Why this deserves care
A phone holds a surprising amount of your life: photos, messages, saved passwords, banking apps, email, location history and logins that stay active without asking for a password. When the phone goes to a new owner, whether a relative, a buyer or a recycling program, you want everything personal to stay behind. Done in the right order, the process takes perhaps half an hour. Done carelessly, it can leave accounts linked to a device you no longer have, or leave data that someone determined could recover.
The steps below are general. Menus differ between phone makers and software versions, so look for the described setting by name or use the search box in settings.
Step 1: Back up what you want to keep
Do this first, because the later steps are not reversible.
- Confirm that your photos, videos, contacts and messages are saved somewhere you can reach. A cloud backup tied to your account is common, and a copy on a computer or external drive is a good second option. The idea of keeping more than one copy is explained in cloud versus local backup.
- Open the backup in a different way to confirm it exists. Many people find a backup was never completed. Backing up phone photos and messages is a good place to learn what is typically included and what is not.
- Check apps that keep their own data. Some messaging apps, authenticator apps and games store history only on the device unless you set up a transfer. Moving verification codes is especially important: if your authenticator app lives only on the old phone, you could be locked out of accounts after the reset. Review each account and make sure you have another way in.
Step 2: Transfer to the new phone
If you are replacing the phone, set up the new one and move your data across while you still have both. Many systems offer a guided transfer between old and new phones. Confirm that the things you care about, such as photos, contacts, banking apps and two-step sign-in codes, appear on the new device before touching the old one.
Step 3: Sign out of accounts
Signing out removes the link between the phone and your accounts. This matters because some security features can block a reset or leave the phone tied to you.
- Sign out of the account that controls the phone itself, such as your main phone account. Turn off the device-finding feature, since a phone still registered to you may be locked to your account and be unusable for the next owner.
- Sign out of cloud storage, email, messaging and social apps.
- If you use a smartwatch, headphones or other accessories, unpair them.
- If the phone has a physical SIM card, remove it. If it uses an electronic SIM, ask your carrier how to transfer or deactivate the line.
- Remove any memory card, which may hold photos or files.
Step 4: Encrypt if the option exists, then do a factory reset
Most modern phones encrypt their storage by default, which means that after a reset the old data is generally unreadable. If your phone offers an encryption setting that is not already on, enable it before resetting. Older phones may differ, so check what yours supports.
Then find the reset option, usually called “Erase all content and settings” or “Factory data reset”, in the system settings. You will likely be asked for your PIN or account password. Read the screen carefully and confirm. The phone will restart and show the first setup screen, as if it were new.
If the phone is very old, damaged, or you are unsure about the reset, a local repair shop or the carrier may be able to help. If it is too damaged to reset, consider recycling through a program that handles data securely, or keep it.
Step 5: Check the result
After the reset, do a few quick checks.
- The phone should show the welcome or setup screen, not your home screen.
- Sign in to your account from a computer and look at the list of devices linked to it. Remove the old phone if it still appears.
- Check that you can still sign in to your important accounts with the new phone. If something fails, account lockout and recovery options are worth reading about.
- Consider changing passwords for accounts you were signed in to, particularly if the phone was lost for a while or you are not fully sure of the wipe.
Handing a phone to a family member
When the phone goes to a child or relative, the same steps apply, but you may choose a lighter version. A full reset is still the best practice, since it prevents your messages from showing up on someone else’s screen. After that, set up the phone with their own account, a screen lock, and automatic updates. If it is for a child, review the privacy and content settings together at setup.
Selling to a stranger
Meet in a public place, preferably in daylight, and do not hand over the phone until payment is confirmed. Be cautious with payment methods that can be reversed or faked; payment app mistakes and resale marketplace safety cover those risks in more detail. Do not share your account details, verification codes or anything else that a buyer might ask for, since a genuine buyer does not need them.
What a reset cannot promise
A properly completed reset and encryption make it very hard for an ordinary buyer to read your old data. Nobody can guarantee that every trace is impossible to recover under every circumstance, particularly on very old phones without encryption. That is one reason to change important passwords and to keep strong two-step sign-in on your accounts. The more your accounts are protected independently of the phone, the less a leftover scrap of data matters.