How to hard reset Samsung Galaxy S3?

Samsung Galaxy S III is not responsive? Facing application frozen or hang problems on Samsung Galaxy S3 lately? Or want to send Samsung Galaxy S3 back for warranty claim? It’s time for you to hard reset Samsung Galaxy S3 then. By the way, hard reset is known as Factory data reset in Samsung Galaxy S3. After factory data reset, your Samsung Galaxy S3 will be back to factory setting just like you turn on it for the first time. This means that it will delete everything including your applications, data, settings and contents on internal storage (sdcard). Note – it won’t delete external SD card contents.

Factory data reset Samsung Galaxy S3

Note – Make sure you backup all your application and data before hard reset your Samsung Galaxy S3 (if you still can). Use Samsung Kies, titanium Backup or CWM to do the backup. How to factory data reset Samsung Galaxy S3? There are 3 ways to do so.

Performing a factory data reset via settings

  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select Back up and reset.
  3. Click on Factory data reset ~ Reset all settings and delete all data on device.
  4. Select Reset device.
  5. Finally, select Erase everything.

Performing a factory data reset using phone buttons

  1. Turn off Samsung Galaxy S3.
  2. Press and hold down Volume Up + Home + Power buttons at the same time.
  3. Release all buttons when you see SGS3 Logo.
  4. Android system recovery will be loaded then.
  5. Select wipe data/factory reset. (use Volume buttons to go up or down, select with Power button)
  6. Select Yes — delete all user data.
  7. Finally, select reboot system now.

Performing a factory format using dialpad

  1. Warning ~ no turning back after key in.
  2. Bring up dialpad.
  3. Key in *2767*3855#
  4. Finally, SGS3 will be rebooted and factory format.

That’s all. Enjoy your new fresh Samsung Galaxy S3.

257 COMMENTS

  1. Jayce, what backup method do You recommend?

    I’m switching from S2 to S3 probably soon.

    I could use Kies and Titanium Backup – tho I still haven’t bought the full version – is it worth it?

    The most important things to backup are application settings (not data, I can download the programs/games myself), but I don’t know how I could do that.

    Any help possible?

  2. Hey Jayce,

    I just bought Galaxy S3 from China but problem is all system and samsung apps web site is chinese. How can i format the phone and install new english version of it?
    Thanks
    Ganaa

    • Hi Ganaa, I am not sure China SGS3 hardware is the same as international SGS3 or not. SGS2 is not. So can’t use other region English firmware. Try to consult others at XDA website.

  3. hi Jayce, thanks for the advice, i followed the hard set guidance you proposed. it initially worked ok but i never managed to reach to turn on the phone, Samsung Galaxy SIII continues to give the warning “battery temperature low”, any further advice?

        • dear jayce, i left the device plugged with the adapter and left home. After 6 hours, the screen is still the same, level of charging has not progressed ( i know how the screen looks like when it is 100% charged) and i still can not turn it on. what shall i do?

          • meanwhile, during hard reset, i noticed that a blue text appears on the screen saying that “Android OS is updating” with another white announcement below “the process started” but no further action takes place and i see the SGS3 logo once again. Additionally, i can not make this hard reset process if device is not connected to power.

  4. Hi , My palm swipe screen shot has stopped working will have to do a reset to get it going again?
    Also does any one know how to switch off face unlock feature (have it on now)

  5. hi, why does my s3 randomly resets itself? i had already made the factory reset but it still keeps rebooting itself?

  6. Hello jayce please help me my samsung galaxy s3 hangs very much whenever i open any of the application and i also works very slow when compared to my friends samsung galaxy s3 please help me…..

  7. My GS3 started of reading both the ext sd card & the system sd card. Now it wont show the contents on the system sd card but the contents are there because I can see them via my file manager. What should I do 2 correct this problem

  8. Hi Jayce,

    I am experiencing issues with my SGS3 hanging then randomly turns off. This phone is brand new and I got it from SMART (Philippine Wireless Network Carrier). I already did factory reset and I am still experiencing the same issue. What can I do?

    I refuse to bring it to a service center because they might have me deposit my phone for servicing.

    Please advise. Thanks.

  9. hi jaycee
    its the option in music player that choose songs according to your mood.
    when i try that option (it says selected list empty)

  10. hi Jayce,
    one more help plzz…….. can you plz tell me is there any difference b/w these two firmwares
    1){PDA: XXALE8
    PHONE (Modem): DDLE8,CSC: ODDALE5 Version:4.0.4}
    and
    2)
    {PDA: I9300XXBLFB
    CSC: I9300ODDBLF3
    Version: 4.0.4}

    both are for India..can i install first one my device,it is showing the second one in settings.

