What to Do Before Selling or Recycling Your Old Phone
An old phone can still expose your data long after you've stopped using it. Here's the proper way to prepare one before it leaves your hands.
A phone holds far more personal data than most people realize, including saved passwords, payment information, and years of messages, all of which can potentially be recovered if it isn't properly wiped before it changes hands.
The steps that actually matter
Signing out of all accounts, removing any SIM or memory card, and performing an official factory reset through the phone's own settings, not just deleting individual files, ensures the device's storage is properly cleared rather than just hidden from casual viewing.
Why a factory reset alone might not be enough
On some older devices, a factory reset doesn't fully overwrite the underlying storage, meaning determined recovery software could still retrieve some data; enabling encryption before resetting an older device adds a meaningful extra layer of protection against this.