Is it possible to safely sell an unlocked Iphone that has had the baseband upgraded to 06.15? (ie be able to delete all data off it without it being recoverable through itunes)

January 11, 2012 9:59 AM

Is it possible to safely sell an unlocked iphone that has had the baseband upgraded to 06.15? (ie be able to delete all data off it without it being recoverable through itunes)

I have an iphone 3GS that has had the baseband upgraded to 06.15 and jailbroken (this is only so it can be unlocked, not for any less ethical reasons). I have decided to sell it, but I can't restore the firmware to a stock one because of the baseband upgrade.

Therefore, is it safe for me to simply try and delete all data via the settings option on the phone? (I'm not sure if it will work on a jailbroken phone). Also, would the buyer be able to recover the deleted data by simply connecting the phone to itunes and syncing with a backup I've made in the past?

Apologies if this is a stupid question.

posted by Pilly to Technology (5 answers total)

Best answer: The backup data resides on your computer (or in iCloud, if you're using iOS 5 with iCloud backup enabled). The buyer will not have access to the backup data unless you give them access to your computer (or your iCloud account). In other words, you don't need to worry about that.

"Erase All Content & Settings" is plenty secure enough. I don't have experience using it on a jailbroken device, but chances are pretty good it will still work. If it does, the phone will reboot and appear in a stock, unactivated state (i.e., showing the "connect to iTunes" screen for iOS 4 or below, or the on-device setup wizard for iOS 5).
posted by Nothlit at 10:19 AM on January 11, 2012

Oh, and in case it wasn't clear from the end of my post, that unactivated state is how you'll want to deliver it to the buyer. In other words, don't reconnect it to your own computer or reactivate it once you've performed the wipe. You should also remove your SIM card and tell the buyer they need to furnish their own.
posted by Nothlit at 10:21 AM on January 11, 2012

Response by poster: Excellent - thanks a lot, that's really helpful and just the info I was looking for. I'll maybe back it up and then delete everything to see if it'll work (and if it doesn't I can restore all the data from itunes).
posted by Pilly at 10:27 AM on January 11, 2012

How will the buyer activate it if they don't have an AT&T SIM card? Will you just leave it Hackivated? The hacktivated state sucks - push notifications don't work, YouTube doesn't work, etc. Also, be sure that location services work, since redsn0w will often screw that up.

If I were you I'd activate the phone and make sure that everything works and deliver it to the buyer in that condition. Don't put in your Apple ID, set up email accounts, etc and you'll be fine.
posted by The Lamplighter at 3:00 PM on January 11, 2012

"Erase All Content & Settings" is actually not a good idea for a jailbroken device - since the filesystem is rearranged when jailbreaking, that option causes the device to not fully boot up anymore (it gets stuck on the Apple logo), requiring a restore.

Instead you should use the latest version of redsn0w and a copy of the iOS 5.0.1 IPSW (firmware file) to build "custom firmware" and restore the device to it. Here's a link to a custom firmware tutorial I wrote. I don't know how you'll want to handle the activation issue.

When selling the device, make sure to include full details about the 6.15.00 baseband since it's the device's permanent baseband - it means that the device no longer has GPS (although it still has some location triangulation), has to be jailbroken to be used unlocked (since you have to install ultrasn0w), and has to be restored and upgraded using custom firmware.
posted by dreamyshade at 4:55 PM on January 12, 2012