You may have received new mobile phone as a present. After excitingly transferring data to your new mobile
How to dispose old mobile phone safely?
You may have received new mobile phone as a present. After excitingly transferring data to your new mobile, have you ever considered the followings?
- Can 'Reset to factory settings' completely clear data in your phone?
- Using 'Low level formatting' to erase data?
- Can second-hand shop recover your deleted data?
Any difference between clearing data on phone and computer?
To avoid capturing deleted data from computer hard disk, the public normally use low level formatting, overwriting, degaussing and physical destruction. Regarding smartphones with solid-state drive (SSD), overwriting or degaussing may not applicable or effective to clear all data. There are low level format tools designed for mobile phone hard disk, but they are rather difficult to use. How to simply and safely delete all data on a mobile phone?
Apple iOS User
Recommendations on Apple official website:
- Sign out of iCloud, iTunes and App Store.
- If you’re switching to a non-Apple phone, deregister iMessage.
- Tap “General” -> “Transfer or Reset [device]” > “Erase All Content and Settings”
Android User
Android official website recommends resetting your phone to factory settings to remove all data from your phone.
Is It that simple?
Actually, recent iOS and Android models have the mobile phone storage area encrypted upon manufacturing to enhance data security. In other words, even you take out the hard disk, you cannot direct read data on the phone without encryption key. Therefore, if you did not perform low level formatting, it does not necessarily mean deleted data can be recovered easily.
However, before factory reset or erasing content from your phone, remember to back up and ensure your phone has been encrypted to protect your data.
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