How to Factory Reset Your Samsung Galaxy Phone

If you’re thinking of performing a factory reset on your Samsung Galaxy phone, you’re either facing serious performance slowdowns or a sudden persistent error not fixable with other, less invasive methods. Or you simply want to completely erase all data on your phone before selling it. Either way, this guide will answer all your questions and provide you the different options on how to factory reset your Samsung Galaxy phone.

Factory Reset Your Samsung Galaxy phone through Settings

By far, the simplest way to factory reset your phone is using your system settings. Other methods need to be used when you either don’t have access to your device or you’re not able to boot into it. We’ll talk about those in the later sections. And it goes without saying, but it’s better to perform a device backup if you want to restore all your data after the reset.

For performing a factory reset through Settings, follow the steps below:

1. Open the Settings app on your phone
2. Scroll down and tap General management
3. Tap Reset
4. Tap Factory data reset

5. Scroll down and tap Reset
6. Confirm the warning regarding all data being erased after the process and tap Delete All
7. Enter your phone PIN and confirm

Your phone will reboot after completing the process and you’ll be able to set it up again by signing in to your Google account. You can then restore your data from the latest backup.

Factory Reset Your Samsung Galaxy phone with Find My Device

This method is incredibly useful when you’ve lost your phone and don’t have it handy to perform the factory reset. Using Find My Device, you can remotely erase all data on your device through a factory reset to prevent unauthorized access to your sensitive data.

This will only work if you have Find My Device turned on before you lost your device. It’s always advised to have it on by default whenever you set up a new device. With that said, follow the steps below to reset your Samsung Galaxy phone remotely:

1. Open Find My Device in a browser window
2. Sign in to your Google account that was used to set up your phone
3. Select Erase Device and click on Erase when the pop-up warning appears

4. Your phone will be wiped completely if it’s online. If it’s not, the process will be initiated automatically when the phone next comes online.

Factory Reset Your Samsung Galaxy phone in Recovery Mode

Finally, if you’re not able to boot into your phone, either due to a failed system update or any other issue, you can use the Recovery Mode to factory reset your device. Simply follow the steps below:

1. Power off your phone
2. Hold the Power and Volume up buttons together till you see the Samsung logo on the screen followed by an ‘Installing system update’ message
3. Once the recovery menu appears, use the Volume buttons to navigate to Wipe data/factory reset and press the Power button to select
4. Select Yes to confirm your selection
5. Once the process is complete, select Reboot device from the recovery menu
6. Set up your phone after signing in to your Google account

Wrapping Up

That’s all. You now know all there is to know about performing a factory reset on your Samsung Galaxy phone. Erasing all your data without a backup is never an easy proposition, hence always make regular backups of your device to prepare for such situations. Also, you should always have Find My Device turned on, along with location settings and mobile data (for Find My Device to work) in case you lose your device.