How to Reset Google Wi-Fi

Published 1 year ago / updated 2 months ago - 6 min read

There are many reasons why you would need to reset your Google Wi-Fi.

If your Google Nest is not functioning properly and you want to refresh it, or you’ve changed the Wi-Fi network, but still don’t get a good connection. Or perhaps, you want to sell your Google Nest Wi-Fi router and access points. Or you’ve been using your Google Next for quite some time and want to delete all the data from your devices that’s been stored in the cloud service.

Whatever your reason may be, below you’ll find step-by-step instructions on how to reset Google Nest Wi-Fi.

How to factory reset Google Wi-Fi

There are three ways you can reset Google Wi-Fi, and we’ll explain them separately below.

How to reset Google Wi-Fi using the Google Home app

This is the preferred way to reset Google Wi-Fi. Performing a factory reset using the Google Home app will restore all devices to factory defaults and delete all data collected in the hardware, the Google Home app and the cloud services.

Open the Google Home app.
Select ‘Settings’ and go to ‘Nest Wi-Fi’. This will take you to the Primary Network screen.
Scroll to the bottom and select ‘Factory Reset’.
In the pop-up message, tap on ‘Yes’.

Your Google Wi-Fi network will now start the factory reset process, which may take several minutes to complete.

If you go back to the home screen in the Google Home app and refresh it, you’ll no longer see the devices in your Google Wi-Fi network. Also, you should see the indicator lights on your devices change, which indicates they are factory resetting.

How to reset Google Wi-Fi using the Google Wi-Fi router

You can also reset Google Wi-Fi on the router itself.

Turn your router upside down.
You should find a small reset button at the bottom of the router.

Note: The button is really tiny, so look closely to find it. If you can’t find any button, your router may not have a factory reset button. We’ll explain how to restart a router without the button below.

Press and hold the reset button for at least 10 seconds. The indicator light on the router should begin to flash before turning into a solid yellow light.
When the light turns yellow, release the button. This will start the factory reset process.

Important: If you hold the router reset button for 15 seconds or longer, the indicator light will continue to flash yellow and the router will not reset. So make sure to hold it for 10 seconds.

After this, the indicator light on all other Google Wi-Fi devices connected to your router will start flashing yellow, signifying that a factory reset is in progress. Note: Don’t unplug any of your Google Wi-Fi devices until the factory reset process is done!
The Google Nest Wi-Fi points will first reset and will play a tone to signify the reset process has been completed.

Note: If you have a First Gen Wi-Fi router connected to your Google Wi-Fi mesh network, the status light will change from solid blue to flashing blue after 10 minutes.

This means that the factory reset is complete and you can proceed to set up your Google Wi-Fi.

How to reset Google Wi-Fi using the Google Wi-Fi router without a reset button

If your Google Wi-Fi router doesn’t have a factory reset button on the bottom of the router, this is how to reset it:

Unplug the power cord from your Google Wi-Fi router.
Next, hold down the button on the side of the router.
While you’re holding the button, plug the router power cord back in.
After this, you should see the indicator light turn white. Continue holding the button for another 10-15 seconds.
When you see the router indicator light starts flashing blue, you can release the button.
The Google Wi-Fi router will continue flashing blue for a while, which means the factory reset is in progress. Eventually, it will turn solid blue. After this leave your router alone for about 10 minutes.

After this time, your router is factory-reset and is ready to be re-added to your Google Home app.

How to reset a single Google Wi-Fi point

The reset methods described below will reset all the Google Wi-Fi devices to their original factory settings.

But, if you are having issues with one Wi-Fi point, you want to decommission or reconfigure it, here’s how to reset it:

Turn the Wi-Fi point device upside down.
Press and hold the small reset button underneath. You should hear the message: “You’re about to completely reset this device, release to cancel”.
Continue holding the reset button until you hear the device make a chime sound.
After this, release the button - the Google Wi-Fi point is factory resetting.
This process will take about 2 minutes to complete. Don’t unplug the device until it’s resetting.
When your Wi-Fi point indicator light starts pulsing the factory reset is finished.

In the end, you will hear a message prompting you to “Get started with setting up your Wi-Fi point”.

Wrap-up

The three methods above should help you reset your Google Wi-Fi. Choose which method works best for you depending on whether you want to reset the Google Home App, reset the entire Google Wi-Fi mesh network, all Wi-Fi devices mash points or just one of them.

How to Reset Google Wi-Fi: A Step-by-Step Guide