Security
Data Security Tips for Selling Phones
Everything you need to know surrounding data security when selling your old phone.
Lewis Hanney | WeBuyAnyPhone.com
Lewis Hanney | WeBuyAnyPhone.com
If you’re looking to sell your old phone it could be for various reasons. It’ll help declutter your homes drawer of doom, help the environment and obviously you can make some money. But, you’re here now because you’re aware if you'll sell your old mobile device, you should do it securely.
Our phones now contain more work, personal and financial data than ever before. They are essentially extensions of ourselves. So, its more important than ever to protect your data when selling your mobile phone.
Otherwise you’ll be putting yourself at risk of a host of cybercrimes.
Identity Theft. That can lead to fraudulent transactions and damaged credit scores.
Unwanted Access to Personal Accounts. Which can lead to the exposure of your sensitive information.
IMEI Fraud. Which enables the cloning of phone IMEI numbers that can implicate your device with committing fraud and other crimes.
Phishing Scams. Where cyber criminals can target you to gain further credentials and personal data.
Cyber-attacks globally have increased 147% year on year, having recorded 5.4 million in December 2024! This trend isn’t expected to slow down, so you’re right to be concerned about these security risks.
In this article we aim to help you sell for a high price, with peace of mind and minimal hassle.
Before selling your old device you’ll want to make sure your new upgrade is compatible with a few things. This way you can transfer all your personal data to your new device before its wiped.
Check your new device can support any accounts, apps, linked devices and 2 step verifications you’re currently using.
This way you know you’ll have a way to access all your own personal data when moving to your new device.
You should also check if the manufacturer still supports your device. Being supported means software updates will keep your new device up to standard with data security.
On top of this there’s long list of other drawbacks it’ll experience.
Software Limitations. No more bug fixes or software improvements. You may experience app and file compatibility issues.
Reduced Functionality. Banking and payment apps may stop working because of security concerns. Newer network protocols like 5G may not be supported.
Hardware Performance. Faster battery degradation and official manufacturer endorsed repairs will become unavailable.
Here’s some links to check which models the main manufacturers still support.
If you are planning on buying an older device, you can install third party anti-virus software to help avoid security issues. But, given all the other lost support we would always recommend purchasing a supported mobile phone.
Before wiping your phones data you’ll want to make sure of a few things.
*Remove all access to logged in accounts and apps. This can include email accounts, banking apps, payment systems and social media.
*Unlink any devices from your phone. This might be home thermostats, virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa’s or smartwatches.
*Erased all cached data from browsers and apps, to ensure login credentials won’t autofill.
*Change any 2-step verifications you have setup using the phone, to your new one.
*Android users will want to disable FRP (Factory Reset Protection). This ensures 100% of your personal data is removed.
Most people are going to own an iPhone, an Android phone or a Google Pixel. Below we’ve provided step-by-step instructions for backing up your data on each.
*Connect your iPhone to Wi-Fi.
*Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.
*Toggle on iCloud Backup and tap Back Up Now.
*Ensure you have enough iCloud storage. Apple’s free plan offers 5GB, so you may need to pay for more storage capacity.
You can only use this method if your Mac is using the macOS Catalina operating system or newer versions. Generally speaking, Macs from 2012 or later support macOS Catalina.
*Connect your iPhone to your Mac via a USB cable.
*Open Finder, select your iPhone under Locations.
*Click Back Up Now.
If your Mac came out before 2012 or you only have Windows, you can backup you iPhone using iTunes.
*If not already install iTunes onto your PC.
*Connect your iPhone.
*Open iTunes, select your iPhone.
*Click Back Up Now.
Options for backing up your Android device are also cost free unless you need to transfer large amounts of data. However, some aren’t as seamless.
*Open Settings on your phone.
*Tap Google > Backup.
*Toggle on Back up to Google Drive.
*Tap Back Up Now to create a manual backup.
*Ensure you have enough cloud storage. Google’s free plan offers 15GB, so you may need to pay for more storage capacity.
You should be aware that Samsung Cloud Backup now only stores contacts, calendars, notes, Samsung Pass and for UK users, settings, call logs and messages. You cannot backup Gallery and other files. For this you must now use Microsoft OneDrive.
*Open Settings > Accounts and Backup > Samsung Cloud.
*Select Back Up Data and choose what you want to back up.
*Tap Back Up Now.
*Connect your phone to a computer via a USB.
*Select File Transfer (MTP) mode.
*Copy and paste important files like photos, videos and documents from your computer manually.
Other than this there are third party app options you can use which offer free plans.
Your options with Google Pixel phones are similar to those of Android phones.
*Open Settings Menu on your Pixel phone.
*Tap Google > Backup.
*Toggle on Back up to Google One.
*Tap Back Up Now to create a manual backup.
*Ensure you have enough available storage. Google’s free plan offers 15GB, so you may need to pay for more storage capacity.
The Google One package include this, and the data counts towards the 15GB free limit.
*Open Google Photos.
*Tap your Profile Picture > Photo Settings > Backup & Sync.
*Toggle on Backup & Sync.
*Connect your phone to a computer via a USB.
*Select File Transfer (MTP) mode.
*Copy and paste files manually to your computer.
