Selling your old phone(s) is a time tested strategy to make a few extra bucks. With the rising popularity of the anti-clutter movement, getting rid of old phones banished in some forgotten drawers of your home is a great way to invite some positivity in your home, along with a few extra bucks.
With that said, giving your old phone to a stranger comes with its risks. For instance, if you have any data leftover in your old phone, be it personal photographs or saved passwords, the new owner can easily misuse them.
Hence, it is important to take certain steps to ensure your interests are protected during and after the sale of your phone. Moreover, it is also important to ensure you are selling your phone on the right platforms to avoid scams while also obtaining the maximum possible value for your device.
In this article, we will discuss a few things you must keep in mind when you sell your phone:
Backup The Data Of Your Phone And Perform A Memory Wipe
Backing up the data of your phone does more than just saving your photographs and videos to the drive. You can actually backup all your saved passwords, games, contacts, and everything else connected to your Google or Apple account.
If you have an Apple phone, follow these steps to back up your phone to the iCloud:
Tap on Settings, then tap on the top right corner where your Apple ID picture is displayed. Next, tap in the ‘iCloud Backup’ option and make sure ‘iCloud Backup’ is toggled on. Finally, tap on ‘Backup Now’ and your device will begin backing up all your data to the cloud.
Android phone users can take the following steps to back up their smartphones:
Tap on ‘Settings’ and then tap on the ‘Accounts’ option. Next, select ‘Google Account’, check everything you want to backup/sync to the cloud and tap on ‘Sync’. To backup the device settings, like saved wifi passwords, select the ‘Backup & Reset’ option in your phone’s settings menu. Next, tap on ‘Device Backup’ and select ‘Backup To Google Drive’.
Once you have backed up your phone, it is time to wipe its memory clean. However, before you can do that, you must log out of all your Apple/Google accounts on the device.
To do that, Apple device users will have to individually log out of the iCloud and the App Store. On the other hand, Android device users can follow these steps:
Go to the settings menu on your phone, tap on ‘Accounts & Sync’, select ‘Google’, and then select your account(s) on the subsequent screen. After that, tap on the three dots at the top right of the screen and select the ‘Remove Account’ option.
After you have logged out of all your accounts, you can initiate a factory reset on your device to wipe its memory.
Take Out Any SIM Cards Or Memory Cards
Once you have ensured that your data is deleted from the device, make sure you remove all memory cards and SIM cards before sending it/handing it over to the buyer.
If you have followed all the steps mentioned in this article, by now, your device is free of all your personal data and is safe for handing over to your customer.
Got more questions? Drop them in the comment section below!