If I Reset My Phone, Will I Lose Everything?

Reset, erase, delete, format, or wipe; there are different ways to talk about resetting when it comes to smartphones. Sometimes, it is necessary to go through this step to give the phone a second life.

But the question everyone is asking at this point is, “If I reset my phone, will I lose everything?” The short answer is you’ll lose EVERYTHING. But you can have your data backed up before the reset so you can restore them after the reset. Therefore, I’ll show you how to reset a phone without losing vital data in this article. 

If I Reset My Phone, Will I Lose Everything?

It depends on the kind of reset you’re doing. A soft reset doesn’t delete your contacts, app, and media data. However, with a hard reset, you’ll lose most of your phone data, and your phone will be a clean slate, just like how it comes from the factory. That’s why it’s called a factory reset.

But you can restore your data if you create a backup. Note, however, that a reset uninstalls and deletes all installed apps. And you won’t be able to restore the data in the app when you restore the apps from the backup data.

The external memory card is not affected. But to be safe, you should remove them before the hard reset. The only thing that remains is a backup of all important data that is as comprehensive as possible.

However, note that a hard reset is not always necessary. A soft reset can also remedy a stuttering and hanging operating system. This simple operating system restart sometimes works wonders and should be done first before the hard reset. And you don’t need to do a backup because you won’t lose your data.

Also, you should regularly clean your phone thoroughly to keep the phone running smoothly and fast. An app like Nox Cleaner can help you remove unused files and uninstall unnecessary apps. So you won’t need to keep resetting your phone now and then.

Possible Reasons Why You Might Want to Reset Your Device

There are many reasons you should or may want to reset your device.

1. You want to sell it or give someone else

If you’re planning to sell your phone, you don’t want your data to stay in the new user’s hands. You first have to back up your data, log out of iOS or your Google account, and wipe everything off with a hard reset.

However, if you’ve also bought an already used phone and can still find some data from the last user, you should reset the phone. Here, you don’t need a backup.

2. You’re experiencing slowdowns.

Is your smartphone or tablet suffering from significant speed issues? Completely formatting the device is the best way to fix it. At the same time, it is important to double-check what you install because there could be a lot of intrusive apps running in the background.

You know, those famous applications that send you notifications every half hour when you haven’t asked for anything. Imagine that you have 3 or 4 applications of the same ilk running in the background. The impact on your battery and phone’s performance will be quite overwhelming.

3. Unexplained bugs

Do you have apps that you have to force close or that crash for no reason? Again, resetting your Android mobile is inevitable and should solve these problems.

But first, I suggest you check your library of applications installed on your device. Then delete the ones you suspect may be causing the problems.

If you have to uninstall and delete a few apps and their data, feel free to look on the Play Store for other alternatives or newer updates.

4. Reset Android after unsuccessfully flashing a zip

After flashing your mobile phone with a different flash file, the phone could become almost unusable. In this case, the reset is important. It helps to restore the system to its initial state and thus start again in a clean state of health.

Seeing that your mobile is stuck, the most straightforward solution remains to follow these steps:

1. Turn off the phone
2. Turn it back on while pressing Volume up + home + power
3. Tap Wipe data/Factory reset, then Yes, delete all user data and validate with the power or lock button.
4. Once it’s finished and you’re back in the general list, tap Reboot system now. Your phone should reset and restart now.

5. To do a spring cleaning

Some users don’t have any particular problem but may still want to do a spring cleaning. Sometimes this is due to having too much unsanitized data that the user wants to remove all at once, not one by one.

But, again, the best way to do this is through the “Factory Reset” option. With this option, it’s important to have your phone backed up.

How to Reset Your iPhone Without Losing Everything

There are many reasons to reset your iPhone.

You may want to create space on your device. You may need to undo the settings done over the months or sell your smartphone.

But here are things to reset your iPhone without losing your data.

Step 1: Make an iOS backup.

To keep your data up-to-date even after a reset, make an iOS backup before resetting the iPhone.

This way, your private content and settings are secured. You can restore your data anytime on another iPhone or iPad. To Backup the iPhone before resetting, there are two options:

1. iOS backup via iCloud

1. Go to Settings on your iPhone
2. Tap on your username
3. Then tap iCloud.

• Tap iCloud Backup and the switch that appears to the right of “iCloud Backup.”

After that, your data will be saved to your iCloud if you have enough free memory for this. Apple provides every owner of an iCloud account with 5GB free of charge.

If you find that the iCloud backup option is already activated, there is already a current iOS backup of your data in your iCloud.

2. Make an iOS backup via PC

On the other hand, you can also make an iOS backup traditionally by connecting your iPhone to your PC and backing up your data via iTunes on your laptop.

Once you connect your iPhone, iTunes will open automatically. To make an iOS backup, select the Summary option in the left gray-colored column and click Back up now. After that, iTunes takes the iOS and backs up all your iPhone data to your PC. To avoid data loss, it makes sense to choose one of the two ways before resetting the iPhone.

Tips and warning

• If you choose none of these options or start deleting your data while you are still signed in to your iCloud account, your data will be removed from your iCloud before the iOS Backup.
• So to ensure you keep all photos and contacts, first sign out of iCloud. To do this, go to Settings >> [username] >> Sign out. Once you’ve done that, you can start iOS Backup with peace of mind.

