Skip to main content

How to reset a Samsung Galaxy A phone and fully erase it

samsung galaxy a53 5g review screen hand
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Got your hands on the Samsung Galaxy A13? Or maybe you're exploring the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G. The Samsung Galaxy A series offers a wide variety of midrange phones to serve all needs. If you're using one of these devices, it can be helpful to know how to reset it.

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

10 minutes

What You Need

  • Samsung Galaxy A phone

Soft reset versus hard reset

When you're considering resetting your device, you have two main options. You can soft reset it, meaning the system is reset but no data is deleted. The second option is a hard reset, which completely clears the data, taking the phone back to how you bought it. This second method is also called a factory reset.

Soft resetting is simple: You simply turn off your phone and turn it on again after a while. You can also just select the Restart option.

If you're looking to hard reset or factory reset your Samsung Galaxy A phone, follow the steps below.

Reset your Samsung Galaxy A phone through settings

One of the easiest ways to reset your Samsung Galaxy A phone is through the settings menu. Here's how.

Step 1: Open Settings.

Step 2: Select General Management.

General management option on Samsung Galaxy A phone.

Step 3: Select Reset.

Reset option on Samsung Galaxy A phone.

Step 4: Select Factory data reset.

Factory data reset option on Samsung Galaxy A phone.

Step 5: Read the instructions and the warnings that appear on the screening and proceed by selecting the Reset device option.

Reset device instructions and warnings.

Step 6: You may be asked to enter your screen lock pattern or Samsung account password to ensure it's you who is resetting the device.

Step 7: Wait for the data to clear. Once it's done, the initial setup screen will appear. Your phone has now been reset.

Reset Samsung Galaxy A phone for older Android versions

If your Samsung Galaxy A device doesn't have Android Nougat 7.0 or newer, the process to reset your phone will look slightly different, so check this section out if the instructions above didn't match up with your device.

Step 1: Open Settings.

Step 2: Select Backup and reset.

Backup and reset option on Samsung device.

Step 3: Select Factory data reset.

Factory data reset option on Samsung device.

Step 4: Read the instructions and warnings, and then select Reset device.

Device reset option on Samsung Galaxy phone.

Step 5: Enter your lock screen password.

Step 6: Select Erase everything, and your phone will begin resetting.

Why would you want to reset your Samsung Galaxy A phone?

There are many reasons why people choose to reset their phones. Resetting your Samsung Galaxy A phone can help you troubleshoot stubborn problems or clear your data in case you're giving your phone away. It can also help if you're buying a secondhand phone and want to start from scratch.

The good news is that resetting your Samsung device is fairly easy, so we hope these steps help you get the job done.

Sakshi Udavant
Sakshi Udavant is a freelance journalist and marketing writer covering technology, business, wellbeing and lifestyle. She…
The Galaxy Z Fold 5’s biggest upgrade is hiding in plain sight
A person holding the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, showing the top of the hinge.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 (left) and Galaxy Z Fold 5 (right) Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

If a building is 2.4mm higher than another building, you probably won’t notice. If one room is 2.4mm larger than another, you won’t be able to fit more stuff in it. But the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is 2.4mm thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold 4, and take it from me: you will notice. Not only that, but the new hinge design enables the phone to fold flat, so there's no more gap.

Read more
How to fix the ‘iPhone Unavailable’ error (4 easy ways)
Three iPhones showing security lockout screens and reset options.

From private photos to personal contacts and financial info, your smartphone likely contains a wealth of personal information that you wouldn't want falling into the wrong hands. Thankfully, Apple understands this and takes the privacy and security of your iPhone very seriously — to the point where even Apple's best engineers can't unlock your iPhone without knowing your passcode.

For security reasons, Apple also limits the number of times you can enter an incorrect passcode on your iPhone. Unless you use a really obvious passcode, this dramatically reduces the chances of somebody getting access to your iPhone simply by guessing multiple passcodes until they hit the right one.

Read more
I used Motorola and Samsung folding phones. Only one gets this feature right
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Motorola Razr Plus folded in hand.

Software plays a crucial role in any device, but it becomes even more important when you have a limited amount of screen space to interact with the user interface. The Motorola Razr series has always been better than the Galaxy Z Flip lineup in terms of usability when folded. This year, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 closes the gap between the two clamshell foldables by offering a big cover screen.

But sporting a big outer display doesn’t immediately make a flip phone foldable a whole lot more useful; case in point – the Oppo Find N2 Flip, where Oppo gave us six widgets (and added a couple more later) to play around with and called it a day. While Samsung brings 13 widgets to the table, the cover screen software is still not on par with the Motorola Razr Plus.

Read more