your phone while pressing an exact button combination, which will depend on the brand of phone you are using.

Nexus 6P

1. If your phone is on, turn it off
2. Press and hold the Power button and Volume down button. Instead of booting normally, you will see “Start” with an arrow pointing to the power button. Here you must use the volume buttons to navigate and the Power button to select an option
3. Press the volume down button until you find Recovery mode.
4. Press the power button to start recovery mode.
5. When the phone restarts, you should see a screen that says “No command” with a robot of the android in danger. Press and hold the power button, and then press the volume up button once to load the reset menu.
6. Using the volume buttons to scroll through the menu, highlight Wipe data/reset factory.
7. Press the power button to select.
8. Highlight and select the Yes to confirm the reset.
9. Once completed, you will be taken back to the mode menu. recovery. Press the power button to select restart system now.

The phone will turn on and reset to its default settings. factory. You will notice that the first time it takes a little longer to start up, and you will go through the initial configuration process, as if it were a new phone. Once configured, you can go and restore the data from where you had it backed up.

Samsung Galaxy S7

1. If your phone is on, turn it off
2. Press and hold the volume up button and Home button plus the Power button. The phone will boot into standby mode recovery.
3. Use the volume buttons to scroll through the menu.
4. Highlight Wipe data/factory reset
5. Press the power button to select.
6. Highlight and select the Yes to confirm the reset.
7. Once completed, you will be taken back to the mode menu. recovery.
8. Press the power button to select restart system now.

The phone will turn on and reset to its default settings. factory. You will notice that the first time it takes a little longer to start up, and you will go through the initial configuration process, as if it were a new phone. Once configured, you can go and restore the data from where you had it backed up.