Accidental Reboot

[Greg Nisperos]

I'm a first time android user having always had iPhones, and yesterday, was working with my phone in my pocket. When I finished I got my phone out, and noticed it was somehow keyed to a factory reset,
displaying "Hi there" English (United States) START
With no options of canceling out, I'm wondering if theres any way to exit out, and return to my existing keypad? Have I lost my existing information and data?
Thank you

 

[Hadron]

You could always force a reboot by pressing and holding the power key. Pressing the back button repeatedly will back out of most things though.

But if it has reset then yes, the data are gone.
On the other hand if you have already set it up it should be asking you for your Google login details (an anti-theft measure, to stop a thief just resetting the phone and using it for themselves).

And of course it should be very difficult to accidentally factory reset the phone, which raises the question of whether it is a faulty unit?

 

[Deleted User]

Well once it does a factory reset your data including contacts, photos, apps, and settings get reset and deleted, however their are 3 ways of getting your data back

The first one is restoring a previous backup witch will ask you to restore if any backup is available to restore this will restore your contacts, apps & settings, if you had google google photos auto backup your photos they will be available in googles photo app.

2nd backup method is when you setup your device and finished google will sync only your contacts if any available that synced before the reset this isnt the best option as it only restores 1 thing but its still useful.

3rd if you have backups on your PC then you can restore your photos and documents this way but most people don't do this so its it
itt much of an option to many!

If you have no backups of the 3 methods your basically starting fresh.

Depending on your device some android devices have an option that allows you to enable an option the protects you from accidentally touching something when in your pocket etc.

I'm sorry this happened to you and hopes this helps!

 

[Greg Nisperos]

Well my phone is still displaying the information I posted,
are you saying theres no backing out from this point?
I can only press on from here, an possibly select the options you posted? such as option 2?
I just got this phone a couple weeks ago, and havent set anything up for backups yet.

 

[Deleted User]

Well my phone is still displaying the information I posted,
are you saying theres no backing out from this point?
I can only press on from here, an possibly select the options you posted? such as option 2?
I just got this phone a couple weeks ago, and havent set anything up for backups yet.

You have to continue withcthe setup for backups to show

 

[MoodyBlues]

I just got this phone a couple weeks ago, and havent set anything up for backups yet.

You may have. It's been a decade since I started fresh with Android, so I don't know for sure, but it's possible that when you set up the phone, Google automatically set your defaults to back up photos, contacts, etc.

my phone in my pocket. When I finished I got my phone out, and noticed it was somehow keyed to a factory reset,

I have a BIG problem with this. It just isn't that easy to trigger a factory reset. Because of that, I'm wondering if, perhaps, that's not really what's happening. Can you take a pic of it and post that? Maybe that will help.

 

[Hadron]

Well it's hard to say what the options are when we don't know how it got into this state. But it doesn't sound like you have any at this point.

Some backups are automatic. For example if you stored your contacts as belonging to your Google account (or Samsung account, or other online accounts for that matter) they will have been synced and will reload when you sign into the account again. If you stored them "device only" then unless you made a backup (which you say you haven't) they'll have to be re-entered. Same for any calendar information, etc. Emails will hopefully still be stored on the server. You may have photo backups if you used a gallery app with that capability (e.g. Google's Photos app) and allowed it to sync with their cloud. It's possible that you have backups of some app data if you allowed Google to back that up. So there may be stuff that comes back when you sign in or reinstall stuff.

I'm not sure how it could be doing this and not asking for your Google credentials though. For that you need to remove the Google account before resetting, which adds a lot to the unlikelihood of this happening accidentally. Did you have any type of screen lock set up? If you didn't, and also don't use a case which covers the screen, it becomes more likely that you managed to wake the screen and then mess things up in your pocket (rubbing against a leg or something), but the options to do this sort of thing aren't exactly sitting on your home screen so it seems unlikely that you would reset it accidentally like this. Some phones will reset if you fail to enter a lockscreen PIN/password too many times, but for that I'd definitely expect it to activate the factory reset protection system (require your Google credentials to get back into the phone) rather than look like it just came out of the box for the first time. So I'm struggling to work out how this could happen (which I see Moody is also having trouble with).

 

[steiny180]

Pull the battery, then reinsert it...

 

[ocnbrze]

Pull the battery, then reinsert it...

that will depend on the phone. most phones these days do not have a removable battery (thanx apple).

 

[MrJavi]

that will depend on the phone. most phones these days do not have a removable battery (thanx apple).

