How To Wipe All Data From Unused Phone

Trading in or selling your old mobile device? Wipe it the right way to reduce the hazard of personal information falling into the incorrect easily.

Recall that no method autonomously from physically destroying the device and its storage is 100 percentage foolproof -- data may even so be recoverable with the right tools.

These tips are for the three main mobile operating systems, but if you take an older phone or an alternate OS, check the transmission for full details on how to wipe your device.

Before yous starting time:

Support all your information, including contacts.
Remember to remove the SIM card and any external storage such as a microSD card.
Log out of services like electronic mail and social media, then clear the data from these apps if you tin can.
Perform a separate encryption and wipe of data on the microSD menu as well if you don't plan to use the card in a new device.
Keep the series number of the phone or tablet on file for your records.

Now playing: Watch this: Wipe your iPhone or iPad the right manner

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Android

If the phone or tablet runs five.0 Lollipop or later it may have Android device protection or factory reset protection (FRP) active. This feature makes the phone unusable past a new possessor if it's been reset because they can't actuate information technology without entering a previously used Google business relationship and countersign.

You'll need to conciliate FRP if you lot plan to sell the device or transfer to another possessor.

Skip directly to step 4 if yous have a device running an earlier version of Android without FRP.

Footstep ane: First, plow off any screen locks. Go to Settings > Security or Lock Screen Security > Screen Lock and change the type to None.

Step two: Remove your Google account from the device. Go to Settings > Users and Accounts, tap your account and and then remove.

Step 3: If you lot have a Samsung device, remove your Samsung account from the phone or tablet also.

Step iv: Now you lot tin wipe the device with a factory reset. However, this oftentimes only clears information at the application level, and other information such as SMS and chat letters can be restored with some standard data recovery tools.

Hither is a full rundown on how to effectively wipe data on your Android phone or tablet, which begins with encrypting your device beginning through the Settings bill of fare.

You won't need any special tools, only a bit more patience than it takes to simply printing the restore option within the settings. Note: devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow or above may be encrypted past default.

Now playing: Lookout this: Properly wipe any Android device

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iOS

Apple devices that support iOS 5 or later include hardware encryption when y'all set a passcode. If y'all perform a wipe using the method below, the encryption key is also overwritten, which makes information technology very difficult for anyone who wants to recover the data.

Step i: Before starting the reset process, brand sure to unpair devices like the Apple Watch ($199 at Best Buy). Then, turn off Discover My iPhone ($300 at eBay). For iOS 10.2 or before, go to Settings > iCloud > Observe My iPhone. Enter your Apple ID password if prompted. For iOS 10.3 or afterward, get to Settings > Your name > iCloud > Notice My iPhone.

Step 2: Turn off and sign out of other services including iMessage and the App Shop. Get to Settings > Messages > toggle the iMessage choice. For your Apple ID, go to Settings > iTunes & App Store > tap your Apple ID email address and and then tap Sign Out.

For added peace of mind you may also desire to sign out individually from any other linked services and apps, such as Facebook or Twitter.

Step 3: Sign out of iCloud completely. Head to Settings > iCloud and find Sign Out at the bottom of the folio. For iOS x.3 and later, Settings > Your proper noun > Sign Out. For iOS 7 devices, choose Delete Account.

Notation: if you delete all your data manually without signing out of iCloud, it will too delete the content from iCloud as well -- which is something you definitely don't want.

Step 4: Start the wipe process. Go to Settings > Full general > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. Confirm the selection.

Footstep 5: Remove the serial number of the device from your Apple tree account profile at appleid.apple.com.

Windows Telephone

htc-one-m8-for-windows-phone — Josh Miller/CNET

Windows Telephone just offers encryption for business customers. The easiest way to wipe a Windows Phone 7, 8 or 8.1, or Windows 10 Mobile device is to perform a factory reset and and then load dummy data to overwrite traces of the original information.

Step 1: Open upwardly Settings > Well-nigh > Reset Your Phone.

Step 2: Confirm the action and then wait for the phone to wipe.

Footstep 3: Connect the telephone to a PC and open My Figurer. If you are connecting via Mac, download the Windows Telephone app. Find the phone, which should testify upward as a removable device, and open up it.

Step 4: Load dummy data onto the phone past dragging and dropping from another folder. Don't use your personal photos or documents hither; instead choose files that contain no identifiable metadata that could exist traced back to you, such equally video or music files. Try and fill up the phone with every bit much dummy data as possible.

Stride five: Reset the phone again using the same method as in pace one. Repeat the dummy data load a few more times to ensure all your original data is overwritten.

Step half-dozen: Perform a terminal reset.

Log in to your Microsoft business relationship at account.microsoft.com/devices and observe the telephone you just wiped. Remove it from your account.

Final steps

One time the wipe is complete, remember to also revoke admission to the phone from services such as Facebook and Google. To remove devices from your Google account, head to myaccount.google.com, click on Sign-in & security > Device activity & notifications and find the model you have wiped.

Not planning to sell?

Consider destroying the device altogether to brand it incredibly difficult for anyone to access rest information. David Zimmerman from LC Engineering suggests drilling through the device. "Go completely through the phone in several locations, including the charging input, and so drib it off at an electronics recycling receptacle," he says.

Another method includes putting the device inside a bag and using a sledgehammer to break it into pieces that are no bigger than half an inch. Or for the most extreme instance, "use an industrial-strength grinder to turn the phone into dust," he says.

First published Nov. 26, 2014 at 11:03 a.yard. PT.

Update, December. 4, 2017 at v a.thou.: Revises Apple, Android and Windows Telephone device removal information.