Due to the costs of smartphones, many users do not have the possibility of acquiring a new device.
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According to a study published last year, worldwide sales of reconditioned smartphones grew by 13% in 2017, compared to 2016. In contrast, global sales of new smartphones grew by only 3%.
Often, handing over your smartphone to buy a new one is a good way to lower the price of a new phone. When that exchange is not possible, many people turn to eBay or other online sites to sell their old smartphones. Before doing that, you should remember these 5 tips:
Make a backup copy of your phone
Before selling or delivering your phone, you must make a backup copy of all the data retrieval service on your device, so you can easily transfer the data to your new phone. If you are an iPhone user, you must do the following:
- Login to Settings
- Tap iCloud
- Tap Storage and Backup (if the iCloud feature is disabled, turn it on)
- Select Backup Now (this will save your data in the Cloud)
If you are an Android user, you can use a USB cable to transfer the data to a computer. In addition, there are many applications for Android that back up data from your mobile device.
If it is necessary to make a backup copy for specific applications of the smartphone, Titanium Backup or Helium Backup are two of the useful tools to save the data of the applications. Another tool is MyPhoneExplorer. It is a tool for those users who wish to support their contact calendar, calendar, SMS, files, photos and phone lists without using Google. Those users who wish to use Google can use the Google account to save all the content of the device.
Deactivate your accounts
After making the backup of all data, you must deactivate or delete your phone from the registry of your accounts. By doing so, whoever buys your mobile device will have no problem activating it with their own personal data. This is very important in the case of a used iPhone, because if you have not removed your phone from the registry, the new owner may never be able to use the phone. If you plan to exchange or sell an iPhone with iOS 7 or higher, make sure that the Activation Lock is deactivated. That links your phone with your Apple ID. It is possible to change this configuration from iCloud, entering “Find my iPhone”.
IPhone users must remove their device from the registry of both iCloud and iTunes, after having backed up their data. After the user has removed their device from the iCloud and iTunes registry, you must delete all the contents of the phone.
Android users should not have any major problems, which can happen for iPhone users. It is a good idea to leave the Google Account before resetting your phone. We will find “Delete Account” by entering in Settings “,” Google Account “. Keep in mind that this may vary, depending on your specific Android device.
Encrypt your data
Before deleting your mobile device safely, it is a good idea to encrypt the data. By doing so, it will be impossible to read the data, unless you have the unique and individual encryption key. While the data on iPhones are encrypted by default, Android data must be encrypted manually. You will find this feature in “Settings / Security” and then tap “Encrypt Device”. After encrypting your device, it will be impossible for hackers or other devices to access your data.
Delete your phone with a reset to factory settings or special erasing software
The easiest way to safely erase all phone data before exchanging or selling it is to perform a factory reset.
With an iPhone, all you have to do is enter “General” in “Settings”, select “Restore” and then “Delete All Content”. On an Android device, select “Settings,” then “Privacy,” “Reset to Factory Settings,” and select “Reset Phone.”
However, for a company with hundreds or even thousands of mobile devices, performing this reset to factory settings is simply impossible. For administrators, special software tools have been developed that can safely erase large numbers of devices and offer a detailed report of data deletion, as well as a certification of the process used. Ontrack Data Recovery not only offers the necessary software created by Blancco, but also offers Hosted Erase, a do-it-yourself solution for the safe destruction of data from multiple devices. Customers who do not have the necessary time or knowledge can use Data Erasure from Ontrack and the Erase Verification Services.
Remove any SIM or SD card
This may seem obvious, but many users forget to remove their SIM cards and (Mini / Micro) SD before delivering / selling their device.