In some situations, Android users want to erase all data from their smartphones or tablets and restore them to default. This article contains step-by-step instructions that will indicate how to perform a factory reset on Android and get an “empty” device.
Restoring the device to factory settings means that after this process, the device returns to the state in which it was immediately after purchase. This erases your Google account information, saved application settings, and files (photos, videos, and audio tracks) contained on internal or removable media.
The following four steps will help you erase all your sensitive data from Android and restore the gadget to factory settings.
Warning
Before starting this process, you must back up all your personal data that you want to transfer to a new device in the future. Otherwise, your information will be lost forever. To back up your personal data to a computer, connect the device using a USB drive and save all the data to a folder on your PC’s hard drive. You can also back up your personal information and data from applications to Google’s servers, however this is somewhat more complicated.
Step-by-step instruction
Despite the fact that different distributions of the platform differ from each other, resetting to Android is similar, regardless of your software version.
1) To start the process of deleting data on a smartphone or tablet, first tap the “Menu” key to open a number of available options on the screen.
2) Next, you must select the "Settings" option in the menu on the screen, and then scroll down the screen and click "Privacy".
3) In the "Privacy Settings" menu, click the "Reset Data to Factory Settings" option, and on the next menu choose whether you want to reset the settings to Android and erase all data on the device, information on your external MicroSD memory card or all media by filling in the appropriate checkboxes. When you have made your choice, you must confirm it by pressing “Reset Phone”.
4) You will be asked to confirm once again that you are really ready to reset your device to the factory settings. Click the Delete All button to complete the process. The device will carry out a full reset on Android and, rebooting the tablet or smartphone, you will see that it is ready for work again.
Remember that the process of deleting all stored data may take 10 minutes or more to complete, depending on how much information is stored on the device and / or memory card.
Features of different versions
Speaking about how the settings are reset on Android 40, some features of the menu should be taken into account. In gadgets with this version of the operating system, a return to the factory settings has its own section in the "Settings" menu. Go to the menu as described in the previous steps, and scroll down to the items for backup and data reset. Similarly, a reset occurs on Android 41.