How to reset a device that has been claimed to an account

In preparation for getting started on my own mobile app I am trying to make sure I fully understand the process for getting a new device connected to a network and claimed by an account. My primary question is this, once I have a device and it is claimed (I see it listed in the Particle Tinker app) how do I reset the device back to square-one so that it is (a) not claimed by my account and (b) not configured to connect to any WiFi networks. Basically I want to restore it back to the original state that it was in when I purchased it.

###Here are a couple related questions:

  1. What the device store any information so that it knows that it is claimed or is that information only maintained by the cloud service?

  2. What exactly does a performing a factory reset do? I assume it clears the stored WiFi credentials. What else does it reset?

###Here is the process that I have attempted:

  1. Perform a firmware reset. (LED begins blinking blue)
  2. Plug in device to computer USB port. Put device in DFU mode (LED is blinking yellow)
  3. Update particle-cli (using npm upgrade) and execute particle update to make sure latest firmware is loaded. The device stops and starts blinking yellow a couple times and then settles at blinking blue. I believe firmware version is now at 0.4.4.
  4. Open latest Particle Tinker Android App (1.4.0) on Samsung Galaxy S5.
  5. Click Ready, see click device “Photon-N4SA”. App dialog says “Connecting to Photon”. Then dialog closes and app is still at “Choose your Photon”. After a few more seconds I am prompted to Change Owner to my email address. Device LED is still blinking blue. To me, this seems to indicate that the device is maintaining some state that tells it that it is owned by an account since the device is not currently on the network.
  6. Click ‘Change Owner’ and see Connecting to Photon again. Then I see the “Select your WiFi Network”. I click my network, enter password and click Connect. I see the blue blinking LED pauses for a moment but then continues blinking blue at the same rate forever. It never starts blinking blue. The app sits waiting for the device to connect for a while and then reports that the process failed.
  7. I then tap the reset button on the Photon and the LED goes white for a moment (during reboot) and then goes right to blinking green. It sits there blinking green forever.
  8. Press and hold ‘SETUP’ for 10 seconds device blinks blue very rapidly and then goes to slow blinking blue. (Erased WiFi Credentials).
  9. Go back to Android app and try setting up the device again. App again prompts me to Change Owner. (What actually happens when I click ‘Change Owner’ and how do I clear the ownership?
  10. I continue the WiFi setup process, this time selecting an Open wifi network with no password and device behaves exactly the same. (Short pause in blue blinking, then back to blue blinking). App shows setup failed.
  11. I go to dashboard.particle.io and see that the site shows that I still have no devices associated with my account.

I can repeat this process over and over with the same results. Is this a problem with the Android app, the firmware, or my process?

Next I use particle-cli to setup device. With device still blinking blue i do the following.
12. Unplug the device from computer USB and plug it into to power supply. Run particle setup and choose to scan for nearby devices.
13. The tool finds my photon and I tell it to scan for wifi networks.
14. The tool finds my network, I select my network and enter my password.
15. The tool says I have “Configuration complete! You’ve just won the internet!” but the LED still remains blinking blue.
16. The tool then says it’s attempting to find my device on the network but it never succeeds.
17. Now it gets exciting! I unplug power to the device, plug it in again, the device starts blinking Green and then FINALLY connects! I see it breathing cyan.
18. Now I can go to my dashboard online and I see that my device is listed and that is sees it’s online. Interestingly, I see that the device listed still has the nickname that I gave it last time I got it to connect. Did that name not get cleared when I did the factory reset? I guess the name is stored online and not on the device.

So now I am back to my original question. From this state, where the device is connected. What is the easiest way un-claim it and reset the wifi credentials so that I can test the setup process again?

Clearly, something is not working as it should be but I am at a loss as to what is wrong. I would really appreciate some feedback on this so that I can move forward with development.