Step 2: How to Reset iPhone After Backup

In contrast to Samsung or Sony users, as an iPhone owner, you can choose from various reset variants, depending on how comprehensively you want to reset your iPhone.

Before deciding on an option, go to Settings >> General >> Reset iPhone >> Reset.

The following menu offers six iPhone reset options in the iOS 16 version. I also found this to be the same for iPhone users still running as later as iOS 10. Currently, the options are:

1. Reset all settings

This option will undo all the settings you have made throughout your iPhone usage. This iPhone reset option does not affect your pictures, music, contacts, and other data.

2. Reset All Content & Settings

If you want to erase all content and settings on your iPhone, including personal data such as photos and videos, then choose this second option. This option is particularly relevant when selling your iPhone. This is because it ensures that the new user can no longer read your data after the reset.

3. Network settings

In contrast to the two previous ones, this variant of the reset is only limited to your saved WiFi passwords and hotspots. All content and other data of your iPhone remain unaffected.

4. Keyboard dictionary

This fourth option also limits the iPhone reset to a relatively manageable extent. Thus, this reset relates exclusively to your iPhone’s dictionary.

5. Home screen

Resetting the home screen only has formal effects on your iPhone. All features and content are still preserved.

If you don’t like the app or the background image of your iPhone, opt for this reset.

6. Location & Privacy

This last option will factory reset any changes you’ve made regarding your location and privacy. All other modifications that you have made to your iPhone remain.

Choose the option that best suits your needs from this customized resets selection. Then tap Reset or Cancel to start the reset or choose another option.

Read also:

Read also: How to Reset Motorola Phone

How to Reset Your Samsung Device With Ease Without Losing Everything

There are different variations of a reset, depending on the nature of the problem for Samsung users. I’ll show you how to reset your smartphone properly, whether with a soft or hard reset, without losing everything. Thankfully, these methods also work for most Android devices.

Soft reset

The soft reset is the simplest version of Android reset. Strictly speaking, a soft reset describes a restart and not a reset. To restart your device, press the power and quiet buttons simultaneously for a few seconds until it restarts.

With previous Samsung phones like the Galaxy S4 and S5, removing the battery for a short time was enough to restart it. But since the batteries are firmly glued from the newer models like the S6 and many other Android smartphones like the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua or the Huawei P9 Lite, this option is no longer available.

A soft reset is mostly recommended when your phone is either stuck, or you want to get your device running faster again.

Hard Reset

If your Android device no longer runs smoothly or you want to sell it, you should do a hard reset. But you have to start with a backup, so you don’t lose your data:

Step 1: Back up Samsung phone data

Before resetting the Samsung phone, you should make a data backup. If you have already set this up, then it will work automatically.

You can back up your Samsung by going to Settings >> Accounts and backup >> Backup and restore. There are three options for backing up data.

Via Samsung account

Under Samsung Account >> Backup Data, you can back up the phone data like call logs, messages, contacts, and others with your Samsung account. For example, if you log into your Samsung account on a new Samsung smartphone, you can then restore this data.

Via Google account

Option number 2 is Backup via Google Account >> Backup. If you switch on the data backup, the Google account is used for this, and you can restore the data on a new Android smartphone via the Google account. You can also back up data via  Samsung, and Google accounts simultaneously.

External storage transfer

In this case, you must use the Smart Switch app to back data to an SD card or USB stick.

1. Go to Settings on your Samsung
2. Tap Cloud and accounts
3. Select Smart Switch

• Tap on More (the three vertical dots) and External storage transfer from the drop-down

• Tap Backup

• Select the contents you want to Backup (i.e., Messages, Calendars, Call log, Clock, Internet, and more)

• Tap Backup at the bottom of the page.

Step 2: Remove Google and Samsung accounts

Android phones come with device protection designed to reduce the risk of theft. Ideally, this “Android Device Protection” is only activated if someone resets the smartphone to the factory settings manually and not via the settings.

Unfortunately, device protection is sometimes activated on devices that have been properly reset via the settings. Therefore, before resetting a Samsung phone, you should remove Google and Samsung accounts from the device.

1. To do this, go to Settings.
2. Tap on Accounts and Backup and then Accounts.
3. Tap on the Google and Samsung accounts here.
4. Then go to Remove account for Google and Sign out for Samsung.

Step 3: Reset Samsung phone to factory settings

The next step is the actual resetting of the Samsung smartphone.

Go to Settings >> General management >> Reset >> Factory data reset. Select Reset, enter your password or PIN, and confirm your choice.

Note that your Samsung smartphone can take a while to reset. But once done, your data is removed, and the device is ready for a new user.

Step 4: Restore the phone

After completing the reset, you can restart your Android phone either with or without power button. To restore the backed-up data, you first need to set up your Google account again.

1. To do this, go to Settings.
2. Tapp Accounts and Backup.
3. Then tap on Manage accounts and Add account.
4. Finally, tap on Google, and sign in by entering your Google account details.

All data you have synchronized via your Google accounts, such as contacts or mail, will be restored automatically. After that, you can install the apps you want, recover all other data and files, and set up your Android phone the way you want.

Read also: How Accurate are iPhone Location Services and Tracking?