Recovery · 6 min read
What a factory reset actually throws away
Read this before you hold two buttons. Some things come back. A lot of things do not.
A factory reset returns the phone to the setup screens. It is the official way past a forgotten lock. It is also a shredder for whatever was only on that handset.
Usually gone: camera roll that never hit the cloud, WhatsApp chats without a backup, downloaded mail, 2FA apps that were not on a second device, local voice memos, app logins.
Sometimes saved: iCloud Photos if it was on, Google Photos if it was backing up on Wi-Fi, SMS on the carrier’s account (rare), passwords in a manager you can open on a laptop.
Never removed by a reset: Activation Lock, Google FRP, a carrier SIM lock, a lost/stolen flag, a work MDM profile. If you bought the phone used and it asks for someone else’s account, a reset will bring you right back to that question.
If you can still open the phone, even a little — USB file transfer, an old computer backup, exporting 2FA — do that first. Ten minutes now is better than a year of locked bank codes.