There are various reasons you might want to reset your Android device. Maybe you are going to sell your device or maybe you just want to gift it to your friend on his/her birthday. Either way, it is recommended that you reset your device. What resetting will do is restore all the settings to factory and delete the data on your device, so the person who is going to be its next owner cannot see what you had stored on the device.
Resetting alone is not very powerful. If the future owner of your device has some skills, he might be able to recover and access your data, which you will not like at all, obviously. In order to securely reset your Android device, you can encrypt the data stored on it. This way, your data will be scrambled and the future owner of your device will simply not be able to read any of your files, as all of them will be encrypted.
Here’s how you can go about encrypting the data stored on your device.
Before you can encrypt your device, you will need to set up a password on your device. Here’s how you can do that:
Setting Up a Password
1. Open Menu on your device and tap on the Settings option.
2. Scroll all the way down until you see the “Lock screen” option. Tap on it. It will let you create a password for your device.
3. You should now be presented with a number of security options for your device. Tap on the one that says “Screen lock.” It should be on the top of the list. It will let you manage security settings for your lock screen.
4. On the screen that follows, tap on “Password.” It will let you create a password.
5. The next screen should ask you to fill in your password. Do so and hit the “Continue” button.
6. You will need to enter the password once again for the confirmation. Enter the same password again and hit “OK.”
7. You are done.
You have successfully set up a password on your device. You can now proceed to encrypt the data stored on your device using the following instructions.
Encrypting Data on an Android Device
Each time you reboot your device, you will be asked to enter your password in order to decrypt the data and make it readable. If you ever forget your password, you will not be able to decrypt your data, hence there will be no option but to delete the data and start all over again.
1. Open Settings on your device.
2. Tap on “Security” in the settings menu. It will let you manage the security settings of your device.
3. On the screen that follows, tap on the option that says “Encrypt device.” That is what you are going to use to encrypt your data.
4. The next screen should have some instructions regarding encrypting data on your device. Read them all and then tap on the “Encrypt device” button.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions for encrypting your data.
6. You are now done.
Great! Your device data is now encrypted and it is safe and secure from any unauthorized access on your device.
You can now reset your Android device to wipe all of its data. Since the data is already encrypted, even if the future owner of your device somehow gains access to your deleted data, he will simply not be able to read anything.
Here’s how you can reset your Android Device
Resetting an Android Device
1. Open Settings on your device.
2. Scroll all the way down until you see the “Back up and reset” option. Tap on it. It lets you back up the data on your device as well as factory reset your device.
3. On the next screen, tap on the option that says “Factory data reset.” It will reset all of your data and settings to factory settings.
4. Follow the on-screen instructions for resetting your device.
5. You are done.
Congrats! Your Android device is now safe for selling or gifting as it no longer has your confidential data stored on it.
Conclusion
Taking the above precautions while selling or giving away your device will definitely help you avoid any troubles down the road.
Mahesh Makvana is a freelance tech writer who’s written thousands of posts about various tech topics on various sites. He specializes in writing about Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android tech posts. He’s been into the field for last eight years and hasn’t spent a single day without tinkering around his devices.
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