Have you reset your smartphone recently?

Yes, I did last weekend. I have a rooted phone and mess with it a lot.

But I always start with a full backup, in case I don’t like the results of loading a different ROM. So when I was through messing around, I did so a Restore and got back to the status quo.

I updated the iOS on my iPhone 6 two weeks ago. Didn’t lose anything.

I’ve reset my Android phones, and I have two different phones and a small tablet. I use the built-in (Google) contacts, Gmail, and Dropbox. And I let Google Photos back up pictures automatically.

So the same data is available on all the devices, including desktops and laptops.

Where I have had a little difficulty is finding all the apps I want. When you link a new phone to your Google account, there is an option to automatically load your apps. But I like to take the occasion to remove unwanted cruft. I do a basic install and add the apps manually.

So before resetting a phone, I recommend making a list of your apps.

On Android you can see your apps at Google Play . If you have multiple devices, there’s a drop-down menu where you can pick a particular one.

Last week I reset my wife’s phone without issue.

I just updated my iPhone to iOS 11.3 and had no problems. Nothing lost.