How to reset Samsung Galaxy

Has your beloved Samsung Galaxy started “playing tantrums”? Has it become very slow and would you like to try resetting it to see if this resolves the problem? Have you decided to sell your Samsung smartphone but you don’t know how to delete all the data on the device’s memory? Don’t despair, you’ve just come to the right place at the right time!

With today’s guide, in fact, we will see together how to reset Samsung Galaxy in order to delete all the data on the phone (or tablet) memory and restore Android to the factory state. In this way you can freely sell your smartphone and/or you can solve any software problems that currently prevent you from using the device normally.

Regardless of what you think, the procedure you have to follow is not complicated, far from it; maybe it’s a bit long, I admit it, but it’s really within everyone’s reach. So take some time off, roll up your sleeves and put into practice all the directions I’m about to give you. Have a good reading!

Index

• Preliminary operations: data backup
• How to reset Samsung Galaxy: standard procedure
• How to reset Samsung Galaxy in case of a freeze
• How to reset Samsung Galaxy if lost or stolen

Preliminary operations: data backup

Whether you want to reset a smartphone of the Galaxy family, reset Samsung Galaxy Tab A or act on any other tablet of the same family, it is good to clarify immediately that the operation involves the total deletion of the data in the memory. For this reason, I advise you to make a backup of them, in order to secure them and be able to access them again following the restoration.

Save to the cloud

If you are about to restore the device to “lighten” it a little, or if you want to get rid of your old smartphone/tablet to buy another one from the Samsung family, I recommend that you store some data relating to the default applications on the device on Samsung Cloud. By doing so, when you log into your Samsung account later, you can restore them “on the fly”.

So, first of all, open the Settings of the device, by tapping on the symbol of the gear visible on the Home screen or in the Android drawer, and tap the items Accounts and backups and Backed up data: the latter is located under the heading Samsung Cloud.

If you have not associated a Samsung Cloud account to the device, you will be offered a wizard, through which you can create a new account, or log in with an existing profile. If you need a step-by-step guide regarding the steps to follow, I refer you to reading my guide on how to access Samsung Cloud.

In any case, once you reach the panel dedicated to saving the data to be synchronized, select the ones you want to save ( Call logs, Contacts, Messages, Home screen, Settings, etc.) and press the Backup button located at the bottom, to archive everything cloud. You can check the status of the save using the progress bar located at the top.

Another trick that I advise you to take, regardless of whether you are deciding to switch to another Samsung device or not, is to save the data relating to Google services and apps and store them on Google Drive so that they can be resumed. from any device associated with your Gmail account.

So, to proceed, go to the Settings menu > Android account and backup, tap on the options Manage account> [Gmail account name]> Synchronize account and move the switches corresponding to the services you want to synchronize to ON; when you are done, touch the button (⋮) visible at the top right and, to save the data in the cloud, touch the Synchronize now item located in the menu that appears.

To complete the work, save the remaining data relating to Android apps and settings to Google Drive: always from the Settings> Accounts and device backup menu, touch the Backed up data item located under the heading Google Drive and move to ON the switch corresponding to the Backup on Google Drive item (if necessary). To send the data to the cloud, tap the Back Up Now button and wait patiently for the operation to complete.

As for saving photos and videos, you can use the Google Photos app, which allows you to create a backup copy of the multimedia elements on the device (in any folder containing images) directly on Google Drive (eroding the 15GB of free storage offered by the service): I explained to you how Google Photos works in my thematic tutorial on the subject.

If you use cloud streaming services (e.g. Spotify, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and so on), you will not need to save anything, as all your personal settings are already synchronized in the cloud: you simply have to take care to log in with the same account currently in use, to find all your data in their place.

Finally, remember to back up the data of all the other third-party applications that allow it to the cloud, in order to avoid unexpected data loss; for example, if you particularly care about WhatsApp chats, I suggest you backup your conversations directly on Google Drive, following the instructions I gave you in this tutorial.

