Here’s how to securely erase your phone before selling or trading in

If you’re planning to sell, trade in or give away your current phone, there are a number of steps you should take to prepare your phone in order to protect your personal information and secure your data and accounts. 

That means unpairing, backing up, logging out, and most importantly, securely erasing all of your data before you hand over your device.

So if you’re thinking about upgrading your current phone (and we have some amazing deals on our website right now!), here’s what you should do with your phone before selling, trading it in or giving it away.

Preparing your Apple device for trade in or sale

1. Unpair your Apple Watch, if you have one. Here are the instructions from Apple:
   1. Keep your Apple Watch and iPhone close together as you unpair them.
   2. Open the Watch app on your iPhone.
   3. Go to the My Watch tab and tap All Watches.
   4. Tap the info button next to the watch that you want to unpair.
   5. Tap Unpair Apple Watch, then tap again to confirm.
   6. You may need to enter your Apple ID and password to turn off Activation Lock.
2. Backup your data. If you want to save the data on your phone, like photos, contacts, and music, and you’re not sure you’ve been backing it up, check out our recent blog post on how to backup your device’s data to iCloud or your computer.
3. Manually sign out of iCloud & turn off Find My [device]. While erasing your phone should log your device out of Apple’s services and turn off Find My [device], it’s good to take this step to ensure it works. 
   1. To sign out of iCloud, tap Settings > [your name]. Scroll down and tap Sign Out. Enter your Apple ID password and tap Turn Off. (for iOS 10.3 and later)
   2. To turn off Find My:
      1. Open Settings.
      2. Tap [your name] > Find My.
      3. Tap Find My iPhone, then tap to turn it off.
      4. Enter your Apple ID password.
      5. Tap Turn Off.
4. Erase your phone or tablet. Now that your data is backed up and you’ve logged out of your Apple accounts, you’re ready to securely wipe your phone clean. 
   1. Go to Settings and tap General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings.
   2. If prompted, enter your device’s passcode, then tap erase. The whole process may take a few minutes.
5. Remove your SIM card. To be extra safe, it’s a good idea to remove your SIM card, which may contain your phone number, security information and billing info. To remove, locate the SIM tray (usually on the right side of your device) and insert a paperclip into the hole to pop out the tray. Take out the SIM card and replace the tray.

Preparing your Android device for trade in or sale

1. Backup settings & data to Google. Before parting ways with your Android device, you’ll want to save all your settings, data, photos, music and everything else to your Google Drive. Check out our blog post on how to back up your Android here.
2. Encrypt your data. Now that your data is backed up, you’ll want to properly wipe your device. But before you can do that securely, you need to encrypt your data first. Here’s how:
   1. Plug your phone into its power adapter, since this step may take a little while.
   2. For most phones, go to Settings > Security & privacy > Encrypt.
   3. On some Samsung devices, try Settings > Lock screen and security > Protect encrypted data.
3. Disable Factory Reset Protection. This is a feature on newer phones that prevents someone from factory resetting your phone if it’s been lost or stolen, so you’ll need to disable this prior to parting with it. Depending on the make and model of your device, this may be part of the factory reset process (if you’re logged in with the owner account). Otherwise, you will need to manually disable it in Settings. 

For example, on many Samsung devices, go to the phone’s home screen, tap Apps > Settings > Accounts and choose the account you wish to remove. Select More or three dots in the top right corner of the screen > Remove Account. If this doesn’t work, refer to your manufacturer’s website for more information.

1. Erase your data. Now it’s time to wipe the phone securely before shipping it off for an upgrade or to a friend or family member. Make sure your phone remains plugged in, and head to Settings > Backup & reset > Factory data reset and tap Reset phone.
2. Remove your SIM card. To be extra safe, it’s a good idea to remove your SIM card, which may contain your phone number, security information and billing info. To remove, locate the SIM tray (usually on the right side of your device) and insert a paperclip into the hole to pop out the tray. Take out the SIM card and replace the tray.