TeamYou are looking for a new Smartphone, one that complements your style and fits perfectly in your hands. It’s probably the reason you want to sell your current phone. We all love new things, don’t we? Or maybe you want to get a few bucks. Either way, you may have reservations that there is a trail of data that may land in the wrong hands even after factory resetting. Your worries are valid. It’s indeed hard to completely erase data unless you physically destroy the phone and its storage. Do not rely on deletion methods such as factory resetting alone for your data protection.
With the right tools, data is retrievable. Paranoia keeps you alive; it also keeps your data safe. Be paranoid about deleting data on your phone before getting rid of it. Once you factory reset, not all the locally stored data is deleted. Meaning they still exist in your device, only the phone cannot locate it. The lingering data is dangerous since a tech-savvy person can easily gain access to it. But do not fret. Here are some reliable ways on how to wipe your phone before you sell it whether you are on an iOS or Android phone.
iOS Devices
One thing iPhone users pride themselves on is the excellent phone security features. iOS devices are already encrypted, so what you will do is reset them. But first, before anything else, ensure you back up all the data. Then turn off the find my device since you intend to sell it, so you do not want it messing up with the buyer. After which, you can now proceed to reset. If you do not know how to reset the device, follow these simple steps
- Go to the device settings
- Click on general
- Click reset
- Click erase all phone settings and content
After the deletion process is complete, the phone will restart, after which you switch it off, and it is ready for sale.
Android Phones
The current android phones being manufactured have been encrypted. However, it would help if you cross-checked first. If it’s not encrypted, then go ahead and encrypt your data. To check whether your device has been encrypted, go to the phone settings, personal then security (not the same in every android device). Encryption is essential since even if your data lands in the wrong hands, they wouldn’t know what to do with it and without a pass code it will be hard to access it. Before carrying out any encryption or resetting, ensure all data is backed up so that you do not lose it. The best way is to transfer it to your computer. After checking all these boxes, proceed to rest the phone. Below is the standard process of resetting most android devices. However, note that the process varies for every device.
- Go to the phone settings
- Click on where its written system
- Click reset options
- Select erase all data (factory reset)
- Finally, select delete all and then proceed
Noteworthy, if you want to remove any doubt that the device has been completely wiped, you can overwrite the already encrypted data hence double safety. To overwrite the encrypted data, you’ll have to load the machine again with junk data immediately after resetting. Then go through the factory resetting process again. Hence, it will be hard to get the crucial data. Nonetheless, if you do not have time or knowledge to do all these, you can always download a wiping application to carry out the entire process for you. There are several apps available that can help with the proper deleting of data. Try them!
ConclusionÂ
By the time you make up your mind to sell your phone, you definitely have a plan and a price tag to it. However, some people are not keen when deleting information since they believe that they have nothing to lose. Imagine if your bank information or personal info landed in the wrong hands? You will definitely have everything to lose then. So be sure to cross check that you have used the right procedures to erase your device.