  11. i bought a samsung s3 in china and i am unable to acces face book or google play and many other apps is there any way i can reset the phone to get these fetures back on it ?

  12. hi jayce,
    i downloaded and installed stock firmware frm sammobile as per your instructions now everything is working fine .but all my games are crashing.firstly i installed nova3 and was working good but after new firmware it is crashing not even start…..also every game like sprinkle,nova3 etc..can u plz advice me what can i do???

  13. Hello I did a factory reset on my galaxy 3s (canadian Version)
    and when I try to turn on my phone I get a quick recovery booting message in the top left corner and thats it. I am I doing something wrong? please help!

  14. Please I got probs with my galaxy S3 I want some files back in order to been deleted coz my kids been playing with it and I am really affriad if I lost all my stored picS and numbers

  15. Excellent site Jayce!

    Quick question, you mentioned above that doing a factory reset will also wipe the “Internal storage (SD)” – Does this mean the that doing a back up using CWM to “backup to internal sdcard” is pointless when I’m flashing a new rom (as it’s always best to perform the “wipe data/factory reset”).

    Or, is a ‘hard reset’ different to a factory reset? I have a SGS3, but no external SD card, so I was wondering if it’s possible to flash a custom rom, whilst having the option to revert back to the one I’m using now, without having to have done a backup to an external sd.

    Many thanks in advance!

  16. Hi,
    I just bought new SGS3 and it froze after one day of use, it will boot up but after few seconds freezes and wont response anymore, tried to reboot many times by removing the battery, no luck. pls advice.

    Rotam

  17. Ive been using a tmobile samsung galaxy s3 i installed aan app and after restarting the phone it wont go past the boot screen tried to hard reset and it said everything was erased but when i go to instal from zip everything is still on the phone tried uninstalling and reinstalling the the root and it still doesnt work please help

  18. Hello, I bought the cellphone on Colombia, but my icons, like camara and others are very ugly and I want to change them, is there a way I get the default icons from the cellphone ? They look kind of cartoony and I think that my provider made them like that.

  19. Hey there…I been looking all over the net for this issue , I got my S3 about 2 weeks back…yes I did Install apps like the regular ones intagram skype n stuff like that..nothing illegal or pirated stuff…now what my issue is my phone works for the most part of the day but sometimes…and i mean only sometimes ..while im chatting or doing something on the phone …Be it any application it hangs and the phone restarts(without actually rebooting…it jus shows a blank screen..the phone vibrates and i see home screen again..) then it works fine…again for the rest of the day but somewhere in the middle this happens…I did try hard reset and Installed everything all over again…but this happened again to me…I would like to know if this is a hardware issue or if there is an app im Installing that is doing it..Cos since its only been 2 weeks…i really im considering replacing this piece…Please help ! thank you.

    • Suspect installed applications are causing the problem. Try to factory reset. Then install application one by one. Find out which application is causing the issue.

      Note – if you face this issue without any application installed (after factory reset), then it is hardware issue.

  20. Thank you for this article. My phone was freezing before I could do a reset from settings and everywhere I looked seemed to take it for granted that if you were there you know how to access recovery on the phone. I have spent entirely too many hours getting my phone operational so I wanted to thank you for putting me out of my misery.

  21. My S3 changes settings by itself. Such as turning on vibrate mode, stopping mobile data, changing email font color and background, and stopping auto rotate. I’m getting tired of having to redo settings several times a day.

  22. hi Jayce,

    My s3 is not working properly using wifi, whenever i turn on the wifi my phone stops working and get stuck on the lock screen, it gets hang and nothing is operational, i have to take off the battery and put that back again, if wifi is off on my phone then there is no problem using the phone, can u plz help me in this stuff???

  23. Hello Ahmad

    I am using Galaxy S3. It was working nice. But after sometime it used to create some problem in wifi connection, Was not working. I had checked my router setting also but the problem was in handset. But now I am glad to say that i got a solution which worked great for me at http://howmobile.net/samsung/2291-wifi-problem-galaxy-s3.html and I thought that it could be the same problem I had. Hope The given procedure will work for you

  24. HI Jayce.. I am using S3, I used to connect to my Laptop through its Cable…… recently the Laptop doesnot recognise the S3. The msg says “One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunction. and Windows does not recognise it.”

    Can you Pls help???

