How To Fix HTC One That Reboots or Shuts Down Randomly

While HTC One is one of the best smartphones produced last year, it’s not free from problems. The thing is, the Samsung Galaxy S4 seemed to have stolen the limelight so many One owners would have dig a little deeper to find solutions to their problems.

One of the problems that seem common with the phone is the random rebooting or shutting down. It happens without apparent reason but there are a couple of procedures you can do to determine what the problem really is and fix it.

Boot HTC One to Safe Mode

It could be an app that’s causing all the trouble but you cannot really pin-point which one it is. To confirm your suspicion, you would need your phone to boot into the Safe Mode and have all third-party apps and services disabled upon start up. Here’s how you do it:

  1. From any screen, press and hold the Power button.
  2. Tap and hold the ‘Power off’ option.
  3. Tap ‘Restart.’
  4. When the phone restarts, ‘Safe Mode’ will appear on the lower-left corner of the screen. If it doesn’t, repeat the process.

Now, observe closely if the phone still reboots or shuts down while in this mode. If it doesn’t, then you have confirmed your suspicion that third-party apps are causing the problem. You need to determine which app is it and uninstall or disable it. Here’s how you uninstall a third-party app:

  1. From any Home screen, tap the Applications icon.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Application manager.
  4. If necessary, swipe right to the Downloaded screen.
  5. Tap the desired application.
  6. Tap Uninstall and then tap OK.

Uninstalling the app that causes the phone to reboot would solve this problem. However, if the phone still reboots even if it’s in Safe Mode, there’s nothing left for you to do but the next step.

Read: Top 5 HTC One Most Common Problems, Solutions & Workarounds Provided

Reset your HTC One

This procedure is a little bit of a hassle as you need to back up your data such as downloaded content, ringtones, images, apps, and contacts. However, this procedure would always solve a problem like this. Now, here are the couple of ways you can do the factory reset:

Reset from the Settings Menu 

  1. From the Home screen, tap ‘Applications’ icon.
  2. Tap Settings and scroll to and tap ‘Backup & reset.’
  3. Tap ‘Reset phone.’
  4. Scroll down a bit and select ‘Erase all data’ check box.
  5. Tap OK to confirm.

Reset using Hardware Keys 

  1. Turn the phone off completely.
  2. Press and hold the ‘Volume Down’ and ‘Power’ keys together.
  3. When you see an Android robot on a skateboard, release both keys.
  4. Use the Volume Down key to highlight FACTORY RESET.
  5. Press the Power button to choose it.

You cannot retrieve files deleted during the reset so be extra mindful to backup all important data on your phone prior to following any of the procedures above. Now, if the phone still reboots even after doing a factory reset, have it checked by a technician as it may be a hardware problem.

Read: Solutions for the HTC One Problem in Home and Back Buttons

Tell us your phone problems

The solutions we provided here are based on reports and testimonies from owners who have encountered these problems. I also ask my XDA developer friends regarding some of the problems. Now if you have other problems or questions with your smartphone that you want answered, don’t hesitate to send us email at [email protected]

We don’t guarantee a reply to all emails because we receive hundreds of them daily, but rest assured your email messages will be read by me. But I urge you to provide as much details as possible so I could easily find references and compare your problems with reports from other owners. If your problem is as common as others, there could already be solutions that exist and I would surely point you to them. Screenshots often help so attach one if you can.

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Harold Hisona

Harold has been in the tech industry since 2008 when he started out as a tech support for companies like Time Warner, Comcast and Tracfone. He’s been troubleshooting phones when the smartphone industry started booming. During his tenure as a tech support, he’s already been writing for various tech blogs and doing some freelance SEO. In 2012, he joined a small team of bloggers to write for The Droid Guy, and he has been with the company ever since. Today, he doesn’t only write tutorials and troubleshooting pieces but also shoots and edits videos for The Droid Guy channel while trading stocks on the side. Contact me at Email

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