Making sure old phone is fully wiped

January 22, 2025 9:52 AM

I'm trading in my old iPhone - last time I did this I moved over everything to the new phone and wiped my old phone and sent the old one back to Verizon. A few months later, I got a notification that my old phone had been turned back on and was attached to my apple account. Scary business. How do I stop that from happening again?

I did all the things and updated all the passwords after I got the notification about my old phone, but now I'm super paranoid that wiping an iPhone doesn't really erase the information on it. What can I do this time around to completely clear it.

I know that I can just smash it to pieces or bring it to a recycler where they will smash it to pieces in front of me (I've done this with other technology), but I'd like to get the rebate for sending the phone back to Verizon. If the answer is: you can't, you just need to change all your passwords, that's fine - and I can do that too.

posted by Toddles to Technology (5 answers total)

Best answer: I believe you used to be able to "erase all content and settings" without disabling Find My / Activation Lock, which is what binds the phone to your Apple account. That's what could have happened here! If that's the case, your data didn't actually stick around, just the link between your phone and your account. I think also doing a "transfer" doesn't wipe the old phone, you have to do that manually.

It looks like as of iOS 18.2.1 (what's installed on my phone), when you "erase all content and settings", Find My gets disabled and your Apple account is logged out by default (which is good!). I'd feel totally comfortable going through the process and then selling my phone / sending it to a recycler / giving it to a child / whatever! To be extra sure, after you go through the reset process, you can check your Apple account from another device to make sure the device has been totally removed from it.
posted by Brassica oleracea at 10:00 AM on January 22

Best answer: Brassica oleracea is right. The process for erasing your old phone has been improved in the latest versions of iOS. It guides you through all the logging out &etc you need to do on the way to erasing the device. If you go to Settings => General => scroll to the bottom there is an option to "Erase All Content and Settings". This is specifically what you're instructed to do before you send your phone back to Apple for a trade in.

One step that isn't covered is backing up any authentication apps you use (Authy, Microsoft Authenticator, etc). I actually recommend logging into the authenticators on your new phone before you erase your old phone, just in case you run into any problems.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 10:04 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Apple has a support article, What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad. Follow the steps in there, and you should be good.

You may also want to follow the section on If you no longer have your iPhone or iPad for your old device.
posted by zamboni at 11:09 AM on January 22 [1 favorite]

Winnie the Proust's point about authenticator apps is so important. Also, they will usually have a "recovery key" or something that you can view while authenticated; if you use any of these authenticator apps on your phone, make sure you go through each one and save that recovery key somewhere safe, just in case you run into any problems.
posted by xedrik at 12:46 PM on January 22 [1 favorite]

And one of the ways things can go _slightly_ weird with phone upgrades is you'll need to update the list of numbers that you're accessible at and where new messages should originate from if you aren't keeping the same phone number. Settings -> Apps -> Messages -> Send & Receive on an iPhone or just Preferences --> iMessage -> Settings in macOS.
posted by Kyol at 1:28 PM on January 22