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iRobot's Roomba vacuum cleaners are some of the most popular vacuums on the market because of their ease of use and reliability. However, they're not perfect, and you may sometimes run into issues. To solve them, you can reset yours to its factory settings and start over, which may help get things back on track. Alternatively, you could do the same if you want to sell your robot vacuum and get an even better one like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra or Dreame L10s Ultra.

Whatever your reason for performing a factory reset on your Roomba, the process is easy and only takes a few minutes. Here's how it's done.

Resetting your Roomba using the iRobot Home app

The easiest way to reset your robot is through the app, provided it's paired with your robot vacuum. The process is straightforward and only takes a couple of seconds. Before trying it, make sure your phone and Roomba are on the same Wi-Fi network and have enough battery life. Resetting your Roomba removes the pairing between your vacuum and account, as well as your maps and personal data from iRobot's servers.

  1. Open the iRobot Home app on your smartphone.
  2. Select your robot and tap the cogwheel icon or tap Product Settings.
  3. Tap About.
  4. Tap Remove device from account.
  5. Confirm the process by tapping Factory Reset Roomba.
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    Screenshot of the iRobot Home app
    Screenshot of the iRobot Home app showing the factory reset process
  6. If you see an option that reads Save maps during factory reset, deactivate it if you're getting rid of your robot or want it to remap your house. Otherwise, make sure it's left enabled to keep your maps and restore them on your newly reset robot.

Resetting your Roomba without the app

If you have issues with your Roomba and don't have access to your phone or a Wi-Fi connection, you can reset it without the need for other devices. However, the process is slightly different from one Roomba robot vacuum to the other. Here are the steps for the s, i, e, 600, 800, and 900 series robots. These directions don't work for j series and Combo models, which are reset differently, as explained further down.

  1. Make sure your Roomba robot vacuum is on.
    A closeup of a Roomba vacuum showing its physical buttons
  2. Press and hold the home and spot clean buttons simultaneously for 10 to 20 seconds and release the buttons after the robot makes a sound or its LED lights flicker.

If you have a j series Roomba, the process is slightly different:

  1. Make sure your Roomba robot vacuum is on.
  2. Remove the dust bin.
  3. Press and hold the Clean button for 10 seconds
  4. Your Roomba plays a tone.
  5. Press the Clean button again to confirm the reset process.

For Combo models, you need to press a dedicated button:

  1. Make sure your Roomba robot vacuum is on.
  2. Open the lid.
  3. Press and hold the Reset button for ten seconds (to the left of the on/off switch).

Start over to solve problems

Resetting your robot should help solve some problems you may have with your robot. If it doesn't, consider cleaning your robot to ensure no debris is blocking physical parts. Keep in mind that a reset mostly solves software issues. Some problems are due to worn parts. Finding replacement ones for Roomba vacuums is easy, as they're widely popular online.