Other than this there are third party app options you can use with both free and paid plans.
The best way to erase data from your old phone is performing a factory reset. This is relatively easy and essentially returns your phone to its original state when you first bought it.
Here’s a quick summary of what a factory reset removes and what it doesn’t.
Removed
*Media files. (Photos, videos, music)
*Contacts.
*Messages. (SMS & MMS)
*Call history.
*All App data and settings.
*Apps installed post purchase.
*Accounts accessed on the device.
*Wi-Fi passwords, Bluetooth pairings and other system settings.
What is not removed
*Any data you have saved to the cloud remains safe.
*Any data stored on external SD cards.
*Any data saved directly to your SIM card.
*Open the Settings app.
*Scroll down and tap General.
*Scroll to the bottom and tap Reset. (Or on newer versions tap Transfer or Reset iPhone)
*Select Erase All Content and Settings.
*Enter your Apple ID Password. (If prompted disable Find My iPhone)
*Confirm by tapping Erase iPhone.
*Wait for the reset process to complete and the phone to restart.
For more detail you can refer Apple’s own Factory Reset Guide.
Depending on your phones settings, you may receive a prompt to “keep personal files” during the factory reset process. Refuse this prompt to erase all your personal data. Just make sure you’ve backed up your data beforehand.
*Open the Settings app.
*Scroll down and tap General management.
*Tap Reset.
*Select Factory data reset.
*Scroll to the bottom and tap Reset.
*Enter your PIN, Password or Pattern.
*Tap Delete All to confirm.
*Wait for the process to finish and the phone to restart.
For more detail you can refer Samsung’s own Factory Reset Guide.
Depending on your phones settings, you may receive a prompt to “keep personal files” during the factory reset process. Refuse this prompt to erase all your personal data. Just make sure you’ve backed up your data beforehand.
*Open the Settings app.
*Scroll down and tap System.
*Tap Reset options.
*Select Erase All Data (factory reset).
*Tap Erase all data.
*Enter your PIN or Pattern.
*Tap Erase all to confirm.
*Wait for the phone to reset and restart.
For more detail you can refer Google’s own Factory Reset Guide.
Lastly, you’ll want to remove and dispose of your SIM and any external SD cards. People often miss this. SIM cards can store data relating to phones numbers, text messages, billing info and data usage. While memory cards can hold a whole host of different data you wouldn’t want to falling into the wrong hands.
You can never be too cautious with your personal data. If it ends up in the wrong hands you could be a victim of things like identity theft, phishing scams and more.
One final way to check if any data is left behind is to look at the phones internal storage settings.
You’ll want to look out for any of these.
*Files & Documents
*Photos & Videos
*Messaging Data
*App Data
*Contacts & Calendars
*Passwords & Authentication Data
*App-Specific Backups
*System Logs
*Music, Podcasts & Audiobooks
*Backup Files.
*Encryption or Secure Storage Folders.
Once checked you can sell your phone online safely.
If you’ve got this far you probably take the security of your personal data seriously. So, selling your old phone can seem risky if you miss anything.
There is a final failsafe that guarantees your personal data is handled and erased properly. We want to be the best place to sell phones securely. When selling with We Buy Any Phone we take action to ensure devices we purchase have their personal data 100% wiped.
We run all our purchased phones through high-grade PhoneCheck software. If any personal data remains, the system identifies and erases it. Ensuring no one can recover data from the device. To protect your personal data when selling your phone choose We Buy Any Phone.
This process is especially useful if you have a broken phone you may not be physically able to delete your data from.
Looking to sell your old phone safely today for a great price?
Refurbished phones privacy concerns aren't new. The law requires industry standards and the vast majority of phones sold are completely compliant with this. However, if you're purchasing directly from another member of the public you may wish to consider a few things.
First things first, you should make sure to wipe any data left on it in the same way as you would with a phone you were selling. It’s the right thing to do and helps other perhaps less aware of the risks data security poses to them.
Enable auto updates and backups so security software is most update. Manufacturers will regularly update their operating systems. These updates can include improvements and fixes related to the devices data security.
Ensure all screen lock features are setup. This will help prevent any sort of unwanted access to your new phone. Enabling these features also enables features that automatic encrypt your data. Making your data unreadable to hackers or thieves without unlocking the mechanism.
If you’re still skeptical about the potential data risks involved with selling you’re old phone, here are a few more benefits that should put your mind at ease.
With We Buy Any Phone its completely risk free. If you don’t remove your personal data, we will 100% guaranteed.
You can earn a substantial amount of cash. On average, we offer our customers almost £300 for their old phones.
Selling your phone is mobile phone recycling. It gives it a new life. It helps avoid e-waste going to landfill and massive energy & costs involved in making brand new devices. Plus it helps consumers with lower budgets get access to better tech.
It’ll help declutter your home. So many of our customers have drawers full of old phones just collecting dust and occupying space. When you can turn them into huge amounts of cash in days.
See how much your old phones are worth now.
Everything you need to know surrounding data security when selling your old phone.
Lewis Hanney | WeBuyAnyPhone.com
AI Mobile Smartphone Features for the UK in 2025
Rohit Singh Sengar | WeBuyAnyPhone.com
No need to shop around
We pay more than networks
