How to Erase Your Phone Before Selling, Donating, or Recycling It

Before you give up an old phone, perform a factory reset to erase all your personal data. Here's exactly how to do it safely on iPhone and Android.

In this guide (4 steps):

1.Back up your data before erasing
2.Sign out of accounts before resetting (iPhone — important)
3.Perform the factory reset on iPhone
4.Perform the factory reset on Android

Back up your data before erasing

~35s

Before erasing the phone, confirm that everything you want to keep is saved somewhere else. On iPhone: go to Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Backup → "Back Up Now." Wait for the backup to complete. On Android: go to SettingsGoogleBackup → "Back up now." Also manually save or email any photos or files you want to keep that might not be in the cloud. Double-check your contacts, photos, and apps are saved before proceeding — a factory reset cannot be undone.

Warning

There is no way to recover data after a factory reset. Confirm your backup was successful before starting the reset.

Sign out of accounts before resetting (iPhone — important)

~36s

On iPhone, you must sign out of your Apple ID before erasing to turn off Activation Lock. If you skip this step, the next person cannot set up the iPhone. Go to Settings → tap your name at the top → scroll down → "Sign Out." Enter your Apple ID password when prompted and tap "Sign Out" again to confirm. Now the phone is clear of your Apple ID and ready to reset.

Quick Tip

Quick Tip: If you forget to sign out before resetting, you can still remove the phone from your Apple ID account later at appleid.apple.com → "Devices" → select the old phone → "Remove from Account."

Perform the factory reset on iPhone

~25s

Go to SettingsGeneral → scroll to the bottom → "Transfer or Reset iPhone" → "Erase All Content and Settings." You may be asked to enter your iPhone passcode, then your Apple ID password. Tap "Erase iPhone" to confirm. The phone will show a progress bar while it resets. When complete, it shows the "Hello" setup screen — exactly what a new iPhone shows. Hand it off or send it in for trade-in.

Perform the factory reset on Android

~38s

On most Android phones: SettingsGeneral Management or SystemResetFactory Data Reset → "Reset." Enter your PIN or password when prompted. Tap "Delete All." The process takes a few minutes. On Samsung phones: SettingsGeneral ManagementResetFactory Data Reset. On Google Pixel: SettingsSystemReset optionsErase all data (factory reset). After the reset, the phone shows a welcome setup screen. Remove any memory card (if your phone has one) before handing the phone off.

Quick Tip

Quick Tip: After the factory reset, do not set up the phone on a new account — let the next user set it up fresh. This ensures no remnants of your accounts remain.

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If you are selling, trading in, donating, or recycling an old phone, erasing it properly is essential. A factory reset wipes all your personal data — photos, contacts, messages, emails, banking apps, saved passwords, and account logins — from the device. Without a proper wipe, whoever gets your phone next could potentially access your private information.

This guide covers how to prepare your phone for the wipe (backing up data first), then how to perform the factory reset on both iPhone and Android. The process takes about 10-15 minutes and requires nothing more than following the steps below.

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