If you’re at the stage where you’re selling or giving away your iPhone or iPad and want to know a safe way to erase your iPhone or iPad, then this guide should answer all your queries. When selling or giving away your phone, you don’t want your sensitive data to be accessed by anyone else. And hence, erasing your iPhone or iPad before that is advisable.
Let’s look at the different ways you can erase your iDevice:
Back Up Your iPhone or iPad
Before you erase your device, you should ensure you have an up-to-date backup available, in case you want to restore your data to a new device after the wipe. Although iCloud automatically creates regular backups of your device, it’s still better to manually create an updated one before erasing your device.
Follow the steps below to easily back up your iPhone or iPad:
- Connect your device to Wi-Fi if it’s not connected already
- Open Settings
- Tap on your name at the top and select iCloud
- Scroll down and tap iCloud Backup
- Make sure it is turned on
- Select Back Up Now
Wait for your iPhone or iPad to create a fresh backup before you move to the next steps.
Erase Your iPhone or iPad with Settings
Using the Settings app, you can easily erase your iPhone or iPad. This method is the easiest one, provided you have your device with you. For cases when you don’t, we’ll discuss another method in the coming sections.
Follow the steps below to wipe your device using Settings:
- Open Settings and tap General
- Scroll down and tap Reset
- Select Erase All Content and Settings
- Now select Erase Now
- Enter your passcode on the prompt
- Next, enter your Apple ID password to turn off Activate Lock and remove your device from Find My
Your iPhone or iPad will now take some time to erase all data on your device. Once the process is complete, you’ll be greeted with the setup screen where you can enter your Apple ID passcode and set up your phone like new. Or you can sell it or give it away.
Erase your iPhone or iPad using Find My
Find My can be used to remotely erase your iPhone or iPad in case you have lost your device. For this method to work, you should have Find My iPhone or Find My iPad turned on your device and it should be connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network. Also, both your device and the one you’ll use to sign in to Find My should be logged in to the same iCloud account.
Follow the steps to remotely erase your iPhone or iPad using Find My:
- Launch the Find My app or go to https://www.icloud.com/find
- Select Devices at the bottom-left or All Devices at the top and then select the device you want to erase
- Scroll down and select Erase This Device or Erase
- Select Continue or Erase to confirm
- If your device is offline, it will be erased the next time it connects to a network
And there you go! Erasing your iPhone or iPad, remotely or otherwise, is simple as long as you ensure the right conditions and follow the correct steps. Once the process is complete, you can go safely sell or give away your device or set it up as a new one for yourself.
