How to Hard Reset an HTC One Phone: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

A hard reset, also known as a factory reset, is the most effective way to restore an HTC One phone back to its original factory settings. This clears all personal data, customized settings, third party apps and brings the phone back to its ‘out-of-the-box’ state.

There are a few reasons why you may want to hard reset your HTC One phone:

• You’re selling or gifting your phone and want to wipe all personal data
• You’re experiencing performance issues, glitches or bugs
• You forgot your lock screen password or pattern and can’t access your phone
• You want to erase everything and start fresh

No matter the reason, performing a hard reset is simple on HTC One phones if you follow some key steps.

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How a Hard Reset Works on HTC One Phones

On HTC One phones running Android, a hard reset works by erasing key pieces of software responsible for booting up the device’s operating system. This includes:

• User data partition – this contains your photos, apps, messages and all personal content. A hard reset wipes this clean.
• System partition – this contains all the core Android OS files and customized settings. A hard reset restores this partition to default.
• Cache partition – temporary system files are erased to clear software clutter.
• Recovery partition – not erased, but accessed to perform the hard reset.

By wiping these vital software partitions, then rebooting, the HTC One phone can start fresh as if it just came out of the box.

This is different from a soft reset which simply reboots the phone to troubleshoot minor software glitches. With a hard reset, all user data and customization is permanently erased.

Now let’s go through some important preparatory steps to take before factory resetting your HTC smartphone.

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Things to Do Before Hard Resetting Your HTC One

Resetting your HTC One smartphone to factory settings means everything will be erased – including all your photos, files, downloaded apps and personalized settings.

So before wiping it clean, take a moment to:

1. Back Up Any Data You Want to Keep

If there are photos, videos, documents or other files you want to save, make sure to:

• Copy them to a computer
• Upload them to cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox
• Transfer them to an SD card (if your phone has external storage)

Note that if your phone is locked or inaccessible due to a forgotten password, you may not be able to retrieve data to back it up before hard resetting. In that case unfortunately anything not previously backed up already will be lost.

Back up photos, files and other personal data before resetting your HTC phone

2. Sign Out of Accounts

Make sure you are signed out of important accounts before resetting your device including:

• Google account
• HTC account
• Social media accounts like Facebook

You will need to sign back into these after the reset anyway to regain full device functionality. Signing out now as a precaution safeguards your passwords and data associated with those accounts.

3. Prepare Your Phone Number

If your contacts, apps or accounts rely on receiving SMS messages to your phone number, be ready to intercept those messages after the reset to verify your identity. This includes:

• Authentication codes to sign back into accounts
• Verification messages from your contacts

Have a separate phone ready or arrange to receive confirmation codes through email if possible.

4. Charge Your Battery

It’s good practice to have at least 50% battery charge – preferably more – before resetting your HTC phone. This ensures the device won’t power off prematurely mid-reset and cause potential software issues.

5. Know Your HTC Account Credentials

If you added security measures like device protection, factory reset protection or Google’s Find My Device to your HTC phone, you’ll need to provide account details like:

• HTC account username/password
• Google account username/password
• PIN code or password you set

Have these handy or reset them beforehand if you can’t remember, otherwise you won’t be able to reuse, unlock or set up your phone after the factory reset.

OK great – now that you’ve prepared your device and backed up important data, you’re ready to reset!

The easiest way is using the recovery menu built into HTC One phones. Let’s go through it step-by-step.

Step-by-Step Guide to Hard Resetting an HTC One Phone

Each HTC One phone model accesses the recovery menu and performs a hard reset a little differently:

• HTC One M7
• HTC One M8
• HTC One M9
• HTC One A9
• HTC 10
• HTC U11
• HTC U12+

Consult the section below matching your HTC device.

HTC One M7

The HTC One M7 was released in 2013. Here are the steps to factory reset it:

1. Open the Settings menu
2. Tap Backup & reset
3. Choose Reset phone
4. If prompted, type your lock screen PIN or password
5. Finally tap Erase everything to confirm and reset your HTC One M7

Once complete, the phone will reboot itself back to factory settings.

HTC One M8

The 2014 successor to the M7 allows resetting right from the Settings menu:

1. Go to Settings > Backup & reset
2. Tap Reset phone
3. Enter your PIN, pattern or password if required
4. Select Erase all data to confirm and factory reset your HTC One M8

After a few minutes, the phone will finish erasing and restart back to default.

