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So, you decided to get your hands on Google’s new Pixel Tablet. Chances are good that you may still be learning your way around and hopefully, your experience up until this point has been a good one. That said, there’s always a possibility for hiccups. Whether you’re using an aging device or a brand new piece of hardware, the occasion may arise that you need to reset your Pixel Tablet.
Should you find your Pixel Tablet acting up or not booting properly, a simple reset may be what you need. In many cases, you might be simply resetting your device to remove your account and return the tablet to like-new, factory settings. Whatever the reason, you have some options to reset your Pixel Tablet and get things back in working order. Let’s take a look at the various ways to reset your Pixel Tablet.
Restart
Should you find your Pixel Tablet acting a bit wonky, the first thing you should try is a simple restart. It is possible that an application is experiencing an issue or there could be a hiccup with the hardware that is causing your tablet to misbehave. Regardless, restarting your device can oftentimes be exactly what you need to fix your issue.
If your Pixel Tablet is acting strange but you can still access the settings menu, simply swipe down from the top of the screen and press the power button ⏻ to bring up the menu. You can power the tablet off entirely or press “restart” and it will do just that. If your display is frozen or you can’t get to the settings menu, fear not. You can trigger the power menu by pressing the power button and the volume up button at the same time. This should pop up the “restart” and “power off” on-screen buttons. Click restart and see if your issue is alleviated.
Factory Reset
If your Pixel Tablet is still experiencing issues after a reboot, it may be time to do a factory reset. Keep in mind, this will wipe any local data and accounts from the device. If you are able to, back up any files that you don’t want to lose by moving them to Google Drive or sending them to another device using Android’s Nearby Share feature. You can send them to your phone or a Chromebook using this powerful, fast sharing tool. Next, power off your Pixel Tablet. Press and hold the power button and volume down buttons until you see the recovery menu appear. It may take 10-15 seconds but the menu appeared almost instantly in my testing.
Once the recovery menu appears, you can toggle through your options using the volume rocker. Cycle through until you see Recovery Mode and press the power button to select it. You should now see a screen that says “no command” with the Android icon. Next, press and hold the power button and quickly tap the volume up button, releasing both buttons at the same time. (Note: This is Google’s official method. I found that tapping power and volume up at the same time works more consistently. Try either way until you get the desired result.) This should bring up the Android Recovery screen where you can do a variety of things. Most of which, you probably don’t need to dabble with as these are developer options.
From here, use the volume keys to scroll down to “wipe date/factory reset” and press the power button. You will be prompted to confirm the factory reset. Use the volume rocker to select “Factory data reset” and press the power button to confirm. Once the reset is complete, you should be back at the Recovery screen. Scroll to “Reboot system now” and press enter. You should now see a white screen with the Google logo. From there, the device should restart and you will be greeted with the out of box screen that says “Welcome to your Pixel Tablet.”
There you go. You should now have no problem restoring your Pixel Tablet to its original factory state. Whether you’re having issues or you simply want to wipe your tablet and start fresh, these steps will get you where you need to go.