  25. Thanks, I found the issue. it is an App (CamScanner) I had installed earlier, after deleating it the problem is solved.

    Best Regards and Keep up the Good Work!

  26. Hi Joyce, I just did backup and reset my sgs 3 but I can’t restore my previous application ,they are all gone , please how can I get my application back

  27. Hello Jayce,

    I’ve tried to do a hard reset with my galaxy s2, and the hard reset part works, but when I do the reboot it says installing applications and doing this it just freezes again.. Do you have any idea what I need to do?

    My friend says I need to reinstall android, but I can’t because it freezes and apart from that, I have no idea how I would have to do that..

    Could you please help me?

      • Thanks for your quick reply! I’m not sure what you mean, I have downloaded some apps from the app store and I have also downloaded a torrent movie on it with my utorrent app.. Maybe that wasn’t very clever but the problem started after I downloaded Sims free app

  28. hi jayce, i installed a game – brothers in arms on my new galaxy s 3. at first the game didnt started. it used to come back 2 d main screen when it started loading d game. then i restarted my phone. after dat it worked, bt after playing for 1 time the next time the same issue occured. i have to restart my phone again and again to play dat game. plz help…. how can i make the game run normally ?

  29. Hi.
    How can i removed my back up account on samsung galaxy s3? Can you help me how? I already reformat ut several times but it’s still there.

  30. my s3 freezes n it say ERROR WHILE SAVING TO U DISK. but it nothing happen,just like that all time…want to reset,cant do…what is the problem..

  31. Hi I need to set my galaxy s3 back to factory settings but i will then loose all my texts and there are some really important ones on there is there anyway i could somehow keep the texts? as i have tried to copy to sim but it only allows me to have about 3-4 text saved to sim

  32. Ei bro bought samsung galaxy s3 last monday…..had a problem with outgoing sms……says message not sent…..i can still receive sms and calls and also use it to make calls….thanks in advance bro

  33. I have a galaxy s3. Last night the native messaging app crashed and the screen froze so i turned the phone off. Now it will not turn back on. i have tried usb to pc and hard reset but phone is unresponsive.

  34. I have brought a brand new galaxy S3 last week and facing issue when I am calling a contact from my contact list which was imported from my SD card (SD card had the .vcf file exported from my old phone DELL).
    The problem is :

    “whenever i try to call a phone contact or receive an incoming call my screen goes black and phone becomes unresponsive. this way i can neither make calls nor receive any. the phone was working fine until i updated it on 13th july. but the problem started on 14th a day after the update. i get an error msg ‘unfortunately the process com.android.phone has stopped working’

    I found from a forum (http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?can=2&start=0&num=100&q=&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars&groupby=&sort=&id=34929) that this occurs because of the contacts that were imported from the SD card.
    I removed all the contacts and now the phone is working but I dont have any contacts in my contact list and to Save all the contacts individually is gonna take lotta time.

    I am not sure what is a permanent solution for this problem and it seems this will happen even if some app (like FB) tries to sync contacts with your phone.

    What will be a permanent solution to this problem and How can I synch my contacts from my SD card (is there any way)?

    Appreciate any help 🙁

  35. i has installed samsungsimpletool for sch-r530u uscc on my pc than i had started following instruction and connected my samsung s3 with pc after 2 hour i have disconnected in between and now my samsung s3 is not working

  36. Hi, my new S3 has gone, stolen. Can’t reach it any more also from Sansung Dive.
    Probably they hard reset it…

    For my next S3 I’ll buy I have a question: is it possible to deny the Hard Reset process?
    Or at least set a password/pin lock to this function?

    I’d like to be sure that noone else will be able to use/reset my phone in the eventuality that I will lose it or (aaggghhh) they will stole again it to me!

    Please, tell me it’s possible! Ah, and how to do it of course!

    Thanks,
    Andrea

    • Yes, with password in Android OS. But factory data reset using phone buttons method still can delete everything (the password in Android OS won’t stop him from doing this).