HTC One M9

The 2015 HTC One phone moves the factory reset option under Personalization settings:

1. Open Settings app
2. Choose Backup & reset
3. Tap Reset phone
4. If your lock screen security is enabled, enter PIN or password
5. Finally select Erase all data to complete factory reset process

Once the HTC One M9 finishes erasing itself, it will reboot with software restored to original settings.

HTC One A9

HTC changed up their flagship phone lineup in 2015. Here is how to reset the HTC One A9:

1. Go to Settings > Backup & reset
2. Tap Erase all data (factory reset) – read warning prompt carefully
3. Choose Erase all data to confirm
4. Enter your lock screen passcode if prompted
5. Phone will restart itself after finishing the reset process

And that’s it! HTC One A9 is now restored to factory default settings.

HTC 10

The 2016 HTC 10 flagship phone makes it simple to reset everything directly from the Settings menu:

1. Open Settings
2. Choose Backup & reset > Reset phone
3. Tap Erase all data to confirm
4. Enter password or PIN if required
5. Phone will reset itself then reboot fresh

Just be patient during the reset process. Once finished, HTC 10 will be like new again.

HTC U11

Here are the steps to factory reset the 2017 HTC U11 phone:

1. Go to Settings > System > Reset options
2. Tap Erase all data (factory reset)
3. Enter screen lock passcode, pattern or PIN if prompted
4. Finally select Erase all data to confirm reset
5. HTC U11 will reboot itself when finished

And with that your phone is restored to original factory settings!

HTC U12+

The HTC U12+ works very similarly to the U11:

1. Open Settings app
2. Choose System > Reset options
3. Tap Erase all data (factory reset)
4. Carefully read warning prompt then select Erase all data
5. Enter password or PIN if asked
6. Finally phone will reset itself then reboot fresh!

Congrats! Your HTC U12+ is now restored to “out-of-box” default state.

And that wraps up our step-by-step walkthrough on hard resetting various HTC One phones!

Using HTC ‘Ruuu’ Tool to Hard Reset

HTC provides an official reset tool called ‘Ruuu’ (Reboot, Update, Unlock, Upgrade) to factory reset phones from the bootloader. This lets you force a reset if the recovery menu method doesn’t work or you can’t boot properly into Android.

To use Ruuu for hard reset you need:

• Hardware drivers and ADB tools installed on your computer (available from HTCdev.com)
• USB cable to connect phone to your computer
• Latest firmware release from HTC for your phone model

Then to force a factory reset with Ruuu:

1. Download correct firmware package for your HTC phone from HTC website and extract the .zip file
2. Launch Ruuu.exe tool on your computer
3. Connect your phone while powered off – Ruuu will detect device
4. Tap Factory Reset button on tool to wipe and restore firmware

It will take 10-15 minutes to complete resetting the phone’s firmware and reboot it fresh again.

One limitation is that Ruuu tool needs custom firmware from HTC to work properly. So it may not be supported anymore on older HTC models that no longer receive updates from the manufacturer.

But when available, it provides a failsafe way to overcome serious system glitches or lockups by forcing a hard reset from bootloader level. Definitely handy for advanced troubleshooting!

FAQs about Hard Resetting HTC One

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about performing a factory reset on HTC phones:

Is My Data Gone Forever After Resetting?

Yes! A hard reset erases all user data and custom settings as it restores software on an HTC phone back to default factory condition. So make absolutely sure to backup anything important first.

Will I Lose OS Updates If I Reset?

No, your HTC phone will still run the same Android OS version it received as OTAs or full ROM installs. Resetting does not downgrade or upgrade the system software itself.

Do I Need to Log Into HTC Account Again?

Yes, during initial device setup after the reset, you will need to add your HTC account again to access cloud services, sync data, enable device protection etc.

Will My Photos/Messages Backup After Resetting?

No, since reset erases all local data, media like photos must be backed up beforehand to view again. Cloud syncing with services like Google Photos can maintain your online albums accessible through app sign-in.

Can I Reset My HTC Without Accessing It?

If you forgot your PIN and can’t unlock the handset screen normally, you will need to use the HTC Ruuu tool connected to a PC to force reset from bootloader level. This wipes device without accessing standard Android interface.

And there you have it! Now that you know the ins and outs of hard resetting your HTC phone – all that’s left is to give it a try...

So reclaim system performance, erase your personal data, or gain back access to your unresponsive device with the easy factory reset tips outlined. Just remember to backup anything important first because once deleted, user data including contacts, photos, apps and so on are gone for good!