Galaxy S7: How to Perform a Factory Reset

If you ever want to sell your device or maybe you just want to start fresh, here are the steps required for you to do a Galaxy S7 Factory Reset.

There are a number of reasons someone might want to do a factory reset. If you have plans to sell your Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge, then you’ll need to wipe the device of all your personal data. To do this, you could go through and manually delete everything but that would take way longer than needed. Instead, we have the option to perform a Factory Reset on the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge and this does all of that for you.

No need to worry about making a mistake and leaving contacts or photos in some forgotten folder in your phone. Simply do a factory reset and all of your user data will be gone.

You might also want to do a Factory Reset on the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge as a way to start fresh. Some people feel that after 6 months to a year, our smartphones can become sluggish thanks to the hundreds of apps and games that we install and uninstall. There’s also the chance of an application or game not completely removing certain files and folders from your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge when you uninstall it(this happens more than I would like). A Factory Reset can also save you if your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge is not booting properly because of a tweak or customization mod that you tried to install.

There’s even times when a Factory Reset can fix your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge after you have applied an OTA update to it and found out that it broke something. I do realize it’s a pain to have to set up your smartphone all over again but it’s certainly better than having a $600+ paperweight. Because of this, there are two different methods for performing a Factory Reset. The way to do a Factory Reset from within the Android OS is generally called a Soft Factory Reset. If you can’t boot into Android though, then you can boot into Recovery Mode and do a Hard Factory Reset. I’ll be covering both of these in the tutorials below.

Galaxy S7 Soft Factory Reset

1. Launch the Settings Application
2. Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Backup and Reset’ Option
3. Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Factory Data Reset’ Option
4. Scroll Down and Tap on the ‘Reset Phone’ Button
5. Enter Your Pattern or PIN/Password in
6. Then Tap on the ‘Delete All’ Button

Galaxy S7 Hard Factory Reset

1. Boot the Galaxy S7 into Recovery Mode
2. Press the Volume Down Button Until the ‘Wipe Data/Factory Reset’ Option in Highlighted
3. Then Press the Power Button to Select this Option
4. Press the Volume Down Button to Highlight the ‘Yes’ Option
5. Then Press the Power Button to Confirm the Factory Reset Process

Explanation

As mentioned, there are two different ways to do a Factory Reset on the Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge. Both of these methods will reset in the same type of Factory Reset being done to your device. One method is not better than the other here. We’re just given the option because sometimes we cannot boot up into Android so there needs to be a secondary option available. So, if you are able to boot up into Android then I recommend doing the Soft Factory Reset as it is the easiest. If your Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge is in a boot loop or it is to the point where you cannot boot into the Android OS then you’ll need to do the Hard Factory Reset.

To do the Soft Factory Reset, simply boot the Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge into Android and then launch the Settings application. You’ll want to scroll down until you see the Backup and Reset option. Tap this option to go into the submenu and then scroll down again. Look for and tap on the Factory Data Reset option and then you’ll be asked to verify your security layer. If you have a pattern then you’ll need to do that here. If you have a PIN or password security layer then you’ll be asked to enter that. Once you enter in your security credintials then you’ll see one last confirmation page before you can actually do a Soft Factory Reset. Simply tap on the Delete All button and it will begin the process.

Now, for a Hard Factory Reset, you’ll need to boot the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge into Recovery Mode. If you are unfamiliar with how to do this then please refer to the linked tutorial in the guide above. Once you have boot the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge Recovery Mode, go ahead and press the Volume Down button until you’ve highlighted the Wipe Data/Factory Reset option. From here, you’ll want to press the Power button to select this option. You’ll then be asked if you are sure you want to do a Factory Reset as all of your data will be lost. If you’re ready to do the Hard Factory Reset on the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge, then press the Volume Down button until the Yes option is highlighted and then press the Power button to select this option.

The Factory Reset process should take a few minutes to complete. It has to wipe your user data and then start preparing it for a new activation. You’ll want to wait while this process is finished and then your Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge will reboot back into Android. This will take you to the familiar Android activation screen and you’ll have to add in your Google account, your Samsung account(if you have one) and then start the restore process. Android has done automated backups for a while so the restore process should be automatic unless you manually backed up with something like Samsung Smart Switch.