Saving on PC

If you do not have the possibility (or the will) to save your data on the Internet, Samsung Smart Switch will surely come in handy: the official solution distributed by the Korean manufacturer and designed for the management of Samsung smartphones and tablets. To get it, connected to its home page, click on the Download button dedicated to the operating system you are using ( Download for Windows or Download for iOS, if you use a Mac) and, once you have obtained the file, open it and follow the specific procedure for your computer.

If you use Windows, then click on the Yes button, put the checkmark next to the boxes dedicated to acceptance of the license terms and press the Next and Finish buttons to install the program and start it automatically.

If you are using macOS, double-click the SmartSwitch.pkg icon located in the software installation window, click the Allow, Continue (twice in succession), Accept and Install buttons and, when prompted, type the Mac password in the ‘appropriate field and enter. Once the copying of the files is complete, you will be asked to authorize the program extensions: then click on the Open Security preferences button, then on the locked padlock symbol located in the lower-left corner of the new window that has opened, re-enter theMac password and click the OK button. Finally, click on the Details… button, put the checkmark next to the items Samsung Electronics and DEVGURU Co., Ltd and press the OK and Restart buttons, in order to restart the Mac and make the changes effective. Now, you just have to open Smart Switch using the icon that, in the meantime, has been created in the Launchpad.

The steps to follow for Windows and macOS, from this moment on, are the same: if asked, apply any available updates by clicking on the appropriate button and, at the next start of the program (which happens automatically), wait for you to be asked to connect your device to your computer via USB cable and do this.

At this point, unlock the screen of the Android device, touch the Allow button that appears on the display of the latter, go back to the computer and click on the Download Smart Switch button, which appears on the screen in the meantime. Now, tap the Yes button displayed on the phone display, in order to provide the necessary permissions for the installation of the “companion” app.

We are almost there: the setting of permissions and permissions is completed, click on the Backup button visible in the Smart Switch window open on the computer, select the boxes relating to the items to be transferred and click on the OK button, to start copying the data to the computer. During this phase, take care not to close Smart Switch on your computer or Android device, otherwise the data copy will fail and you will have to start all over again. To learn more about how Smart Switch works, take a look at the guide I have dedicated to the topic.

In addition to the procedures I have indicated to you a little while ago, you will be pleased to know that there are other data saving systems, on the computer or on other cloud services, valid in general for all smartphones/tablets animated by Android and applicable, consequently, also on Samsung devices: I told you about these solutions, in-depth, in my guide on how to backup Android.

How to reset Samsung Galaxy: standard procedure

Once the data is secure, you are finally ready to reset your device. As already mentioned, the steps to take are practically the same on any model of smartphone or tablet, so whether you want to reset Samsung Galaxy A5, reset Samsung Galaxy A10 or any other smartphone or tablet belongs to the Galaxy family of Samsung, you will have no difficulty in find the right options. Just remember that, if you intend to sell or dispose of the device, you must also remove the microSD installed inside it (if present).

Under normal conditions (therefore in the absence of any blocks due to lost passwords), you can restore one or more aspects of the device by following the standard procedure provided by Android: therefore, go to the Settings menu > General management> Restore the operating system and tap on the ‘reset option best suited to your needs: Reset all settings, to restore the device’s customized settings to their default values, leaving everything else unchanged; Network Settings Reset, to clear all connectivity options (saved wireless networks, VPN profiles, paired Bluetooth devices, and so on); or Restore factory settings accessibility, to restore all parameters relating to accessibility to their initial state.

To restore the device to its factory state, i.e. the condition it was in when you turned it on for the first time (except for the operating system updates, which will remain anyway), tap the Factory data reset option and examine the summary of the data deleted as a result of the operation, until the Restore button becomes visible.

At this point, tap on the aforementioned button and, if applicable, perform the security check – and the simultaneous deactivation of the configured “anti-theft” systems – by authenticating through the previously configured system (face or fingerprint recognition, PIN, password or graphic sequence); to conclude, aware that the operation will delete all the data in the phone or tablet memory, answer affirmatively to the warning that appears immediately afterwards, so as to start resetting the device to the factory data.

