How to Soft and Hard Reset Pixel 2

If you are experiencing problems with your Google Pixel 2 smartphone and need to reset it, here’s how it’s done.

• Jump to Soft Reset
• Jump to Menu Hard Reset
• Jump to Bootup Hard Reset

Soft Reset

A soft reset will free the device from being frozen. These steps will not erase data from the device

Press and hold the “Power” and “Volume Down” buttons for about 15 seconds until the screen changes. You should then be able to power the device on again.

Hard Reset

A factory hard reset will set the Pixel back to factory default settings and data. All data on the device will be erased.

Option 1 – Phone Menus

• Starting from the Home screen, swipe the app drawer up and choose “Settings” > “Backup & reset” > “Factory data reset” > “RESET PHONE“.

Option 2 – Hardware Buttons

1. Power the Pixel off by pressing and holding the “Power” button, then tapping “Power off“.
2. With the device off, press and hold the “Power” and “Volume Down” buttons simultaneously.
3. An Android logo should appear indicating the device is in bootloader mode. Use the volume buttons to toggle the selection to “Recovery Mode“.
4. Press and hold “Power” to make the “Recovery Mode” selection.
5. Press “Power” and “Volume Up“. Release “Volume Up” after 3 seconds, but continue to hold “Power“.
6. Still continue to hold “Power” until you see a screen with an Android that says “No command“. Once you see this screen, you may release “Power”.
7. Use the volume buttons to toggle the selection to “Wipe data/factory reset“.
8. Select “Yes“.
9. The device should complete the hard reset. Select “Reboot” once complete.

These instructions apply to both the original Pixel 1 and XL versions of the Google Pixel.