How to Clear iPhone Before Selling

When you have to sell or give away your old iPhone, the most worrying part is the risk of crucial data reaching the wrong hands. There’s always the fear of your data getting misused.

There are personal photos, videos, bank details, app accounts, passwords, contacts, and a lot more that you don’t want others to access or view.

Although the option of deletion or reset is there miscreants can still steal data from old iPhones that are sold, exchanged, or recycled.

So here we will share how you can protect your iPhone data by completely erasing it from the storage drive in a way that no one can recover.

How to clean iPhones before selling, trading, or disposing of them?

Before you sell or trade your iPhone, first back and transfer your data to the new phone. Then erase your personal and other sensitive information from the old iOS device.

Remember manual deletion will not work. Your iPhone data can be easily recovered after deletion. You need a complete iPhone eraser tool that deletes data permanently from the device.

But prior to finally wiping data from your iPhone, you should ready your device for complete erasure.

Take backups, transfer required data to a new phone, and sign out from various accounts on your iOS device to ensure no recovery at any level.

Step-by-step: Make your old iPhone or iPad ready to sell

1. Back up your iPhone on iCloud, iTunes, or a computer drive.
2. If you own an Apple Watch, unpair it with your old iPhone.
3. Sign out from iCloud and the iTunes and App Store.
4. Sign out from all Apple accounts via Settings
5. Turn off Find my iPhone
6. Deregister and turn off iMessage, if switching to an Android phone.
7. Remove the old iPhone from your list of trusted devices.
8. Next, permanently erase all personal iPhone data by using the given methods.
9. Remove your SIM card.

Now your iPhone is ready to be sold or exchanged.

Methods to erase an iPhone to sell it

You can delete iPhone data completely to make it out of reach of anyone else.

Use ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ that clears iPhone data completely. It brings the old iPhone to default settings as in the new device. This will visibly remove all photos, videos, contacts, chats, contacts, etc. from your iOS device.

But if you want to wipe iPhone data permanently so that it is unrecoverable by any software, it’s recommended to use an iPhone eraser software.

Below are the ways to wipe iPhone data to sell

1. Clear iPhone data before selling using iPhone eraser software
2. Reset iPhone using Erase All Content and Settings

Method 1: Clear iPhone data before selling using iPhone eraser software

An advanced iPhone eraser tool – Stellar iPhone Eraser is equipped to permanently erase every bit of stored data from your iOS device. The eraser software can make the deleted personal data unrecoverable, even with efficient iPhone recovery software. 

The iPhone eraser is specially developed to secure user’s privacy by permanently removing old iPhone and iPad data before donating, trading, selling, or recycling.

You can remove photos, videos, call history, messages, chats, reminders, and Safari Bookmarks, and install third-party apps like Amazon, Shareit, etc., from your iOS device. The DIY tool is easy to use and fast to clean iPhone.

It supports the latest iOS 17 and works with all iPhone variants including a series of iPhone 14, 13, 12, 11, XS MAX, XS, XR, X, 8, and below.

Steps on How to clear data permanently with iPhone Eraser:

Step 1: Download Stellar Toolkit for iPhone on your computer.

Step 2: Click on Erase Data.

Step 3: On the Erase iPhone Data screen, click Next.

Step 4: Once you see the Connect Device to Select screen, plug your iPhone or iPad into the computer.

Step 5: Click Erase.

Step 6: In the Erase Process dialog box, click Yes. You can view the process progress bar.

Step 7: After the process finishes, the ‘Data Erase Complete’ message appears. Click OK.

Your iPhone now does not have a bit of personal data. The software has removed all accounts, passcodes, third-party app passwords, photos, videos, messages, call history, search history, and other information from the iOS device.

Method 2: Use Erase All Content and Settings on old iPhone

Your iPhone and iPad have the option ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ to remove all content and settings from the device. The feature is like a factory reset on Android phones. It puts your old iPhone to its original factory settings. After applying this option, all your app settings, passcodes, music, images, videos, notes, contacts, and other data are removed.

But cleaning the iPhone with ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ won’t permanently delete iPhone data. Anyone can restore the deleted information by using recovery software.

Steps: How to reset iPhone to sell

1. On iPhone go to Settings.
2. Click and follow General > Reset.
3. Click Erase All Content and Settings.
4. A dialog box appears, click Erase Now.
   Note: It’s recommended to click on Backup and Erase if you are switching to a new iPhone after parting with the old iOS device.
5. Enter your Passcode and Apple ID password, when prompted. This will wipe the iPhone completely and turn off the device.

Now your device is ready to use as new without any personal photos, videos, or other information.

Wrapping Up

You have reset your iPhone using ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ to sell the device but your personal data is still at risk. Stellar iPhone Eraser is a reliable software when you want to protect your data from being accessed by others. It forever deletes personal photos, videos, call history, messages, chats, passwords, account details, reminders, Safari Bookmarks, installed apps, etc.

The free trial version is available to evaluate the features of the software.

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About The Author

Nishat Paiker

Nishat Paiker is an expert technical writer and editor with over 8 years of experience. She has deep knowledge about data recovery and loves to explore new technology and DIY tools. Nishat has keen interest in photography. You will often find her giving photography tips and hacks.