How to erase all data from an old iPhone. How to prepare an iPhone for sale: some useful tips. Making a copy of the phone book

This question is asked sooner or later by any iPhone owner. It is important to do everything correctly so as not to leave personal data to the new owner without losing it for yourself.

Prepare - . Or buy it for 20 thousand rubles cheaper than in the store.

Why do this

Firstly, you don’t want personal data stored on the device to get to the new owner. Surely, your smartphone stores personal photos, contacts of friends and relatives, useful notes and even passwords.

Secondly, when you buy a new iPhone, you will definitely want to restore downloaded apps, contacts, music and other content. This can be done manually or automatically from a backup copy.

Third, you should be sure to unlink the device from your Apple ID before selling it. This way, the new owner will be able to fully use the gadget and will not gain access to your data, programs and content.

What should be done

Follow 5 simple steps.

1. Create a backup copy

You can make a backup on your computer or in the cloud. In the first case, we need to connect the iPhone to the computer and launch iTunes. Go to the connected device and click Create a backup.

It is much faster and easier to save data in the cloud. To do this, the gadget must be connected to the network via Wi-Fi and to a charger. Let's go to Settings > iCloud > Backup(Apple ID authorization may be required) and activate the switch iCloud backup.

All you have to do is press the button Create a backup and wait for the process to complete.

2. Create a copy of the phone book

Perhaps in the future you will not want to use Apple technology, but will switch, for example, to an Android smartphone. Of course, it won't do much good to back up your iPhone. You won’t be able to transfer applications and content from iOS to Android; the main thing is to save your contacts.

Let's go to Settings > Mail, addresses, calendars and add an existing Gmail email entry. After entering your login and password, enable Contacts synchronization. Now names, phone numbers, addresses and birthdays can be downloaded to any smartphone with any operating system.

3. Disable Find iPhone feature

Let's go to Settings > iCloud > Find iPhone and turn off the only toggle switch. This should be done so that the new owner can enter his Apple ID account and will not encounter problems when updating the firmware or restoring from a backup.

4. Log out of iCloud

This cannot be done without completing the previous step. In the same menu, scroll down the list and click Go out. Enter the password for the entry and agree to delete the data.

5. Delete all data from the device

If you are going to buy a new smartphone, but want to sell your old one at a profit, it is useful to learn how to delete data from an iPhone before selling it. The fact is that a modern mobile gadget is a deeply personalized device.

And this personalization especially applies to Apple technology. If to completely clean Android it is enough to reset the settings to factory settings, then the pre-sale preparation of the iPhone involves a sequence of operations to break connections at several levels.

If you do not delete the data on the device, two problems arise at once, both for the seller and for the buyer.

The seller's personal (and even commercial) data will become publicly available and vulnerable.
The new owner will not be able to fully unlock the full potential of the device, since using the iPhone requires identification in various Apple services.

That is, the owner of the gadget is assigned to perform certain actions, but there is no clear determinism of goals and objectives - why exactly such actions and why?

Agree, it is much more effective to act if you clearly understand the meaning of your actions. A clear understanding of goals gives you self-confidence and helps you avoid fatal mistakes.

Therefore, first, let's figure out what the goals of iPhone pre-sale preparation are.

iPhone Personalization Levels

In simple terms, to clear all data from an iPhone, you need to remember what you did after purchasing the device in order to become the full owner and gain access to all the features.

Therefore, do everything the other way around - break all connections, unsubscribe from services, exit registrations.

The nice thing is that there is no need to comb through the smartphone’s memory, sequentially manually deleting data; all iPhone cleaning procedures are provided at the development level.

Apple ID account.
iCloud, iMessage, FaceTime, Game Center accounts.
Registration in iTunes and App Store.
Integration with Apple Watch (if available).
Personal settings and user content in local memory.

That's all the items on the list and will need to be deleted and disabled.

Some operations can be carried out through Apple cloud services even after you have already transferred the devices into the wrong hands. This will come in handy in case you forget to do something in a hurry.

Before you start deleting data from your iPhone, you might be interested in knowing:

Find out in case you want to transfer all your personal data to a new device.
What to do if your iPhone is lost or stolen.

Step-by-step instructions for deleting data from iPhone

We already have a list of tasks, so let’s start implementing it right away.

Make a backup - this will save you from the tedious manual work of filling out data on a new device.
Break the connection between iPhone and .

Log out of all Apple services - iCloud, iTunes and others on the list where you checked in.

To do this, do the following:

Go to Settings.
Find the “Log Out” menu item.
Enter your Apple ID password and click Sign Out or Turn Off, depending on your smartphone model.