      • Thanks Jayce for your reply 🙂

        Bad thing to know… this way all passwords/tracking software/security options are only nice but useless gadgets…

        Well, I hope at least that IMEI lockout through my phone operator will be usefull to let te phone be useless too 🙂

        Ciao

  37. Hi Jayce ,
    Can you or other people please check this : I updated my SG3 on this version I9300XXDLJ4_I9300OXADLJ4_BTU also on this one I9300XXDLIH_I9300PHEDLI1_PHE and when I try to do a FACTORY FORMAT using dialpad is not working . I open dialpad I type there the code *2767*3855# and nothing happen. I even try to dial and I recieve an error code. What is wrong ? Can somebody else please try these ? and see what’s going on ?I think Jelly bean still have a lot of errors
    Thank you and waiting for a reply.
    Ice

  38. Hi Jayce, again me
    Please don’t forget about the factory format dialpad that is not working , also I have another problem . CFroot is not working on this update I9300XXDLJ4_I9300OXADLJ4_BTU , please try and see .. is not installing anything , no CW no SuperSu ..

  39. I set a password on my Galaxy S3 SGH-1747M and it worked fine, but then it would not accept the same password. Restarted the phone a couple of times and it would still not accept the password but then it accepted it … wtf, go figure. Could not remove the password because it would not accept the password to make the password change.

    Anyhow, long story short, when I was able to get in I had to use the dialpad reset option to reset the phone because the first two options would not work.

    Jayce, thanks for the info, you saved my ass bud.

  40. hey, jayce i have brought my galaxy s3 from china it have all apps in chinese version so can u tell me how to change it to english version

  41. Hello Jayce,

    I was doing some serach on google and found your information very clear.
    Just a quick question.
    I am thinking of selling my samsung S3 off.
    Don’t want any of my personal data to be on the phone or any of my downloaded application on the phone.
    Pretty much just need to make it like the person is switching the phone for first time. I think it will make it look better as the person feels like he/she is turning it on for the first time.
    My questions will all the pre installed application still there after I do the factory reset? The application that are missing are the ones I have downloaded from the market right? Thanks heaps for your help.

  42. Found a galaxy III phone trying to do a hard reset due to I dont have pattern code. I do all steps and it does not bring me to the prompt to reset. Am I doing something wrong? Or could they had made this phone equipped to not being able to do hard reset? Thank You!

  43. Hi Jaycee

    i just upgraded my s3 to jellybean 4.1.1
    but the camera start to not function..
    it keeps telling me that “unfortunately, camera not working”
    i have call samsung centre for help but they told me to do a hard reset..
    if i reset my phone, will it resolve my problem or i just wait for the new release updates? please advise..

    thanks and regards

  44. hye jayce….
    my sgs3 are ap set and not from china cause they are different body part but why my sgs3 setting a bit different from ori set cause in my setting it didnt show font style but it just show font size…can u give me some advise ???

  45. in my setting it just have :
    -wifi
    -bluetooth
    -data usage
    -more
    -audio profiles
    -display
    -led indicator
    -storage
    -battery
    -app
    acc&sync
    -location
    -security
    -language
    -backup
    date&time
    -schedule
    -accsbility
    -developer option
    -about phone

    hope u can give some advise…

    • As I said, it might be related to your firmware. This might be normal to your firmware. Different firmware has different features. Do consult Samsung Support to confirm. Or your seller.

  46. Hey Jayce, a couple questions. I have paid apps installed on my phone. If I do factory reset, would I lose those paid apps and have to buy them again? Another question, how would you backup the phone? Do you do it from your phone’s backup to Google server option or is there something else like how apple has iTunes. Also after a factory reset, how do I restore my contents back on to the phone??
    Thanks
    Jai.

  47. Hi Jayce, How come its possible to buy a Samsung S3 for around $500 US that is supposed to be original but without a factory warranty.. To get the s3 with factory warranty is $850? Are tehy teh same units?

  48. Hi I have the SD card and I have the USB Storage..I was wondering if I hard reset my phone if it will erase all the data I have on the USB storage. I have the SII btw.

    -Mist

  49. Usually it took how long to reboot? I was using the phone buttons method and i don’t have any SD card. It’s just appear “samsung” on my screen for half an hour. Thank you.

  50. http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/gotastory/

    Anyone with issues should leave your storey on the BBC Watchdog site as I’ve had the same issues and got nowhere with Samsung.

    RE: Samsung Galaxy S3 I9300 – Bought new in June from the Carphone Warehouse
    I contacted Samsung who said they would send out an envelope to get the phone for testing/repair, but when I sent it all I got was a bill back from them for £119.03 (Parts) + £19.25 (Labour) + VAT@20% = £165.94. When I called Regenersis (Samsung approved repairers) I was told they couldn’t fix my phone under warrenty due to it being rooted, but this phone has NEVER been rooted.
    After speaking again with Samsung they called Regenersis while I was on hold and came back with that phones can be rooted by a random combinations of keys being pressed, but that it was still my fault. When I asked what this random combination of keys was they wouldn’t say. When I said if a kid played a game on my phone (angry birds etc) could they have rooted it, the guy from Samsung basiscally said it was possible!!!