The recovery phase could take up to a few tens of minutes: at the end of the recovery phase, the device will be restarted automatically. Do not worry if the first start is particularly slow, it is completely normal and only happens immediately after the reset.

At the next power on, you will be asked to perform the first configuration procedure of the phone/tablet, during which you will have to indicate whether to start over “from scratch” or whether to restore the data from an existing backup (from Smart Switch or cloud); if you are about to sell or give the device, do nothing and leave the new owner the task of taking care of the initial configuration.

How to reset Samsung Galaxy in case of a freeze

If you’ve forgotten your device’s screen unlock code or pattern, or if it keeps repeating an endless boot cycle, you can perform a disaster recovery using Recovery: if you’ve never heard of it, it’s a small operating system independent of Android, present on almost all Samsung devices, which allows you to perform a series of operations, including the total recovery of the smartphone/tablet (with consequent data loss), without starting the Google operating system.

Before proceeding in this sense, however, I must warn you that recovery using Recovery involves a posthumous unlocking procedure, proposed during the first start after resetting the data: it will be necessary to enter the credentials of the Gmail account configured previously, to carry out the recognition. security of Android, and/or those of the Samsung account, to unlock the Knox system.

This system is designed to avoid the possibility that someone is able to restore and use a device without legitimately having the right (eg in the event of theft or loss); in the absence of the aforementioned information, the device will remain blocked and, consequently, will be unusable.

All clear? OK, let’s proceed. To begin, if necessary, turn off the device completely by pressing and holding the side power button for at least ten seconds, or until the screen becomes completely black.

Once this is done, press the physical Volume Up key and, without releasing it, also press the side key and keep both keys pressed until the device turns on; when this happens, just release the power button and wait for the Android Recovery screen to appear. Once the Recovery starts, release the Volume Up key as well.

Now, use the volume keys to highlight the Wipe data/factory reset item visible in the Recovery screen, confirm by pressing the side button and, in a similar way, highlight and select the Factory data reset item, in order to start deleting the data and settings present in the device memory.

Note: if, even after the reset, you continue to experience an infinite boot loop, you can try to restore the original firmware of the device using a computer program called Odin, which I told you about in my guide on how to reset a device Samsung blocked. However, I must advise you to be very careful, as a single mistake during the entire procedure can lead to the complete and definitive breakdown of the smartphone or tablet. Then don’t say I didn’t warn you!

How to reset Samsung Galaxy if lost or stolen

Have you unfortunately lost your device, or are you afraid that it has been illegally stolen? In this case, you can try to perform a disaster recovery (resulting in a lock via Samsung Knox) ​​using the Samsung Personal Device Finder service: in practice, this is a security system based on Samsung Cloud, which allows you to format the device (but not only) even remotely.

In order to do this, it is essential that the smartphone/tablet is turned on, connected to the Internet and that the Find personal device option, accessible from the Settings> Accounts and backup> Manage account> [Samsung account name]> Personal profile menu is active (this is generally true by default).

If the device meets the aforementioned conditions, you can also format the device remotely, with extreme ease: therefore connect to the Find my device page using any browser you prefer, log in with your Samsung account credentials and wait for the appearance of the device management panel.

Now, press the Clear data button, reply to the next message in the affirmative and, if necessary, re-enter your account password, so as to verify your identity and start a complete reset of the device. Once the procedure is completed, the smartphone/tablet will be blocked until the previously configured Samsung and/or Google account credentials are entered.

If you haven’t set up a Samsung Cloud account on your device, or if you’re having trouble using Samsung’s security console, you can perform disaster recovery via Google’s Find Device, another “anti-theft” system that is enabled by default on all Android devices equipped with Play Services. I have explained to you how to act, in detail, in my tutorial on how to trace the Android phone.

 

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