Phones are basically pocket-size computers with operating systems and software. as with all computers, sometimes go wrong, but there are many ways to reset them and get them working again.

The majority of faults with a phone are not hardware-based, they are software problems, such as bugs in Android or iOS, and flaws in apps. Sometimes, they get in a muddle and get confused. Sometimes wrong settings are accidentally applied and sometimes settings may be corrupted. Resetting a phone may fix those problems.

A phone should also be reset when it is passed onto someone else or sold, such as when you upgrade. This clears all your personal information, photos, music, subscriptions, apps and purchases.

1 Back up your phone

You don’t want to lose anything when you erase and reset the device, so make sure that it is backed up. Google accounts are backed up online anyway, such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Photos, Keep and other Google services. A reset does not affect them and everything is restored after a reset.

Similarly, there are no worries if you use a password manager like LastPass or one of the many others. Everything is stored online and is restored afterwards. Microsoft apps store data online too, so there are no worries with Outlook, OneDrive, To-do, OneNote and so on. Look for backup options in other apps, like WhatsApp - Settings > Chats > Chat backup.

There are more backup options in Settings on an Android phone. Open Settings > Accounts and backup > Backup and restore. There are many backup options there, although it may depend on your phone. Samsung phones back up to a Samsung account and Google account is backed up to Google. There is an Automatic restore switch that re-installs everything when you log in to your Google account after a reset or when you buy a new phone.

2 Go to Settings

Pull down from the top of the screen and then tap the gear icon or go to the all-apps screen and tap Settings.

3 Android Settings app

You can hunt for the reset options among all the various sections in the Settings app, but the easiest way to find them is to use the search function. Tap the magnifying glass to search.

4 All the reset options

All the reset options are listed. On this phone all but one of the items are in the General management section. However, the one at the bottom is not, Auto factory reset. This is in the Lock screen settings. Tap it and when it is enabled, the phone is automatically reset to factory settings and everything is cleared if there are 15 wrong attempts to unlock it. It is useful to set this to protect your information in case the phone is lost or stolen and someone tries to get into it.

5 General management options

Either press Reset after searching for Reset or select Settings > General management. Other phone and versions of Android might name it differently. In this section is Reset. Press it.

6 Android phone reset options

You should have at least some of these reset options, if not all of them, but it depends on the phone and version of Android. Let's see what they do.

Reset settings: This resets all the phone settings except security settings, language settings, accounts, personal data and apps. That covers a lot, so what is left? Mainly customizations and some optional settings. This type of reset will not erase anything important and can be used if there is an annoying general and minor problem that cannot be fixed.

Reset network settings: If you are having problems with mobile data, Wi-Fi networks and devices on local Wi-Fi, connections to Bluetooth devices and so on, this reset will restore the default settings. Make sure that you know the passwords for all the Wi-Fi networks you connect to, from your home to work to the coffee shop, because they may be cleared. This is a useful reset for any type of network problem.

Reset accessibility settings: There are many accessibility settings like visibility and hearing enhancements, various touch settings, ways to answer or end calls, sticky keys and so on. Not everything is reset, but many things are. You will need to go through the accessibility settings and customize them again afterwards.

Factory data reset: This is the nuclear option and it clears absolutely everything - settings, accounts, apps you have installed, customizations like wallpaper and so on. Use it when there are serious problems, performance issues on old phones, malware, or when disposing of an old phone. If you have backed everything up, your settings and data are restored after the reset when you log in or when you get a new phone.

Auto restart: One of the first things to do when you have a problem with your phone is to power off and restart it. Auto restart, which not all phones have, restarts the phone once a week at a time you choose, like Sunday morning at 3 AM when you are asleep. It is a sort of automatic maintenance task. You can manually restart the phone by holding down the wake/sleep button any time you have a problem though.

Summing up

After all this erasing and restarting, your device should be faster, more reliable and less likely to display error messages. So what do you lose by resetting the device? You will need to sign in to apps like Facebook, Twitter, Amazon Kindle and everything else you installed. Many apps store their information on the internet, so when you sign back into Instagram for example, everything is still there, all your Kindle books are still there and you can carry on reading where you left off last time, and so on.

I have never lost anything important by resetting, but that may be because of the apps I have and I cannot guarantee you won't lose anything. Back up! You won’t lose email and contacts because they are stored online, but you might lose text message history if it is not backed up online. Make a note of anything important before a reset.

What is your experience of resetting your Android device? Did it improve it? Did you lose anything?