How to Hard Reset Android Phone?

Are you tired of being using a slow phone, with lots of bugs, lags, freezing problems in it? Then you are in the right place! Just don’t worry because I have the key to your problem. There is an option available known as “Hard reset” also known as alternate reset. Through which you can make your phone faster and lag-free, just like when it was new.

Before we proceed, there are some terminologies that I’d like to explain that are about the soft and hard reset. This article will first cover these terms which are very important for you. After that, the article will show you how to hard reset your android phone.

What is Soft Reset?

This is the easiest way to reset your phone, simply by power cycling the phone. You need to power off your phone and then power it back on. You just hold the power button, then you’ll see some options like Power off, Restart, and some other options(varies with phones). After that, tap on the Restart button, and your phone will perform the restart process. Issues that can be solved with soft reset are:

• Not receiving any calls, messages, and pictures
• Cannot make calls
• Lag
• Not receiving any emails
• Network issues
• Touch screen and response issues
• and many more issues.

And Soft reset deletes nothing from your phone, and there is no loss of information.

Important note: When performing a soft reset, I recommend your phone should remain off for 10-20 seconds before powering it back on.

It’s a good thing to power off your phone for a few minutes at least 3-4 days a week. This will help you get better performance on your phone.

What is a Hard Reset?

Using this will take your phone back to its original settings, meaning all data and information will be removed from your phone. Yes, this is quite the opposite of soft reset. Here, all your data and information that you added will be obliterated. Your phone will be as new as it was before.

This is used when your software is not operative or responsive. And always remember to use the standard method first, i.e. soft reset before performing the hard reset. However, if a soft reset doesn’t work, then you can use the hard reset. Now let’s see how to perform a hard reset.

Hard Reset Android Through Recovery Mode

Before performing a hard reset, don’t forget to back up all your data from your phone. This is the first most priority if you don’t want to lose any data.

Let’s move ahead and see how to hard reset an android phone:

First, Power off your phone:-

To hard reset the phone, it is necessary that your phone is powered off properly. But if you cannot power off your phone, then pull out the battery, count to 5 and then put the battery back. Just don’t power it back on after inserting the battery.

Also, make sure that your phone is not connected to a charger and your phone is at 75% battery, or else the reset operation will not work.

Note: Hard reset involves performing a series of key combinations, which we’ll get into a few minutes. The key combination varies with different models of phones and what version of Android OS is running on the phone.

Consider this example- If your phone is running on Android 4.0(Ice Cream Sandwich) and you can perform the reset operation, then you upgrade your phone to Android 5.0 (Lollipop) and the method no longer works. You will have to use a unique method and unique key combination to perform a hard reset. So just beware of this problem.

Also, to mention this method will not erase your memory card or any contacts from your SIM card, it will only delete the downloadable content and your data.

Now there are different methods to perform a hard reset and we will discuss 5 common methods

The methods are as follows:

1. Method 1

• After powering your phone off, press and hold the Volume Up + Volume Down keys simultaneously.
• Then press and hold the Power key until the test screen shows up, which usually takes about 15-20 seconds.

• When the screen pops up, there will be some options and to navigate through the options, press the Volume Down key. Navigate down until you find the FACTORY RESET option.

• Press the Power key to select, and you’re done.

2. Method 2

• Power your phone off, then press and hold the Volume Down key + press and release the Power key, while continuing holding the Volume Down key for 10-15 seconds.
• When you see some pop-up options on the screen, then let go of the keys.
• After that, press the Volume Down key to navigate down the options until it says FACTORY RESET, then press the Power key to select it.

3. Method 3

• While the phone is powered off, press and hold the Home key, then power the phone on by pressing the Power key, while holding the Home key.
• When you see the Android recovery screen release the Home key, then press the Volume Up + Volume Down key both at the same time.
• Press the Volume Down key to navigate down the FACTORY RESET option. Once it is highlighted, select it by pressing the Power key.
• Then you’ll see “Confirm wipe of all user data?” Press the Volume Down key to highlight “Yes delete all user data”, then press the Power key to wipe out the data.

4. Method 4

• Power the phone off, then press and hold the Home key
• Holding the Home key, press and release the Power key.
• Now press the search key on the Android recovery screen
• Tap on “wipe data/factory reset” then select OK (present in the lower left of the screen). But if your screen is not responsive, use the Volume key to scroll and select the Camera key.
• Then select Yes to delete all user data, then click on OK.

5. Method 5

This method is very common and can be used to factory reset Samsung phones such as the Galaxy note line up.

• Power off your phone, then press and hold the Volume Up key + Home key + Power key at the same time.
• When the phone turns on, release the Power key but continue to hold the Volume Up and the Home key.
• Hold the Volume Up and Home key until you see the “Android system recovery” screen.
• Scroll to find the “wipe data/factory reset” option using the Volume key and use the Power key to make the selection.

• Once the factory reset process is finished, use the Volume and Power keys to select the “Reboot system now” option and the hard reset will be completed and your phone will be smooth and responsive like it was earlier.

Hard Reset Android Through Settings

Now we will see how to hard reset from Phone Settings. Below are the steps:

1. First go to Settings on your phone by swiping down from your Home screen or the app drawer.

2. Then, tap on the Settings icon/gear.

3. Scroll down to find the System option, then tap on the System.

4. Under System, click on the Reset phone option.

5. After that, enter your device pin and select Continue.

6. Tap on Erase everything.

Once you click on Erase everything, your phone will reboot. Then your phone will be good as new.

Conclusion

Now you have the methods. Just choose whichever method suits your phone and use that to reset your phone. I hope I could deliver the solution to your problem through this article and please let us know in the comment section which method you picked up.