Selling or trading in your phone? Do these things first

A used phone sells for less when the buyer sees someone else’s life on it. A phone that still carries your photos, saved passwords and logged-in accounts is a risk to you. The good news is that the job is mostly a fixed order of steps, and none of them are hard.

The order matters

Move data first, then sign out, then erase. Doing it the other way round can lock you out of what you meant to keep.

1. Copy what you want to keep

• Back up photos, videos, contacts and documents to your new phone or an account you control.
• Open a few items on the new device to make sure they arrived.
• If you use an app that stores data only inside itself, such as a vault, a password manager or an authenticator app, move that data using the app’s own export or restore steps. The phone’s regular backup often doesn’t include it.
• Move two-factor codes to the new phone before you erase the old one.

2. Sign out and remove the phone from your accounts

• Sign out of your phone account, your app store account and any cloud photo service.
• Remove the phone from the list of devices on your account, using a computer if you like.
• Turn off find-my-phone features. These attach the phone to your account, and the next owner can’t set up the phone while they are on.
• Unpair watches and other accessories.
• If you are moving to a different brand of phone, switch off messaging services tied to your number, or messages may not reach you.

3. Remove cards and wallets

• Remove payment cards, transit cards and passes from the phone’s wallet.
• Take out the SIM card and any memory card. An eSIM profile should be erased too when the reset offers that choice.

4. Factory reset

• iPhone: follow the official steps to erase all content and settings.
• Android: Android Help says the reset is found in Settings, and that some steps apply only on Android 14 and later, so check the page for your version. It recommends having your account name and password ready, charging the phone to at least 70 percent, and connecting to Wi-Fi or mobile data. A reset can take up to an hour.

After the reset, the phone should restart at the welcome screen. Don’t set it up again. Hand it over as it is.

What a reset does and doesn’t remove

• Does remove: photos, apps, app data, saved accounts and settings stored on the phone.
• Doesn’t remove: copies in cloud accounts, photos sent in chats, files on a memory card, or anything you emailed or shared.
• Doesn’t remove, and is easy to forget: the phone’s connection to your accounts, if you skipped signing out.

So remember the cloud. Look at your cloud photo account on a computer after the reset and decide what stays there.

If you use a vault app

An encrypted vault is built so that without the key, its files are unreadable noise. That is a real protection, and a buyer can’t open your vault by looking at the phone. It still isn’t a reason to skip the reset. The reset clears everything else on the phone, including the apps, accounts and any plain copies that were never in the vault.

With Silo, the vault lives only in the app’s own storage, and a reset or uninstall removes it. Export it, or keep a backup, before you erase. You can read how to move your vault to a new phone.

Quick checklist

1. Back up and check the backup.
2. Move two-factor codes and app data you need.
3. Sign out and remove the phone from your accounts.
4. Remove cards, SIM and memory card.
5. Factory reset and confirm it reaches the welcome screen.
6. Review cloud photos from a computer.