Device Restarted and was reset, how do I restore back to previous setting?

[AC Question]

Device Restarted and was reset

Earlier today while out walking my S6 active vibrated in my pocket, I took it out and saw that it was shutting down (as if the battery died). About 10 min later, I looked at it to see the screen in "Accessibility Mode", and it was trying to get me to log into my accounts (google, samsung, etc.), like it does when you first unbox and start the phone.

I jumped through the hoops and finally got to my home screen where, much to my dismay, all of my apps and content had disappeared. The factory AT&T apps were back.

My question in: What the heck just happened? And how do I restore all of my previous settings? Is there a way to see on the phone what just happened?

Thanks in advance!

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Device Restarted and was reset

Welcome to Android Central! Check to make sure it hasn't logged in using Guest Mode. Swipe the notification panel down, and tap the user profile avatar--is it Guest, or your usual account?

 

[auburn2011]

Re: Device Restarted and was reset

Hey thanks for the reply, OP here. I just checked and can't find a guest mode. For further clarification, it's a Samsung S6 Active running Android 5.0.2 on AT&T

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Device Restarted and was reset

Is there anything in the System Settings for different user profiles?

Every now and then, we encounter cases like this, where there is an unexpected factory reset. The only explanation that I have is that there was some catastrophic system glitch that caused it, but I don't know anything more technical than that.

 

[auburn2011]

Re: Device Restarted and was reset

No, unfortunately. My only guess is that I was hiking near Arabia Mountain, and the mountain's magnetic field screwed with it (it's a single, giant piece of granite).

For now I've fixed everything; I'm just afraid it'll happen again. Huge pain to reconfigure all those apps

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Device Restarted and was reset

My only guess is that I was hiking near Arabia Mountain, and the mountain's magnetic field screwed with it (it's a single, giant piece of granite).

Now that would be a cool scientific study.

At this point, I'd be very cautious about keeping anything valuable on the phone without any backups, so make sure all of the important stuff on there is syncing somewhere, or is being backed up on a regular basis. If it happens again, I'd contact Samsung (or your carrier store) and see if you can get a replacement. It might even be worth talking to them now and explaining what happened--they might offer a replacement now.

 

[auburn2011]

Re: Device Restarted and was reset

Now that would be a cool scientific study.

At this point, I'd be very cautious about keeping anything valuable on the phone without any backups, so make sure all of the important stuff on there is syncing somewhere, or is being backed up on a regular basis. If it happens again, I'd contact Samsung (or your carrier store) and see if you can get a replacement. It might even be worth talking to them now and explaining what happened--they might offer a replacement now.

Not a bad idea, I'll give ATT a call after the holiday; thankfully i have insurance. Much thanks for the help!