Removing content

Follow the chain “Settings” – “General” – “Reset” – “Erase settings and content”.

If the Anti-Theft function has been enabled, you will need to provide a password and ID.

Summing up

As you may have guessed, all these operations destroy the connection of the smartphone to your identity, your Apple ID and the iCloud account where your payment information is stored.

After purchasing a new device, you will need to re-link all these services to the new iPhone.

A short but very useful video - “How to delete all data before selling your iPhone/iPad”:

Question and answer 09.09.16 124 276 3

You have to buy a new one for something

A new iPhone is coming out soon. Now two interesting things will happen.

First, it will now be possible to buy previous iPhone models secondhand in good condition and at a greatly reduced price. We have already written about how to buy iPhones secondhand -

Secondly, your old iPhone can now be sold, and there will be a satisfied buyer for it. I called the former chief editor of the Makradar website, Sasha Marfitsin, and asked him how to properly sell an iPhone. Sasha has been writing about iPhones for two years and knows everything a Russian person needs to know about them.

Maxim Ilyakhov

former chief editor of T-Zh

What's so difficult about this? Posted an ad and sold it

There are nuances: you can run into scammers who will cheat you with your money. You can get into tough bargaining. You can lose your personal data or let villains into iCloud. The probability of this is low, but we don’t need it high - in life it’s enough to run into iPhone scammers once.

Okay, Google. Where to begin?

Back up your phone in iTunes. Preferably by wire, it's faster. Make sure that your phone is linked to iCloud - contacts and notes will be saved there.

For the paranoid: save your favorite photos somewhere in the cloud: Dropbox, Yandex Disk, or wherever you usually store documents. You don’t have to save everything, but it’s better to save the most beloved and important ones.

Saved. What's next?

Erase your fingerprints if you used Touch ID. Go to Settings - Touch ID - Fingerprints and delete all saved fingerprints.

In an amicable way, now you need to completely erase your iPhone: Settings - General - Reset - Reset contents and settings. The iPhone will be restored to almost factory condition and will be unlinked from your Apple ID. But I advise you to do this immediately before selling the phone, when the buyer has already given you the money.

How not to give money and data to scammers

How to prepare a phone for sale?

Find the box, receipts and all the wires, chargers and headphones that you had when purchasing. The more complete the set you collect, the more expensive you can sell it.

Remove the earwax from the headphones. Wipe the wires with a damp cloth. If there is dust or dirt left in the iPhone speaker, carefully remove it with an unnecessary dry toothbrush. Just don’t push the dirt inside, but take it out.

How to take a photo for an ad?

On Avito, no one expects you to take professional photographs, so don’t bother too much. But do something anyway.

Wipe the phone with a cloth, remove any stains, and place it on a flat, uniform surface - on a table or a sheet. It's better to take pictures in daylight, but if that's not possible, just turn on as much light as possible. In our case, the iPhone was photographed under the light of a lamp.

You can upload five product photos to Avito. In ordinary life, one angle on the face is enough, but I recommend doing five:

The face of the iPhone with a view of one of the connectors (for example, the charging socket).
A backdrop with a view of another connector (for example, a headphone jack).
A person with the screen turned on. Set the screen brightness to 70-80% to make it easier for your camera to adjust the brightness of the picture.
A close-up of the most hellish defect - scratches, cracks, abrasions. If there is no such thing, a close-up of the bull's eye.
Unfolded kit with all documents. If you're a hipster, you can stack everything neatly on a section of oak or a concrete block. But make sure that the background is not distracting and that small details are not lost in it. If you are a neat person, do everything on a piece of paper. If there is a piece of Whatman paper somewhere, take it.

This is what I came up with in five minutes by lamplight on a sheet of whatman paper:

What to write in an ad?

In the title write the model, memory, color, origin and year. The description includes the condition, equipment and where you bought the iPhone if you bought a new one. If you don’t want to waste time on those who want to exchange, add “do not offer exchange.” For example, like this:

IPhone 6 16 GB, white, Rostest, 2015
Complete set: box, charger, headphones, cable, receipt. Purchased from an official store in Spain in June 2016. No exchange offered.

If you still have bumpers, cases or docking stations, offer them as a gift, but not as a set. When they are included, the buyer can refuse them and ask for a discount for this. When they are given as a gift, you can’t ask for a discount.

If you bought a refurbished iPhone, write so. The pedigree of an iPhone is easy to check: if you come across an experienced buyer, he can catch you cheating, and from here it’s not far to a discount.

