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3rd-party recovery images (TWRP, ClockworkMod, ...) offer an option to "format" or "wipe" (mkfs, really) the /data partition. This should be much closer to what you seem to be expecting from a "factory reset".

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Well TWRP can only erase. What you want is fastboot/heimdall/etc flash all partitions from a stock image, to restore everything [0] to a known good state.

I know enough to do this, but obviously most people think a "factory reset" is sufficient. That is a problem - defaults matter.

[0] modulo further hidden state that I am not aware of or in touch with. For example my S4-i9500's emmc firmware which got corrupted somehow and bricked the device.

> Well TWRP can only erase.

No? TWRP can flash images to any partition you like iirc. has an ADB sideload feature too... Or am I misunderstanding?

Yes TWRP can flash any (non-recovery) partition. But I was thinking in terms of being able to flash the entire device, which TWRP "can't" do because it uses data on the device itself as the source image. More importantly, malware could modify the recovery partition to reinstall itself after such flashing.

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