Factory reset by restarting five times

Every step with pictures, the phone and the ticker side by side: the Device page.

Before you start

• The ticker has completed setup at least once and holds a Wi-Fi network. Without one the counter never runs.
• You can reach the plug or the switch on the cable. Each restart is a full power cut, not a button.
• Everything on it will be erased: the Wi-Fi network, the coins and every setting. Read What each reset erases and keeps first if you want to keep the Wi-Fi.

Steps

1. Unplug the ticker (or flip the switch on the cable), wait a second, and plug it back in. The screen lights and shows the start screen. Nothing else appears yet.
2. Within five seconds of switching it on, cut the power again and restore it. This time a row of five circles appears, two of them red, with 3 more / quick reboots / for factory reset and a red line that grows under the words, left to right.

3. Cut the power again while that line is still growing, and restore it. Three red circles, 2 more.

4. Again. Four red circles, 1 more / quick reboot.

5. Once more. All five circles red and Factory Reset in red, then a green Factory Reset Done with Wi-Fi and settings erased and Restarting for setup....

6. Leave it plugged in. It restarts into first-time setup and shows Let's get me set up and its setup network’s name.

You’re done when

• The screen shows Factory Reset Done, and after the restart the setup cards play with a CT network name on them.

Problems?

• The circles never appeared, or the count went back to the start: The five-restart factory reset is not working.
• You only wanted to change the Wi-Fi: Change to a different Wi-Fi network keeps your coins, and Erase the Wi-Fi and set up again keeps everything but the network.

How the count works

Every power-on adds one to a counter, and the counter is cleared the moment the ticker has been running for five seconds. So five power-ons in a row, none of them five seconds apart, reach the reset. The circles appear from the second power-on, so the first one gives you no sign; the growing line on the countdown card shows how much of the window has gone. A restart caused by a fault does not count, and a ticker with no saved network resets the counter at every boot, which is why the gesture cannot fire on a ticker that has never been set up.