Format Android and reset the phone by deleting everything

How to reset android phone and reset all settings and erase all data like to format memory

We often see your Android phone slow down, and despite all our attempts to clean up memory and delete useless apps, we can't regain the speed and responsiveness of the phone right out of the box.
With an Android phone, any make or model, it may be a good idea format (this word is used here loosely, but gives the idea) e reset your smartphone from scratch, delete everything and reset the system; this procedure can also be very useful when we want to sell the phone and do not want anyone to recover our data and our sensitive information.
In this guide we will show you then how to format android and erase everything, so you can start over with a new phone, as if it just came out of the factory.

How to reset Android

In the following chapters we will show you all the valid methods to be able to restore Android to factory settings, so that you can get a new and fast phone or ready to be sold as a used phone.

Preliminary operation

Before proceeding with any type of formatting it is a good idea to save all our personal data on the cloud, so that we can recover them in case of problems during the formatting procedure or to restore them on a new Android phone (in case we want to sell the one from format).

To save the backup of the most important data, simply use the Google account: then let's open the app Settings, let's get to the menu Accounts and synchronization o Account, we press on the voice Google and make sure that all switches are active.


Once all the switches have been activated, we return to the previous menu and press on Syncronizza prays, so you can get the latest phone backup. The phone backup system also allows you to quickly restore the apps already present on the old device, so you can immediately start using our favorite apps again.
Photos and videos, on the other hand, can be saved to the cloud using Google Photos' automatic upload, as seen in our guide to automatic backup with Google photos.
Even personal documents can be saved using the Google Drive app, so that they can be recovered at a later time.
Whatsapp messages will be recovered automatically with the automatic backup system and even those of Facebook will not be lost.
Practically, thanks to cloud technology, reset becomes a fast way to solve any problem and clean up your mobile phone with the certainty of being able to restore your personal data as you would on a new phone.

Before proceeding, remove the microSD (if present): the data saved on it will be preserved from formatting.

How to format Android from settings

To reset the Android phone the simplest procedure is to go to the menu Settings, scroll to the menu Backup and restore, then it is sufficient to press on the entry in Factory data reset, All files on the phone or similar.


As you can read on the confirmation screen, with the factory reset all data is deleted, including apps, accounts, photos. Obviously the Android system remains installed and all settings are reset as expected by the smartphone manufacturer.
After pressing on the item Reset phone we type the PIN code or the sequence to confirm the operation (this prevents another person from resetting our phone, perhaps as a joke). After entering the PIN or password, there will be yet another warning that the data will be deleted and another button with written Reset to be pressed to delete all.

The phone is immediately restarted, all settings revert to their default value, all data removed and Android will look as it did when the phone was bought, requiring you to log in with a Google account and proceed with the initial configuration of Android.

How to format Android from recovery

Another effective procedure to completely wipe the phone involves using recovery, a special boot mode in which you can access the advanced settings of Android.


To enter recovery mode, there are different procedures for each smartphone on the market: the easiest method to get the precise keys to press is to search Google for the full name of our smartphone (manufacturer and model) followed by the keywords "recovery" or " recovery button ".
Once you have identified the recovery access sequence, apply it and, in the screen that opens (using the Volume keys to navigate and the Power key to confirm), go to the item Wipe data / factory reset and we give the notice that will appear on the screen.
At the end of the process we press on the item Reboot system now, so we can restart our smartphone and benefit from a formatted and fast device as straight out of the box.

Conclusions

What we have shown you above are the simplest and fastest methods to format Android and reset the phone by erasing everything, both in case we have a very slow phone and in case we want to sell it as used.

On many modern smartphones there is also an additional security system that requires Google login data immediately after formatting: this is to prevent a thief from formatting the recovery phone and reusing it without problems, but it could also cause some headaches in case of resale of the phone as used (we will have to unlock it before sale).

In case the phone no longer turns on after formatting, we invite you to read the guide on how to reset android even if the mobile does not start or looks dead.
If, on the other hand, we want to format and restore an iPhone, we recommend that you read our article How to restore factory settings (and data) on iPhone and iPad.