How to Securely Sell Your Smartphone

If you’re anything like me, you probably change your phone every two years or so. The thing is, most people don’t consider the security risks involved with dishing out your phone to someone unknown or using a carrier trade-in. Let’s shed light on the risks involved and how you can mitigate them.

Especially with Android devices, the turnover rate for used phones is massive. So most people have enough time guzzled up choosing, buying and setting up their phones. When you’re ready to sell your phone, posting it on a classified listing or walking in for a carrier trade-in is another time-consuming process. All the time taken discourages anyone from taking, even more, time to make sure everything is secure before handing it off. Making a quick sale is tempting, but it may not be necessarily the best option considering personal information can be extracted with ease. Not all is lost, though. With these steps, you should be able to understand and know what to do before selling used Android phones or any other old mobile phone for money.

Take a Backup

First things first, your personal information in the form of data should be saved, and that could be done through hard drive or Cloud. In fact, cloud storage is quite popular nowadays because it is easy and seamless to store personal information on it and it is safe to store them as well. Your personal data ranging from your photos, contacts, music applications, money based applications, including bank account information, all can be sent to the Cloud storage. Taking backup is the safest way to preserve and protect your data because you can easily then transfer it to your new device. It does not take much time.

Clean the Device Storage – Literally

A simple delete of your photos and files does not remove it completely. You must do a reinstall after cleaning the system. On mobile phones, “restore factory settings” should be done to protect data by totally removing them. Also, remember to clean the exterior of your old mobile phone using a cloth. If you can, remove the battery from your old smartphone as well. Note that, your phone must be given in a good condition so that you can get the maximum amount allotted to your used phone.

Completely Cut Off Subscription Services

You may have subscribed to various websites and blogs. Your subscriptions should not remain intact when you are planning to sell your old mobile phone. It is not safe. Whether you have an account on Netflix or iTunes or even Xbox, make sure that your subscriptions are all deauthorized before you are planning to sell your used Android or iPhone. Even the Wi-Fi password should be removed from the gadget. Removing the subscriptions will prevent any fraud committed by using your subscription or your password.

Switch Off the “Finding” Option

Most of the smartphones today have an option for “finding” your phone which means your device is traceable. This should not remain while you are contemplating on selling your old mobile phone. Visit the settings and do the needful to quit this feature so that you become completely untraceable before giving away your device.

Vacate Your Phone

This means vacating it from all the external disks or other technological objects kept inside your phone. Remove the SD cards, games and SIM cards from your phone and make sure to turn it off before you hand it over to the person taking your phone. Though this is an obvious step, it still needs reminding because people tend to forget to remove their SD cards from the phone slots. To ensure that you are not giving away anything vital to you, open up every cover, slot, latch and port and check whether there is anything left inside.

Cover for Future Sale

Obviously, you have done all this, because you want to sell your old mobile phone to the appropriate place at an apt price. Plan for it. In this way, you will be able to get maximum value for your used mobile phone. A excellent idea is to, consider a customized skin that can be completely removed in a transparent manner. Do apply a screen protector to save it from scratches. Also, remember that providing the box, and accessories will get you can extra bargain.

Follow these steps to avoid any untoward incident before selling off your old mobile phone. In fact, these will protect you from being cheated and will also provide you the best value for money.

Author Bio: Arpita Bose is a technological blogger who shares a lot of information about technology and mobile phone related news.