It may be thrilling to get a new phone, particularly if you have the iPhone 13, iPhone 12, or one of the fantastic Android phones on the market at the moment. However, you must take care of that old iPhone before you can rejoice. There are a few things to think about if it’s still functional. You may reuse it, sell it to a stranger, or trade it in to save money. Before you sell or trade in your old iPhone, there is still some work to be done.
Read more: Discover how to get the latest iPhone 13 at a much lower cost.
You should take some time to erase and reset your phone to factory settings before you even consider gifting it to someone else. By doing this, we can make sure that no one can access the wealth of private data that we all maintain on our phones. I’ll outline the necessary actions to follow before resetting your phone and demonstrate the procedure below.
Hold on! Prior to anything else, you must backup your iPhone.
Make a backup of your iPhone before you reset it so you may use it to set up your new device and refer to it if you lose contacts or pictures. You may use iTunes on a PC to back up your iPhone, or you can connect your iPhone to your Mac and follow these instructions.
As an alternative, you may back up your phone using iCloud by navigating to Settings > iCloud > iCloud Backup > Back up now, then tapping on your name at the top of the screen. Depending on how long it’s been since you last backed up your phone, this backup technique may take some time, but it’s really easy.
Just be sure to keep your phone charged and linked to a Wi-Fi network to avoid the backup battery degrading.
Purple 001-iPhone-12
Make a backup of your iPhone before proceeding.
CNET/Patrick Holland
Here are some more actions you should do when the backup is finished:
Close all programs and services. Going through each app and service you’re signed into and logging out takes time, but it’s worth it.
In Settings > Mail/Contacts/Calendar > Accounts, you may delete any email, contacts, or calendar accounts from your device.
You should take out your SIM card if you haven’t previously. Your old SIM card should be destroyed and thrown away if your new phone arrived with a fresh one. Be careful to deactivate or delete any eSIMs you may have been using.
iPhone factory reset
Just a few clicks can reset your iPhone.
Jason Cipriani/CNET screenshot
Okay, you may now reset your iPhone.
Use the Settings app to factory reset your phone after backing it up and deleting all of your accounts. After that, confirm your selection by tapping General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. To disable Apple’s Find My service, you will be prompted to enter the PIN code of your phone and then your Apple ID password.
The screen will darken and display the Apple logo and progress bar once you enter your password. A screen that flashes “Hello” in several languages will welcome you a few minutes later, signifying that the reset was successful.
Now that your phone has been cleaned and is prepared for a new owner, you may send it off knowing that your data is gone.
Here are 15 settings for your new phone that you should adjust immediately, as well as some iOS 14 hidden features that are worth exploring. Additionally, you may test out iOS 15, Apple’s latest operating system. Are you still unsure on what to do with your outdated phone? Think about these concepts.