Galaxy S5: How to Factory Reset

A factory reset can fix a lot of issues with a smartphone, even issues that don’t seem to be software related. Today I’m going to walk you through the step by step process for the Samsung Galaxy S5 factory reset tutorial.

Doing a factory reset on an Android device(and any smartphone) is something that everyone should know how to do. Especially when you first get your Galaxy S5 and you notice a few quirks. These quirks can range from laggy software, poor battery life, Bluetooth or WiFi not connecting/staying connected properly and even slower than normal charge times.

Even though it would seem that charging the Galaxy S5 would be entirely hardware dependant, there are actually a software layers that are included in this process.

A factory reset is ideal when you first get a smartphone since you don’t have much information on it in the first place. I saw my Moto 360 having UI issues when I first got it and had to do three factory resets before it went away. I have performed upgrades on my Nexus 5 in the past that has caused the device to charge slower than it was actually using the battery. These issue were both resolved by doing a factory reset. Random bugs and issues can happen all the time from an update. If you noticed anything wrong after an Android update then a factory reset will almost always resolve the issues.

Yes, it’s not an idea solution and sometimes you can get around this by wiping the cache partition of the Galaxy S5. Sometimes you can find out that the issue is caused by one specific application booting the Galaxy S5 into safe mode. Sometimes though, a factory reset is needed and this is something they will do when you take it in to get repaired anyway so let’s learn how to do it from the comfort of your own home.

There are two ways to do a factory reset and they will both be included in this article

Galaxy S5 Soft Factory Reset

1. Launch the Settings Application
2. Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Backup and Reset’ Option
3. Tap on the ‘Factory Data Reset’ Option
4. Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Reset Device’ Button
5. Tap on the ‘Delete All’ Button to Confirm the Reset

Galaxy S5 Hard Factory Reset

1. Power Down the Samsung Galaxy S5
2. Boot the Galaxy S5 into Recovery Mode
3. Use the Volume Down and Volume Up Buttons to Navigate the Menu
4. Use the Volume Down Button to Highlight the ‘Wipe Data / Factory Reset’ Option
5. Press the Power Button to Select this Option
6. Use the Volume Down Button to Highlight the ‘Yes’ Option
7. Press the Power Button to Select This Option
8. Wait Until the Galaxy S5 Completes the Reset and Reboots

Explanation

There are two different ways to perform a factory reset and both of them will result in the same action. The reason we have two different ways of doing this is because sometimes you cannot boot up into the Android system. If this is the case, then you should opt for the hard factory reset method. If you can access Android and TouchWiz, and navigate through the menus without any issue, then you should follow this first tutorial since that is much easier.

Either way you go, you will be resetting the device and you will lose your data. Please prepare your device, if you can, and backup as much as possible. If you have a custom recovery installed, then you can boot into that and backup your data. If you don’t have a custom recovery installed, then you’ll need to install PC program called Samsung Kies. Launching this program, connecting your Galaxy S5 to the PC and then clicking on the Back Up/Restore tab will get you on your way to backing up as much of your personal data as possible.

As I mentioned, a factory reset can squash a lot of minor and critical bugs that tend to happen on Android over time. If you have any questions about a particular issue, don’t hesitate to use the comments section below to ask. I can’t answer everything but I will always try my best.