Hard Reset On Samsung Tablet

Andy Walker is a news writer at Android Authority. Hailing from Cape Town, South Africa, he has over seven years of experience in the tech journalism space and holds a degree in English Literature. He's also a Formula 1 fan, makes a mean G&T, and can sometimes be spotted away from his desk lazing in the South African sun.

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•February 3, 2021

Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 factory reset

Suzana Dalul / Android Authority

Is your Samsung smartwatch having performance issues? Or are you planning to sell it soon? A factory reset might be in order. While Samsung's older wearables use Tizen, the Galaxy Watch 4 series runs Wear OS 3. Despite this difference, the factory reset process is almost identical. We will help you with a step-by-step guide. Here's how to factory reset your Samsung watch.

See also: Common Galaxy Watch 4 problems and how to fix them

How to back up your Samsung smartwatch

Before you begin, you should consider backing up your data. Smartwatches might not hold as much important information as our phones do, but a backup saves you the hassle of having to personalize your settings all over again. This process is relatively painless on any Samsung wearable. Here is how to back up your smartwatch:

Open the Galaxy Wearable app on your phone.
Tap Watch settings, then the Account and backup section.
Make sure the correct Samsung account is connected, then tap Back up data.
Choose which settings and apps you want to back up from the list.
Press the Back up button on the bottom of your screen. This will take a couple of seconds. Once the process is complete, you can press Done and proceed with your factory reset.

Note: You can also toggle on Auto back up to ensure your watch is always backed up to your Samsung account.

However, we should note that images and music saved on your watch will not be backed up. Make sure you have copies of them elsewhere because a factory reset will erase them along with the rest of the data on your watch.

See also: The best smartwatches you can buy

How to factory reset your Samsung watch

Factory resetting your Samsung smartwatch is quite simple. There are three ways you can go about it: factory resetting directly through your watch, using the Galaxy Wearable app on your phone, or hard resetting via reboot mode. Here is how each method works:

Smartwatch factory reset

From your Tizen smartwatch's home screen, swipe left twice to reach the app drawer. On the Galaxy Watch 4, swipe down to open the Quick settings pane.
Tap on the Settings icon and scroll down until you find General. Tap it.
Scroll to the bottom to find and select the Reset option. You will be prompted to confirm your choice. Tap on the tick icon to factory reset your Tizen Samsung smartwatch or Reset on the Galaxy Watch 4.

Galaxy Wearable app factory reset

Open the Galaxy Wearable app on your smartphone. Make sure your watch is connected via Bluetooth. Tap on the Connect button if it's not, and make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your phone.
Once connected, tap Watch settings, then scroll down to find the General section. Tap it.
Choose Reset from the displayed options. Tap Reset.

Note: If you're already in the Account and backup section, you can skip to the Reset page by tapping the shortcut at the bottom of the screen.

Manual factory reset

If your smartwatch is having performance issues, you might not be able to connect it to your phone or reset it through its settings. In this case, you will have to perform a manual hard reset.

Turn your Samsung smartwatch off by pressing and holding the Home button (Power button) and Back button. If it's not responding, keep holding the buttons until the watch reboots. Eventually, you'll see the "Rebooting" dialog.
While it's rebooting, press the power button multiple times in quick succession. This will cause the Select Reboot Mode screen to appear.
Select Recovery by scrolling through the options with the home button. The device will reboot once again and perform a factory reset, erasing all of your data.
If you are using the Galaxy Watch 4, another menu will appear after tapping Recovery. On this menu, swipe down and select Wipe data/factory reset. Swipe right and select Factory data reset. Swipe right again to confirm the reset. Once completed, swipe right once more to reboot the device.

Note: Your watch will automatically reboot if you don't select anything on the Select Boot Mode screen.

These are all the methods you can use to factory reset your Samsung watch. Did we help you solve your issues? Let us know in the comments below.