The main difference between selling off your smartphone and losing it is that you’re able to choose what to delete, keep, and back up. You also have enough time to do so.

The worst thing you don’t want to experience is having someone have access to all your private data because you forgot to protect what is relevant before transferring the ownership of your smartphone to another individual.

The fact that smartphones are the most used computers in modern days means that very important and crucial information about our lives including passwords to important data, photos, videos, screenshots, PDF files, health records, contact lists, email addresses and so much might be on the brink of jeopardy if the necessary care isn’t taken.

So if you’re thinking about selling your smartphone in 2022, below are some important things you need to know before making the final decision.

Tips to protect your data when changing cell phones

Remove your SIM or SD Card

You shouldn’t be told that your SIM card is a very important and personal device that is often untransferable unless you know what you’re really doing.

Else, remember to yank off your SIM card from your device before handing it over to the new owner. The same applies to your SD Card even though you can literally wipe it off if you’re also including it as part of the purchase or just purchase a new SD card altogether.

Delete or move your files and data out of the device

Modern devices powered by popular software such as Android and iOS include the feature that allows you to factory reset your device. This ultimately removes everything on the device and brings it back to what it was when you first purchased the device.

When you click on factory reset, you lose all your data including photos, passwords, applications, logged accounts, notes, memos, voice recordings, notes, and so forth.

In order to do this on your Android device, first head over to the settings application and do the following

1. Search for “Factory reset”, “Hard Reset”, or “Formatting”
2. Click on the option and follow the prompt
3. You might be required to enter your password before finalizing this
4. Also remember to remove your SD card before doing so

And if you’re using an iPhone, then follow the process below

1. Go to Settings  > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone. If you’re erasing your iPhone because you’re replacing it with a new iPhone that you have on hand, you can use extra free storage in iCloud to move your apps and data to the new device. Tap Get Started, follow the onscreen instructions, then return to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone. Else,
2. Tap Erase All Content and Settings.

However, before you format your device, it’s very necessary to take some steps first in order to keep your data safe without losing anything in the process of transferring the ownership of your smartphone to another person.

There are two ways to go about this. The first is the traditional method which is plugging your device via a USB cable to your computer or to an external memory stick and then making use of a file manager application such as ES File Explorer to move your files to the storage device or your Mac or PC.

The other non-conventional method is uploading your entire smartphone to the cloud. This will usually require you have a bigger storage space and thanks to modern OEMs and even Google, you are allocated up to 15GB of free storage when you create a Gmail account, Samsung Account, or Huawei ID. Apple is also generous in this regard with its iCloud.

Unlink your account from the device

The next thing after pulling out your data from your device is to remove all your accounts from the device. For iOS users, you just have to remove your Apple ID and that’s it. But for some Android users, you may have to remove both your Google Account(s) and also the OEM’s cloud service account linked to the device such as your Hauwei ID or Samsung ID, etc.

Primarily, doing a factory reset will also remove all your logged accounts, so missing this part won’t necessarily have any detriment on the route you take. And also remember that you can literally transfer all your data to your new device including your apps, contacts, email messages and so forth using a one-click restore point that has been created in the cloud for you.

If you use Huawei, you can make use of the Phone Clone app before doing a factory reset on your Huawei smartphone.

Finally, if you will not use the same cell phone number, it is very important that you eliminate it as an authentication alternative in 2-step verification processes. Also, if you have it registered as a contact number for any account or service, try to update it to avoid inconveniences.

And that’s it. However, if you lost your Android smartphone or it was stolen, learn how to keep your data safe and track down the device using the FindMyDevice service.