    I have these calls recorded and if anyone wants to contact me from the press, Samsung or a competitor (Apple etc) please do at daveholmes1980@gmail.com

  51. Hi Jayce,

    I am from kuwait and i updated my GS3 to Official JB Poland Version using ODIN, every thng is working fine the only problem is wen i try to update using kies it shows

    Your Devices current firmware version is not supported to update firmware via Kies.

    I think this is bcoz of Poland version i installed, can you please help in this.

    Thanks in advance

  52. Hi,

    Can anyone let me know about my question ?

    I got Samsung Galaxy S3 and I got unlock code from ATT.
    I unlock my GS3.
    Now I want to give this phone to my brother then if I do Factory Reset then my GS3 will be locked again or not ???

    Any idea on this..

    Thanks in advance.

  53. hello,
    I had a issue, I’m using Samsung Galaxy S3 international version
    it was working fine then I put it on my table and I went away for couple minutes
    came back and it’s ‘dead’..wont turn on..still have around 70% battery when I left it there..
    tried removed the battery and place it back, tried hard reset, wont work..

  54. Hey bros! Need help again….my niece were playing with an s3 a while ago and the accidentally entered a free site which automatically had my phone download a apk. had my phone scanned with avast antivirus and discovered it as a trojan and had it deleted…..so is my phone safe now? Or is there anything i need to do to be sure? I hadnt installed the apk and i dont have any apk installers installed….thanks in advance bros! Good day

  55. Hi, i just got the galaxy s3, i put a pin number in and now can’t remember it and vodafone couldn’t help me!! help me please!!

  56. Hi Jayce,

    My SGS3 is a month old and my problem is it works very slow. It also hangs in between. Even if i clear the RAM, it does work slowly.I am thinking to do a factory reset. Does this make my warranty void?

  57. Hey bros! I know this question is not related in factory resetting but ive just noticed….is the security pin unlock in the lockscreen only in portrait?

  58. I have a Verizon Samsung Galaxy s3 that is flashed over to pageplus, if I factory reset, will it not work on pageplus anymore?

  59. hi im having trouble connecting to wifi i have done a factory restart like my provider has told me to do and still not working can someone help

  60. Hi ,,,
    I did a factory reset on my galaxy S3 , now i have some problem with my file in storage !
    this time i can not find my file in storage (ExtSdcard/Sdcard) both of them , for example when i get one file by Bluetooth or when i download from sumsungapp or playstore i can not find source of my file !

    May you help me ?
    regards

  61. hey,
    my SGS3 has this problem where it suddenly freezes and thes note just pops up. it says “unfortunately, the process com. google.process.gapps has stopped” and when i press ok it goes off..and due to this thng i cannot download any apps or music or anything on my phone . coz everytym i try and download this message shows up..help ??

  62. my sgS3 cannot boot into the system, it keep on restarting after the logo appears again n again. i try to hard reset by pressing the 3 button together. the green man does appear but it goes off less than a second and the samsung logo come out again restarting. how can i do ?

  63. hello ^-^* i have a problem of my samsung galaxy S3, everytime I tap on the message or any application, it always back at a menu every minute and every second,, I don’t know if it is freezing or hungging up and I Scanned it but same again? it started when I was activate my Play store,, then I uninstall my games because I thought it caused downloading.. Please help me =(…

  64. Hi Jayce:
    i received a software update from samsung for my SGS3 but after it was installed it reboot but didnot open to normal screen; i mean it hanged at samsung logo part; i tried to do hard reset but it again hang at same part. Do you have any solution? Thank you.

  65. hi jayce i have a major problem i forgot the password to my phone and i know you can hard reset it with the three buttons but my power button is broke is there any other way i can get in

  66. Hi Jayce, I did a factory reset after my phone atarted having problems just freezing or turning off suddenly. It was done once a few months previously and it worked fine after the hard reset. Now I did another hard reset and it keeps staying on the service provider’s screen after the samsung screen.
    Tried to reboot once more but all i get is the android bot img with ‘no command’ and E:failed to mount /data
    And other messages of the like.
    What should I do?

  67. Jayce,
    Thank you very much for the information on how to factory reset my Samsung Galaxy Stardust. Worked like a charm. Now the only thing I need to figure out is why the phone locked me out to begin with which necessitated the factory reset.
    Jim

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