How to reset Android settings to factory settings (i.e. delete all data from your phone, tablet)

To find a stolen or lost Android phone or use other remote control features, visit the official portal https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager(you need to sign in with your Google account). The first time you visit the site, you will need to agree to the terms and conditions that allow Device Manager to use location data.

Next, you can select your Android device (phone, tablet, etc.) in the menu list and perform one of three tasks (for the first two, changing the settings is not required and they work even if you did not enable the device manager, as was the case described above):

1. Find your phone on the map(can be read in the article “”).

2. Make it beep, so that you can find it under the sofa, or play on the kidnapper’s nerves. Even if your phone is muted, it will still ring at full volume.

3. And finally, the last option allows you remotely erase all data from the device. This function resets your phone or tablet to factory settings. However, to take advantage of this feature, you must set up your phone in advance. You can find out how to do this by following the link in the notification ().

So, now, if you lose your beloved smartphone, you don’t have to worry about the data becoming known to third parties.

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For many, a tablet or smartphone is not just a means of communication, but also a storage of personal files and data: a notepad, diary, task manager, photo album and even wallet. What kind of secrets do people not trust with their devices: from intimate photos and correspondence to confidential papers and passwords from bank accounts.

It is not surprising that Android allows you to copy personal information to the cloud for convenient transfer to new gadgets and completely erase it on old ones. Lifehacker's instructions will help you cope with these tasks. It's based on pure Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, but if you're using a different version of the system, these tips will also work. Although some menus and options may vary slightly.

Gadgets running Android 5.0 and newer OS versions automatically copy most user data and settings to Google servers. These are interface parameters and Wi-Fi networks, contacts, a list of installed programs, and even internal data of some of these programs. This feature greatly simplifies the transition to a new device. You simply connect your account to it - and copies of old data are downloaded there from the Internet.

To use backup, you must enable it in settings. To do this, find the section responsible for recovery and reset. Open it, select a Google account to store your data and settings, and then enable backup and auto-recovery.

Next, connect to the Internet and wait 30 minutes for the backup to occur. During the process, Android will duplicate the settings and data of Google applications synchronized with the account you selected. The system will also copy data from third-party programs whose developers have implemented support for backup via Google to the cloud. You can quickly restore all this on a new gadget.

If your device has an outdated Android system or you are not sure whether the backup covers important files, make copies of them manually.

Connect your phone to your computer in file storage mode and view the contents of the gadget in Explorer. Save important pictures, music, books, videos and other information from your device to your computer. As an alternative, you can duplicate the information in Dropbox or another.

In the future, you will be able to manually copy information saved on your computer or in the cloud to a new device.

3. Remove SD and SIM cards

Your phone number is gradually becoming a universal identifier for a variety of services, so it would be a shame to lose it. After demonstrating the capabilities of the smartphone to the buyer, do not forget to take out your SIM card. The same goes for the memory card, especially if your device was sold without it by default.

If you want to leave the memory card to the new owner as a bonus or because it was included in the standard package, be sure to erase it before selling it. To do this, open your phone settings and find the corresponding item in the storage section.

After backing up your important data and clearing your memory card, you should delete all data from your device. The fastest and most reliable way to do this is to return to factory settings. As a result, your phone or tablet will be the same as it was when it arrived at the store.

To perform a reset, connect the device to a power source and use the appropriate option in the device settings. For example, on pure Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, the required item is located in the “Recovery and reset” section and is called “Factory reset”.

After the reset, your phone will reboot, and you will see that it has become pristine and immaculate.

But if you tinkered with the firmware, this will not return the factory version. In this case, you may need to flash the device with factory firmware, which can usually be found on the manufacturer's website.

When all of the above steps are completed, you can transfer the device to a new user without fear for personal data.

Why do you need a data reset?

Resetting device data (factory reset, hard reset, factory reset) is deleting all data from a smartphone or tablet: contacts, messages, downloaded applications, photos, music, mail settings, alarm clocks. After the reset, the smartphone or tablet returns to its factory state.

Typically, data reset is done in the following cases:

Before selling or transferring the device to another person;
If some problem occurs on the device that cannot be fixed by other means;
After updating the device software (firmware).

What to do before resetting your data

1. Copy important information from your device.

During the reset, the device memory will be cleared and all data will be deleted. If there is any important data, make a copy of it.

2. Remove your Google account from your device.

If you do not do this, then when you turn on the device after a reset, you will be asked for the account that was on the device before the reset. Without entering this account, you will not be able to turn on the device.

The first way to reset data is through the menu

The second way to reset data is using buttons

This method is used when a smartphone or tablet does not turn on or the screen is locked.

