How to Reset Your Galaxy S7 Before You Sell It

In this guide we’ll show you how to reset your Galaxy S7 and get it ready to sell or trade-in. With a new Galaxy S9 coming soon you might be looking to upgrade your Galaxy. If so, you’ll want to clear all of your personal data from the phone, then do a factory data reset. This way the new owner can’t access any of your old information.

And while there are a few different steps you’ll want to take, like backing up pictures or messages, one of the most important steps is erasing everything from your phone. Our devices have lots of important information you don’t want in the wrong hands.

Read: How to Backup Android in 5 Easy Steps

You don’t want to accidentally sell your Galaxy S7 to a stranger while your banking information and Google account are on it. The entire process of backing up and then deleting your phone isn’t nearly as hard as you think. It’ll only take a few minutes, so follow our easy instructions below.

How to Prepare Your Galaxy S7 For Sale

• Backup your messages, photos, videos and more
• Sign out of Samsung account (if applicable)
• Remove microSD card (if you have one)
• Factory Data Reset your Galaxy S7 (erase everything)

Backup your Galaxy S7

The first thing you should do is backup all of your information. If you already have your new phone this process is extremely easy. Especially if you have a new Galaxy, as Samsung’s SmartSwitch app does everything for you. Get it from our links below. Then once you’re done, you can delete your entire phone in under 5 minutes and be ready to sell it.

• Samsung SmartSwitch App
• Samsung SmartSwitch PC or Mac

If you already have a new phone use the SmartSwitch app to transfer virtually everything to it. Open Samsung’s app on both phones, connect the two with a USB cable as shown in the on-screen instructions, and hit go. It does everything for you and only takes a few minutes.

Read: How to Backup & Erase Your Galaxy

If you don’t have a new phone yet you can use the PC or Mac version to back up your entire phone to a computer. That way you have everything ready for later.  We’ve put together a guide on backing up your information and deleting your old Galaxy phone in our link above. Click that, and follow the instructions.

Some people may want to open apps and services, or accounts like Samsung and LastPass, and then sign out. However, a factory data reset (our next instructions) erases anything and everything. Meaning signing out isn’t necessary.

Erase Your Galaxy S7 So You Can Sell It (Factory Data Reset)

Once your data is backed up and you’ve saved everything and signed out of apps, you can erase the entire phone. Just like reformatting a hard drive on a computer, Android phones have something known as a “Factory Data Reset”. Only the process is really simple.

This next step erases everything and puts it back to a factory out-of-the-box state. Basically, the way it was the day you got it.

• Head to Settings in the app tray, or by tapping the gear-shaped settings button in the notification bar
• Scroll down to General Management
• Tap on Reset, then choose Factory Data Reset

Now you’ll see a list of every app, service, or account active on the device. Scroll to the bottom and tap the blue “Reset Device” button and you’re all done. The Galaxy S7 will turn off, go into maintenance mode and erase everything, then reboot within a matter of minutes. Ignore the weird writing and stuff you see on the screen.

Now your Galaxy S7 is like new again, at least on the software side. It will restart and be the way it was the day you got it. Asking you to go through setup, sign into a Google account, and all of that stuff. From here you don’t need to do anything. We’re all done.

You’ve successfully backed up your information, and safely erased your Galaxy S7. Now it’s back to the stock software, clean of anything, and ready for a new owner to enjoy. Go ahead and trade it in, or sell it to save up for the Galaxy S8 or the upcoming Galaxy S9.

If you have any questions about this process let us know in the comment section below.