Top 5 Things to Do Before Selling Your iPhone

If you are planning to upgrade or sell old iPhone, you’ll need to ensure that data you’ve accumulated on it for years doesn’t land into the hands of the next owner. That’s why it is a good idea to take a backup of your iPhone data.

While iCloud keeps a backup of your data, a portion of the iPhone data might still be important and not have synced with the iCloud account. So it’s wise to create an offline backup of your iPhone on your Mac or PC. Here are five things to do before selling your iPhone or giving it away.

1. Sign Out of iMessage

iMessage utilizes your phone number or email ID to connect the messaging service with your Apple account. So, it’s advisable to sign out of the iMessage to remove any access to your private messages.

Step 1: Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Scroll down to find Messages and tap to open it.

Step 3: Now, disable the toggle next to iMessage.

2. Sign out of FaceTime

Just like iMessage, you get to use your Apple Account ID and phone number to make and receive FaceTime calls. That’s why signing out of FaceTime will ensure that no one can access your FaceTime account check the call logs.

Step 1: Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Scroll down to find FaceTime and tap to open it.

Step 3: Now, disable the toggle next to FaceTime.

3. Sign Out of Your Apple ID Account

All your online backups and iCloud files are tied to your Apple ID. So it’s very important to sign out your Apple ID from your iPhone so that no one can restore or access any data. Also, it’ll make it easier for the new owner to set up the iPhone as a fresh one.

Step 1: Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Tap on your Name to access your Apple ID settings.

Step 3: On this page, tap on the Sign out button at the bottom of your page.

Step 4: Your iPhone will ask for your Apple ID password to confirm the process. Enter the password and tap on Turn off on the top right.

4. Erase All Content and Settings

Now, you can proceed to erase all the content from iPhone. As stated previously, create a backup of your data before proceeding with this step, as this is an irreversible process. That means if you haven’t taken a backup of the data on your iPhone, there’s no way you can recover and restore it.

Step 1: Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Scroll down to find General and tap to open it.

Step 3: Scroll down to the bottom and tap on the ‘Transfer or Reset iPhone’ option.

Step 4: Next, tap on the ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ option at the bottom.

Step 5: Tap on the Continue button at the bottom.

Step 6: Enter your iPhone’s password to confirm the deletion of your data.

5. Remove iPhone From Your Apple ID

Your Apple ID keeps track of all the devices you are using. Connecting with the same Apple ID is crucial for enabling Apple’s Continuity features like iMessage syncing, iCloud sync, and others. After you have erased your iPhone, check once to ensure that you have removed the device from your Apple ID.

Step 1: Launch any browser on your phone or laptop, open iCloud.com and log in with your Apple ID details.

Step 2: Click on the Account Settings option.

Step 3: Under My Devices, click on your iPhone if it’s still showing up there.

Step 4: Click on the cross next to your iPhone to remove the device from your Apple ID.

Backup and Protect Your iPhone Data

If you have followed the above steps correctly, your iPhone is ready to be sold off. The iPhone no longer has any files or account details that one can use to access to access your private data.