In this article, I will show you how to perform a factory reset on your Android phone. However, before we get to that, let’s make sure that a factory reset is indeed what your Android phone needs and go over optional safety measures to ensure you won’t lose any important data in the process.
What exactly is a factory reset?
A factory reset is reverting a device, in this case an Android phone, back to its out of the factory, original state. All information and media input and saved in the phone like passwords, contacts, pictures, text messages, ringtones, as well as all applications you’ve installed will be wiped off. Only OS updates will be left untouched.
When is a factory reset recommended?
A factory reset is recommended before selling the phone to ensure there won’t be any personal data stored on the phone. If you are experiencing issues with your phone or it’s slowed down by the two million apps you’ve installed, numerous problems on your Android phone could be caused by the changes you’ve made or the applications you’ve installed and a factory reset might fix them.
Safety measures you might want to consider before resetting your phone:
- Backing up all your pictures and other files you don’t want to lose onto your computer or an SD card.
- Ensuring your phone is synced with Gmail so you won’t lose your contacts. If you don’t want to sync your phone with Gmail, an alternative would be to download My Backup Pro – an app that lets you backup your contacts onto either your SD card or their secure server. Also, My Backup Pro allows you to backup other data like call logs and text messages.
- It’s not recommended to backup your applications as they might be the reason your phone needs a factory reset in the first place. Instead, you could simply make a written list of all the apps you want to reinstall after the reset, and install the applications back one by one so you can monitor how your phone reacts to each one.
- If your phone doesn’t have a SIM card, you should check with your carrier before performing a factory reset as it might need to be reactivated by the carrier after the reset. This is especially a concern with Verizon phones and other carriers who use CDMA networks.
- After you have saved all data and media to your SD card, you should remove it from your phone to prevent accidental formatting while resetting your phone.
Instructions:
1. From the Home screen, press the Menu button. 
2. From the Menu, select Settings.
3. Scroll down to Privacy and select it. 
4. From Privacy (settings) select Factory data reset. 
5. Now, unless you also want to delete all the files from your SD card, make sure “Format SD card/Erase SD card” is unchecked. Then click Reset Phone.
The resetting process might take a few minutes. When it’s done, the phone will reboot itself. If you continue experiencing problems with your Android phone, I suggest to contact your carrier.
