How to Hard Reset Motorola Defy (back to Factory Settings)

The Motorola Defy is a highly-customizable Android phone released in September 2010. Its customization features made it a clear contender on the market at the time, and it remains a widely-used and beloved phone even now. If your Defy has started to give you any trouble, for example by hanging on CPU-intensive apps or performing daily tasks at a much slower rate than usual, it could be time to perform a hard reset, restoring the phone to its factory settings and start fresh.

There are two ways of performing this procedure, with the second method being recommended only when you are unable to successfully navigate through the software menu or, in other words, unable to access Android. Both will erase all the personal data you have on your phone, including third-party applications, but Motorola gives you ability to backup everything onto its MOTOBLUR server automatically beforehand. They claim that any information on the MicroSD card will remain unchanged through the process, but it’s recommended to back that up as well before starting.

Hard Resetting the Defy

The first method uses the phone’s software, and does all the job through the settings menu of Android. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open the applications menu, notated by the middle circle at the right of the home screen. You can also press the menu button at the left of the home screen to reach the same page.
2. Tap on Settings and scroll down until you reach Privacy.
3. Now tap on Factory Data Reset and choose to Reset Phone.
4. Wait until the process is complete.

When the Defy is unresponsive

If the phone is unresponsive to the point of making it difficult or impossible to reach this internal menu, there is another reset option available using the built-in firmware of the phone. This is useful because it bypasses the well-worn software and can allow you to save an otherwise non-functioning phone. Both resets will completely erase your personal data and applications from the phone. In order to perform this reset, start with the phone OFF and perform the next steps:

1. Press the power button while holding the Volume Down button on the side of the phone.
2. When you see the “Triangle ! Android” screen appear, release the Volume Down button.
3. Tap on the lower-right corner of the screen.
4. Choose “Wipe” on the menu presented on-screen.
5. Choose “Reboot Now” from the available options.

As soon as you do this, the Defy will clear itself of any personal & application data and restart as a brand-new phone. You can then begin re-installing and customizing your Motorola Defy to your liking. If you backed up your data using MOTOBLUR, you’ll be able to restore your data from the server as soon as the phone restarts.