Do not write “urgent” and “bargaining is appropriate”

Don’t write sales text or emotional words like “I’m giving away my friend” or “your faithful companion” - no one cares about that. An iPhone is not a wedding dress (but it can be the reason for it).

What price should I set?

Find the same iPhone in the same configuration on Avito and add 5-10% to the price for bargaining.

For example, on September 9, the sixth iPhone with 64 GB in Moscow, fully equipped, is sold second-hand for 30-35 thousand. This means you need to set the price at 36 thousand and be prepared to drop it to 32 thousand.

Distinguish between advertisements of private traders and resellers on Avito. The resellers are in a dark place: they sell Chinese iPhones for 9 thousand, they heavily dump and cheat with prices. For example, the ad will say “24 thousand”, and it turns out that this is the price for some ancient fifth iPhone. Therefore, compare only with private prices.

Compare only with private prices

Resellers have perfect, polished photos of the iPhone from the website. They offer iPhones of different models and memory sizes. Private owners have one phone number and home photos.

The higher the price, the longer it will take you to sell. This doesn't mean you need to lower the price - just keep it in mind.

Pay for an ad?

Not necessary. iPhones are selling quickly and demand is high. If you have a complete set and a normal price, then in a large city you will sell it in 2-3 days, in a smaller city - in 1-3 weeks.

If you are in Moscow and your iPhone has not been on sale for a week, lower the price by 1-2 thousand. If you haven’t sold during this time, then you can pay and raise it in search. But most often they will start writing and calling you on the very first day.

Buyers are bargaining. What to do?

Be prepared to give a discount, but not just like that, but for something. The easiest option is to drop 2-3 thousand for someone to come pick up your iPhone today and wherever it is convenient for you.

Be polite but firm. “If you want a discount, come to me in Bibirevo today. It’s inconvenient to come - no problem, but then no discount. And call in advance, in case someone already has time to buy an iPhone earlier.”

What to do before meeting with a buyer?

Charge your phone and check the contents.

Where is the best place to sell?

The best option is in a public place near an ATM that accepts money. Bring an impressive-looking friend with you. Everyone should have an impressive-looking friend.

How to accept money?

There are two options to receive money: by transfer to a card or in cash. Both have downsides.

A transfer to a card is generally safe if it is a transfer from card to card and you receive the money immediately. Most banks will not undertake to cancel it. And if a fraudster accuses you of illegally debiting money from him, the bank will begin a long and serious investigation, which fraudsters usually do not want to get involved in. But this is only in the general case. There are many subtleties in life:

Money may not arrive on the card immediately, especially if it is a transfer from Visa to MasterCard or vice versa. It’s even worse if it’s a transfer between different banks and from a high-class card like “Visa” to a low-class card like “Maestro”: such payments can take a day, or two, or five. The scammer may say that he sent the money, you just need to wait for it to arrive. And it may even show you a screenshot from online banking. And all this may turn out to be fake.
If money is transferred not from card to card, but by interbank transfer, then most often such a transfer can be recalled on the same day, before it gets processed. The fraudster shows you a payment slip accepted by the bank, then half an hour later he calls the bank, revokes the payment slip, and you won’t see the money.
The fraudster can imitate the receipt of money. For example, sending you an SMS as if from Tinkoff Bank, but in fact - from scammers. Be sure to check your online banking account balance before giving away your iPhone.

Cash is easy to counterfeit. Unless you work as a printer or cashier, you will not be able to spot counterfeit money by sight. There are two ways to protect yourself from fakes:

Together with the buyer, go to an ATM with a bill acceptor and try to credit this money to your account. If everything is ok, give the phone back. If the ATM does not accept some bills, ask the buyer to replace them. A Qiwi-type payment terminal is also suitable, but there is a limit on accepting money - no more than 15 thousand at a time and one bill at a time.
Ask to bring the amount in small bills - 100 or 500 rubles. Professional counterfeiters do not counterfeit such small items - it is unprofitable. And if your customer prints money on a printer, you will understand it.

Things are a bit murky with money. They seem to be fake. What to do?

If in doubt, don't make the deal. Don't give away your phone. Do not untie it from your Apple ID. Make it a rule: if you doubt money, don’t take it.

Ask the buyer to look for other bills: “These are kind of suspicious.”

If your interlocutor begins to put pressure on honesty or evoke feelings of guilt, say this:

“It’s just that my dad deals with economic crimes in the prosecutor’s office. And he tells me that if the money is suspicious, it’s better to double-check. If you want, you can leave these and replace these when it’s convenient.”