If your device doesn't turn on after resetting, you need a Google Account

If after resetting the device does not turn on (freezes)

Contact the Samsung service center; you will need to reinstall the firmware using the engineering method.

All modern portable digital devices running Android are linked to a personal email or profile on social networks. Therefore, if you decide to sell your beloved Android smartphone or tablet, but you don’t want personal data, photos or videos to become available to the buyer, then in such cases you need to quickly and easily clean it. This will also help if, after downloading a whole bunch of unknown applications, a virus was installed. This can be done in several ways, without resorting to using any programs:

Reset to factory settings
Perform a hard reset

1. How to reset to factory settings on android

This method is quite simple and we recommend its use. To do this, you need to enter the “settings” menu. Further, the choice depends on the version of android. For Android 4.x and higher “Restore and reset”. For older Android 2.x – “Privacy”. In the available menu, select “Reset settings” with one click.

Reset example on version 5 of Android

After this, the system will notify you again that all data, as well as linked profiles, will be deleted from the phone. You need to confirm the action by clicking “Reset phone settings”. After rebooting the phone, Android will be completely cleaned. That's how simple and fast it is, unlike the next method.

2. How to reset settings on Android (hard reset)

Attention, using this method may cause the Android system to malfunction. Use only if the first one does not help.

This method of cleaning Android is really effective when, after installing the application, a message appears about paid unlocking of the device or you forgot the pattern key.

First you need to fully charge and then turn off the phone. Next, you need to enter the “Recovery” mode. You need to press and hold a certain key combination. Each manufacturer has its own set of keys. We will present the most common options and look at the example of a Samsung Galaxy phone.

Volume up (or down) key + power key
Both volume keys (up + down) + power key
Volume up (or down) key + home key + power key

You must keep them pressed until a dark screen appears with text in the upper left. This is the “Recovery” menu. You can move around it using the up and down keys, and select the power button.

We move down to the item “wipe data / factory reset” and confirm by pressing the power key. On the next screen, confirm the choice “Yes – delete all user data” in the same way. The procedure for cleaning the phone and returning to factory settings will begin. You will return to the initial menu, where you will need to select the “Reboot system” item to reboot the phone.

We hope the material on completely cleaning Android devices was useful to you. If you have questions, you can ask them in the comments.

Some people change their smartphone or tablet almost as often as they change their clothes. Clearing the device's memory would seem to make it impossible to view the data stored on it. However, it is possible to recover deleted files.

File deleted - check

On most devices, deleting files simply means telling the system that the next time you need to save more data, you can do so in the location where the deleted file was previously located.

However, until a new data write operation is performed, the contents of the file remain on the device in the form of memory bits. Such a file can be restored. IT specialists define this “standard” file deletion as logical data deletion.

There is also another type of data deletion, which involves changing the used bits, thus creating “spam” in the contents of the disk. Data deleted this way cannot be recovered, but the deletion process itself takes longer.

Dangers of standard data deletion

Mobile phones are “highly personal” devices. Their use involves storing data that should not be disclosed to anyone other than the owner, for example, contact details of friends and family, films and photographs (including very intimate ones), a detailed daily calendar schedule, places where the owner currently lives moment in time, logins and passwords for email and social network accounts, content, SMS and much, much more.

In the case of selling a smartphone or tablet, the so-called logical data reset can lead, at best, to a shameful situation of disclosing personal information; at worst, the former owner of the device can become a victim of blackmail, identity theft, or actual theft of money from a bank account.

Restoring settings does not delete data

Research conducted by IT security company ADISA has shown that Apple and BlackBerry devices are physically erased after a factory reset, preventing future recovery. For Android devices, despite performing a factory reset, the it is possible to recover most of the data.

What is this connected with? According to experts from ADISA, the reason for this may be the fact that operating systems such as iOS use a built-in encryption mode. In this case, it is sufficient that the encryption keys are deleted during a factory reset. While Android devices do not use data encryption by default. Therefore, even after performing a factory reset multiple times, you can still recover your data.

How to prepare a smartphone for sale

According to research conducted by security experts, a factory reset can erase all data stored on your Apple device.

What should Android mobile device users do? The easiest way is device encryption, before restoring factory settings. Given that the encryption keys are protected by a password set by the user, even if a factory reset attempt fails, an attacker must perform a brute force attack (an attack based on checking all possible combinations to find the password) to gain access to the deleted files. It is worth remembering that the more complex the password, the more difficult it will be to guess.

An Android device can be encrypted using the standard function: Settings → Safety> Encrypt device.

The factory reset function is available after entering settings: Settings → Archive and reset → Reset data.

The last step before selling the device is to remove the SIM card and SD card.