The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have built-in protection to prevent someone from breaking into your device but this can be disabled if you don’t want it to be reset.
Lately, I’ve been showing a number of security features that Samsung has included in the software of the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge. The more secure our smartphones and tablets are the less of our own sensitive data can be leaked out or discovered by prying eyes. Today though, I want to show you a security feature that is enabled by default, but one that some people might not like.
The goal of this Galaxy S7 Auto Factory Reset feature is to prevent someone from having an unlimited number of tries to guess your PIN/pattern or password.
Apple’s iPhone has this feature and it’s actually the reason why the FBI wanted Apple to create a specialized version of iOS. For the Galaxy S7, if someone tries to unlock your phone more than 15 times then it will automatically do a Factory Reset on it. This is a great layer of protection against law enforcement as well as thieves, but what if you have a child or a friend that wants to play a prank. It can be very aggravating to have to set your entire phone up again just because a child was wanting to play a game on your phone.
So, because I know how many people within the Android community truly dislike having to set their phone up all over, let me show you how to disable this specific feature.
Galaxy S7 Auto Factory Reset
- Launch the Settings Application
- Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Lock Screen and Security’ Option
- Tap on the ‘Secure Lock Settings’ Option
- Then Toggle the ‘Auto Factory Reset’ Option Off
Explanation
As mentioned earlier, there are a number of reasons why someone would want to disable this feature. I’m thankful that there is a way to disable this feature but I think the main issue is because not many people realize the protection is there. I’m sure it’s printed out in the user manual but how many people do you know who reads the manual each time they get a new phone? You should get a warning message to tell you about it before the Galaxy S7 Auto Factory Reset happens. . .but this won’t matter most of the time.
Sure, it will prevent you from triggering the feature, but it won’t prevent your child and it won’t prevent your friend if they’re maliciously doing it to your phone for fun. This is one of the biggest reasons why I like to do these device tip articles because just knowing about a feature on your phone could make a world of difference. So to start, you’ll want to launch the Settings of the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge and then scroll down and tap on the Lock Screen and Security option. This will take you to a sub menu where you want to tap on the Secure Lock Settings.
From here, you’ll see the Auto Factory Reset toggle pretty clearly and you’ll be able to disable or enable this at your leisure. As with most of these features, you are able to toggle it on or off as long as you can get into the Settings app. This is good for those who want to turn the feature on or off right now. . .but end up changing your mind in 6 months or so. So don’t feel that it is a one-time thing and that you’ll never be able to turn the protection feature on or off later on.