If you fall for a professional scammer, it is better for him to retreat at this moment: even if you are bluffing, you are clearly not a sucker. And your impressive-looking friend too.

What absolutely should not be done when selling?

You definitely shouldn’t tell the buyer any codes from SMS, like “you need to confirm the transfer that it’s really you.” So you will not only lose your phone, but also lose money.

You should not go to a meeting where the buyer invites you. Even if he offers you extra payment for delivery. Most likely, he is waiting for you with a crowbar.

Don't accept a discount for buying a phone without a box or headphones. Of course, you will sell the box, but the headphones are not a fact. And this will require additional time and effort. Why just punish yourself like that?

Do not give out the IMEI or serial number of the phone before sale. An attacker can add it to the stolen database and check your phone against this database during the transaction. And demand a discount.

A gadget for a new owner. And it goes without saying that you have an important question about what you need to do before selling your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch without losing or leaking personal information, including content stored on the device. To answer this question that concerns everyone briefly, all you need to do is create a backup copy, then delete all personal information from the device, including content, and unlink it from your iCloud account

Only after these steps will the gadget be completely clean, with factory settings installed, that is, it can be said to be like new, but only in the software part and is ready to be transferred to the new owner. Of course, there is no need to manually delete contacts, reminders, calendars, documents, photos, Apple has taken care of this.

Now about all these actions in a little more detail, do not be afraid of the voluminous text, in fact, everything is so simple that you may be very surprised. The only thing I would like to draw attention to is that owners of the iPad and iPod touch must begin pre-sale preparation immediately from the 2nd stage; the first must be skipped, since it is intended for iPhone owners.

Currently, smartphones and tablets contain a lot of personal information - financial data, photos and videos, personal correspondence, passwords for Internet services, applications and digital documents. Therefore, before you sell your device, you need to erase all content from your iPhone and iPad.

When preparing to sell or transfer your mobile device to another user, you may need to delete all or some of the files. However, you should first back up your content and disable some features and services. We recommend that you complete all the necessary steps in the order below.

If you still have an iPhone or iPad

Before you give your gadget to another user, make sure that you have deleted all personal data from it. To protect your content and restore your device to factory condition before handing it over to a new owner, follow the steps below.

Create a backup. To do this, open iTunes and connect your gadget to your computer and click on its icon in the upper left corner. Scroll down and click "Create a copy now."

Depending on the amount of data stored on the device, creating a backup may take up to 10 minutes. It will contain all your files and personal information currently on your mobile device. After purchasing a new device, you will need to do the same sequence of actions on it, but use the “Restore from copy” button.

Disable Apple services. To avoid SMS delivery issues, you need to sign out of iMessage. To disable iMessage, go to Settings -> Messages and move the “iMessage” toggle switch to the “Off” position. It is also recommended to disable the FaceTime service in Settings -> FaceTime.

Sign out of iCloud. Your account may store a large amount of personal information, including photographs, documents, and mail. To delete all iCloud data from your gadget and disconnect from your account, you need to go to Settings, select the iCloud tab and click the “Sign Out” button. This way, you will delete all personal information, but at the same time it will be saved in remote storage and will become available again after entering your account settings on a new device.

Erase the contents of your device. To delete content from iPhone and iPad, select Settings –> General –> Reset, and then select “Erase content and settings”. The operating system will warn you: “Are you sure you want to continue? All media files, data and settings will be erased. This action is irreversible." This will remove all data from your device, including photos, contacts, music, apps, and credit and debit cards added for Apple Pay. All services will be disabled. When you delete data from your device, its contents will not be deleted from iCloud storage.

After turning on, the iPhone or iPad will ask the new owner to perform activation, just like on a new device after purchase.

If you no longer have an iPhone or iPad

If you have not followed the instructions above before selling or giving your device to another person, please follow the steps below.

Ask the new owner of your iPhone or iPad to erase all content and settings as described above. If you use iCloud and Find My iPhone is turned on, you can erase your data remotely and remove the device from your account. To do this, go to icloud.com/find, select your gadget and click the “Erase” button. After deleting the data, click the “Remove from account” button. After you delete content, you must wait 24 hours before you can activate iMessage on your new device.

If you can't complete the suggested steps, change your Apple ID password. Changing your password doesn't delete any personal data stored on the device, but it does make it impossible for the new owner to delete the information from iCloud.

If you use Apple Pay, you can also delete your credit or debit card information on iCloud.com. To do this, tap Settings to view iPhones that use Apple Pay, then select the device and tap the Remove button next to Apple Pay.