If it wasn't for a removable battery, my N4 would've been history a long time ago. I just pop out batterys from wall charger to my phone. I can't even remember the last time I've used the usb to charge my phone. However, Its definitely not water submersible.
As for the manufacturers, producing cellphones with non-removable batterys will insure company revenue in the future. lithium-ion batterys will begin to degraded and eventually fail and the phone with it.
I also know most people buy a new Android every two to three years. However, if you have young children who constantly want to borrow your phone to play games then having a good battery in your old phone might be advantages if you want to keep your new phone in your hands whete it belongs.

PS: Innovation or Planned obsolescence ?

 

[puppykickr]

Let's all hope that it is the 'restart' screen and not the 'reset' screen that is appearing.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Let's all hope that it is the 'restart' screen and not the 'reset' screen that is appearing.

That's why a snapshot would be so helpful! I can't wrap my mind around a phone factory resetting itself just from being in a pocket!

 

[Greg Nisperos]

Well thanks to everyone for their insight in addressing this issue, which I believe unfortunately was something that required prior action to avoid.
My phones have long been the plague of my demise and I have found little help in solving the problems that frequently arise.

Last night a friend of mine marched forward, and continued with the screen options and consequently, left me with no contacts and basically a new install. Some friends messaged me, providing 5 or 6 numbers for my address book, so that's a start, but there's countless others I'll be wrestling with to restore.

Thanks Hadron for the tips on backing up my phone, i'll spend some time looking into those, as I don't want this happening again, and my thanks to everyone for their time and advice.
I'll be frequenting this forum regularly, as this is clearly a resource I can appreciate for the help and wisdom of those who dwell here.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Damn! Sorry to hear that, @Greg Nisperos.

If you're not an anti-Google person, you can set things up to let them back up everything from photos to contacts--going forward. If you need help doing that, let us know.

If you're not happy with letting Google have your data, there are many other ways to do backups. Let us know if we can help there, too.

 

[nclarkii]

My brand new Kyocera Duraforce Pro has accidentally factory reset in my pocket twice in 4 days! It seems Google's anti-theft protection does a factory reset if there are 10 incorrect PIN attempts on the lock screen, and my butt doesn't know my PIN. After some research, this feature can be disabled by first removing the Google account associated with the phone and then performing a normal factory reset from within the phone's settings. Super frustrating.

 

[puppykickr]

My brand new Kyocera Duraforce Pro has accidentally factory reset in my pocket twice in 4 days! It seems Google's anti-theft protection does a factory reset if there are 10 incorrect PIN attempts on the lock screen, and my butt doesn't know my PIN. After some research, this feature can be disabled by first removing the Google account associated with the phone and then performing a normal factory reset from within the phone's settings. Super frustrating.

I am under the impression that 'Google' must mean 'super frustrating' in some foreign or alien language.

"Stepping on Legos in the dark is so Google!“

 

[Hadron]

My brand new Kyocera Duraforce Pro has accidentally factory reset in my pocket twice in 4 days! It seems Google's anti-theft protection does a factory reset if there are 10 incorrect PIN attempts on the lock screen, and my butt doesn't know my PIN. After some research, this feature can be disabled by first removing the Google account associated with the phone and then performing a normal factory reset from within the phone's settings. Super frustrating.

That type of system is manufacturer-dependent, so I think you must actually blame Kyocera. I'm using a Pixel, where the behaviour is definitely Google, and what happens there is that if you enter the PIN incorrectly 5 times you are locked out for 30 seconds and the fingerprint scanner is disabled. Entering it incorrectly another 5 times after the lockout just produces a lockout.

Removing the account before doing a reset is to stop you needing to enter your Google account login after the reset - which is the actual Google "Factory Reset Protection". So don't waste your time doing this: it won't change the behaviour because you are confusing 2 quite different things.

 

[johnnysac]

My brand new Kyocera Duraforce Pro has accidentally factory reset in my pocket twice in 4 days! It seems Google's anti-theft protection does a factory reset if there are 10 incorrect PIN attempts on the lock screen, and my butt doesn't know my PIN. After some research, this feature can be disabled by first removing the Google account associated with the phone and then performing a normal factory reset from within the phone's settings. Super frustrating.

I'm sorry to hear this happened, but at the same time glad......It seems to be an issue, My Kyocera has factory reset 2 times in the past 4 months....Very frustrating but glad I learned how to google back up, it has been a life saver!!!! Same issue, it does it while in my pocket....