How to properly delete all your personal data before selling your smartphone

Remember to properly reset your smartphone's settings before giving it away or selling it. — AFP Relaxnews

If you ever want to sell your smartphone to someone else, make sure you erase all traces of personal data before it gets into the wrong hands. A few simple steps can help you protect your data before you part ways with your handset.

Whether it’s photos, administrative documents, browsing histories or bank card numbers, it’s important to take maximum precautions when resetting your smartphone. Evidently, it would be unthinkable to sell your handset as it is, simply by emptying its photo gallery or by deleting just a few applications.

Before parting with your smartphone, you should start by backing up your multimedia data, including photos, videos, documents, music, etc. This operation can be done quite simply via a computer, using iTunes when you have an iPhone or Android File Transfer for other devices. It is also possible to choose to copy everything to the cloud, via an online storage service such as iCloud, Google Drive or Photos.

Next, it’s time to reset your phone, which will delete all the data on the device and restore it to its factory settings, just as it was on day one. As a security measure, you should first manually delete the various WiFi connections stored on any phone and remember to disable iMessage on your iPhone.

Then, simply go to Settings / System / Reset options on Android or Settings / General / Transfer or Reset iPhone on iOS. When specified, be sure to choose the option that deletes absolutely all data. Then you can give away or resell your smartphone with peace of mind. – AFP Relaxnews