Samsung S3 Factory Reset itself

[AC Question]

Hi there,
Could anyone please tell me if it's possible that my phone factory reset itself?
Is there a way for me to find out whether someone did it or the phone has just reset by itself?
btw I have a screen password set up so for anyone to do that, he would have to unlock the phone first, right?
Thank you so much for any suggestions.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! How do you know it factory reset--did you have to log back in with your Google account and set everything up all over again?

Although it's not common, I've seen users describe glitches that result in a factory reset. I don't think there's a way to figure out if it was a glitch or if someone manually did it.

 

[Mustique]

Thank you very much for your answer.
Yes, I had to set up my account and everything else from the beginning. What's more, I lost all the pictures, notes and messages and everything else except numbers saved on the sim card. So frustrating! Would anyone tell me if it's possible to retrieve lost files?

 

[mattbow]

Hello. This just happened to me today. The phone is only a week old. I was playing a game on it and it then informed me that it would be performing a factory reset. I could not stop it. It was completely random, and of course incredibly frustrating to lose my apps, pictures, etc.

In answer to your question, yes there are various ways to back up your contacts, and such. If you have a Google account and backup is enabled, you simply would have to sign into your google account on your phone and it will restore at least your contact list. That is exactly what I did.

So although unfortunately none of my apps, settings, or configurations were saved, I was glad to not have to re-enter my rather large contact list.

If you didn't have some active backup system in place, I'm afraid I don't know of any way to restore anything you lost.

Cheers,
Matt