How to hard reset a OnePlus 6

Learning how to hard reset or factory reset your OnePlus 6 is important if you are troubleshooting, or if you want to sell or give away your device. In this short tutorial, know the exact steps on how to wipe your OnePlus 6 and return all its software to defaults.

Before you actually perform the hard reset, it is important that you remove your Google account from the device. If you don’t want to do that, then be sure to enter the correct username and password after for that account after a factory reset.

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Method 1: Hard reset OnePlus 6 via Settings

Under normal circumstances, you should only try to factory reset your OnePlus 6 by going under its Settings menu. This method is easy to do and straightforward. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Create a backup of your data.
2. Go to the Main Menu and enter the Settings screen. Alternatively, you can just open the Settings app directly.
3. Find the Backup and Reset entry and tap on it.
4. Tap Factory Data Reset.
5. Tap on Reset Phone and once more review the warning messages.
6. Tap Erase Everything (that’s how you can confirm your option).
7. Now the factory reset will be automatically completed.
8. When done, reboot your OnePlus 6.

Method 2: Hard reset OnePlus 6 via Recovery Mode

If your OnePlus keeps rebooting or has become unresponsive, doing a factory reset via Settings may not be possible. This is where factory reset via Recovery Mode becomes a a good alternative. Compared to the first method, this one requires pressing a combination of hardware buttons. Make sure to follow the steps below:

1. Create a backup of your data.
2. Turn off the device. This is important. If you can’t turn it off, you’ll never be able to boot to Recovery Mode. If you are not able to shut the device off regularly via the Power button, wait until the phone’s battery is drained. Then, charge the phone for 30 minutes before booting to Recovery Mode.
3. Reboot to recovery mode by pressing and holding (at the same time) the Volume Down and the Power buttons.
4. When you see the OnePlus icon displayed on your phone, release all keys.
5. Enter your PIN code if it’s asked.
6. In recovery, use Volume Up and Down rocker keys in order to scroll within options and use the Power button to select your option.
7. Select ‘wipe data factory reset’ and wait while the wipe is performed.
8. Optional: choose ‘wipe cache partition’ followed by ‘wipe dalvik cache’.
9. Return to main menu of recovery when done and choose ‘reboot system now’.