How to Reset a GoPro HERO8 Black

If something’s gone wrong with your GoPro HERO8 Black, or if you’re selling it or lending it to a friend, you might want to reset the camera. It can set it up as it came out of the box, and it can also be used to troubleshoot issues. It’s quite easy to change some setting in, say, Protune, and forget about it and then later be wondering why something is performing as expected.

There are a few different types of reset on the HERO8 Black. There’s a factory reset. That’s the nuclear option that wipes everything and restores it to the settings it comes out of the box with. But there are also some other more selective reset options that might be useful for solving specific problems.

So here’s a rundown of how to reset a GoPro HERO8 Black.

How to Do a Factory Reset on the HERO8 Black

This is the nuclear option that clears everything. Before you do this, know that it’s going to wipe all of your settings and custom presets. It will clear all the wireless connections and deregister your HERO8 Black from your GoPro PLUS account. It will not delete anything off your SD card (but you can remove it if you like to be extra careful), and it doesn’t roll back the camera’s firmware if you’ve updated it.

1. On the camera’s back screen, swipe down to bring up the Dashboard menu.
2. Go to Preferences > Reset > Factory Reset

The camera will then be back to square one.

How to Restore Presets to Defaults on the HERO8 Black

The HERO8 Black has a new feature that lets you store custom shooting presets. If you’ve been experimenting with different shooting combinations and they’ve gotten messed up, here’s how to reset them back to the defaults.

1. On the camera’s back screen, swipe down to bring up the Dashboard menu.
2. Go to Preferences > Reset > Reset Presets

How to Reset a GoPro HERO8 Black’s Wireless Connections

If your wifi and Bluetooth connection settings have become a mess, you can reset all of the HERO8 Black’s wireless connections by:

1. On the camera’s back screen, swipe down to bring up the Dashboard menu.
2. Go to Preferences > Connections > Reset Connections

How to Reset the Camera Tips

The camera tips are the little help suggestions that pop up when you’re accessing some features and settings. They can be helpful at first, but once you’ve gotten to know your way around the camera, they can become an annoyance. So you can turn them off (something I’ve written about here). But if you want to turn them back on for some reason, here’s how you do it:

1. On the camera’s back screen, swipe down to bring up the Dashboard menu.
2. Go to Preferences > Reset > Reset Camera Tips

How to Format a Memory Card in the HERO8 Black

For the sake of completeness, I’ll mention this since GoPro has put it under the Reset menu category too.

It’s for formatting the memory card. While it kind of makes logical sense to put the card formatting under the resetting category, it’s not necessarily the first place I’d look for it. I have a much more detailed post on using SD cards in the GoPro HERO8 Black, but here’s the short version for formatting:

1. On the camera’s back screen, swipe down to bring up the Dashboard menu.
2. Go to Preferences > Reset > Format SD Card

How to Restart Your GoPro HERO8 Black

This doesn’t change any settings, but it can be a useful first step in troubleshooting if your HERO8 has frozen (something I’ve found happens far too often with GoPros of just about any model). If your GoPro isn’t responding, this is the first thing to try:

1. Press and hold the Mode button for 10 seconds. The Mode button is the one on the side, also known as the power button. So long as there’s charge in the battery, this should restart (or reboot) the camera.

If that doesn’t work, try taking the battery out and putting it back in.

Price & Availability of the GoPro HERO8 Black

Check current price and availability at:

• GoPro.com
• Amazon
• B&H Photo
• eBay

Images and product information from Amazon PA-API were last updated on 2023-09-19 at 11:20. Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon Site at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.