The Samsung Galaxy S25+ is a 2025 flagship running One UI 7 on Android 15. Resets are usually a fix for one of three things: a frozen screen that won’t respond, persistent software glitches after an update, or wiping the phone before selling or handing it off. Methods 2 and 3 erase everything on the device — back up first if you can.
Watch the procedure (video tutorial)
Method 1: Force restart (no data loss)
Try this first when the screen is frozen or the phone won’t respond to touch — it’s the modern equivalent of pulling the battery, and it preserves all your data.
- Press and hold the **Side button** and **Volume Down** at the same time.
- Keep both held for about 7-10 seconds until the screen goes black.
- Release when the Samsung logo appears. The phone will boot normally.
Method 2: Factory reset from Settings (when Galaxy S25+ works normally)
Use this when the phone works normally but you want to wipe it — for resale, trade-in, or to fix persistent software issues.
- Open **Settings**.
- Tap **General management**.
- Tap **Reset**.
- Tap **Factory data reset**.
- Scroll down and tap **Reset**. Enter your PIN, password, or pattern if prompted.
- Tap **Delete all** to confirm. The phone reboots and begins wiping.
Method 3: Hard reset via Recovery Mode (when locked or won’t boot)
Use this when you’re locked out, the phone won’t boot to Android, or Settings is unreachable. This triggers Factory Reset Protection — after the wipe, the phone will demand the Google account that was previously signed in. Without it, the phone cannot be set up.
- Power off the phone completely. If it’s frozen, hold **Side + Volume Down** for 10+ seconds until it shuts down.
- Connect the phone to a computer or wall charger with a USB-C cable. Current Samsung Galaxy devices require an active USB connection to enter Recovery.
- Press and hold **Volume Up + Side button** at the same time.
- Keep holding until the blue **Android Recovery** menu appears, then release.
- Use **Volume Down** to highlight **Wipe data/factory reset**, then press the **Side button** to select.
- Highlight **Factory data reset** and press the **Side button** to confirm.
- When the wipe finishes, select **Reboot system now**.
After the reset
The phone boots to the Samsung Welcome screen, identical to first power-on out of the box. You’ll be required to sign back into the Google account that was previously on the device — this is Factory Reset Protection and Samsung will not bypass it. Once signed in, you can restore from a Samsung Cloud or Google backup, or set up as new. End-to-end encrypted messages and some game progress won’t restore from cloud and are gone.
Troubleshooting
I forgot the Google account that was on the phone before the reset.
Recover the account at accounts.google.com/signin/recovery using your recovery email or phone number. Samsung support cannot remove FRP. If the phone belonged to someone else, only that person can release it from their Google account in their account security settings.
The phone boots normally instead of entering Recovery mode.
Either the USB cable isn’t connected (or isn’t delivering power) or you released the buttons too early. Plug into a wall charger with the official Samsung USB-C cable, then hold **Volume Up + Side button** firmly from before the Samsung logo flashes until the Recovery menu loads.
The phone is stuck in a boot loop after the factory reset.
Re-enter Recovery (Method 3, steps 1-4), run **Wipe cache partition** first, then run **Factory data reset** again. If it still loops, reflash the official firmware using Samsung Smart Switch on a PC — connect the phone in Download mode (Volume Down + Volume Up while plugging in USB) and follow the emergency recovery prompt.
