How to factory reset the Sony Xperia Z2

Hi everyone!

Read beforehand:
If you are having problems with your Android system, apps are laggy and some elements just won’t work, there are a bunch of things you could do to fix this problem, like removing the battery for a while, shutting your phone off as well, clearing the cache for your most used apps and system cache, getting a system manager etc. If there is no change though, you could do a factory reset or even a hard reset. A factory reset will erase all the data from your phone and put it back to the status it was in when you first bought it. You have your data backed up, so when setting up your phone again, everything will go back to how it was when restoring. I recommend that you backup your data on an app or SD card, if you aren’t sure. Some good backup apps for Android that are free are G Cloud Backup, Super Backup, App Backup & Restore....

What’s more, this won’t delete the data on your SD card, but you can remove it beforehand if you feel uncertain.

Factory reset vs hard reset

Factory Reset
The 'lighter' of the two reset options. It can be done either in settings or via recovery menu. It wipes all user data and firmware settings but leaves the contents of your internal SD Card intact.

Hard Reset
Restores a smartphone to its basic factory settings, which erases all applications that were installed by the user as well as all user data. Hard Reset wipes everything including the contents of your internal SD Card. Whatever firmware you last flashed will be the firmware you get back, but everything else will be wiped.

Here is how to backup your data and factory reset the Xperia Z2:

• Find your device’s settings, which can be found in the app drawer or the notification bar by swiping down from top to button on your screen.
• In the settings, choose Backup & restore then Factory reset.
• To delete the data found within the internal storage, press ‘erase internal storage’.
• Select Reset phone.
• Confirm with Erase everything.

You phone is now reset. You will have to reset it and input the Google account you used to set it up the first time to retrieve all your data from before. Follow the steps set up by the app you used to back up your data, if you also did this.

This should help your phone run a lot smoother.

— modified on Mar 12, 2014, 11:37:23 AM