Do these 8 things before you sell your iPhone, if not your bank account would be hacked!

Last Updated on 2016-05-19 , 1:50 pm

With most of the telcos offering 2-year phone contracts, we usually get to renew our contracts every two years and get a new iPhone at the same time (iPhone 7, anyone?). However, some of us are wary of trading in or selling our phones because we just don’t know how safe it is when our phone permanently land in the hands of a complete stranger. If you are worried about losing crucial data, or your payment information or personal details getting leaked through your iPhone, just follow these eight steps!

Back up on iCloud.
Make a back up on iCloud to protect your precious data. Just go to your Settings, and set iCloud to auto-backup. You can also make one on the spot. This is also more convenient since when your new iPhone is connected, you will be able to get the information rapidly over the internet. You can even choose the apps you want to back up.

Back up on iTunes.
Just in case, also make another back-up on your computer using iTunes for double peace of mind.

Export your contacts.
You don’t want to back up all your app data, only to lose all your contacts. You can log in to iCloud.com > Contacts and then back up your contacts by exporting them as a vCard. This way, you will have a copy of your contacts on your computer.

Delete your photos manually.
Even though the factory reset would erase everything, it’s better delete your personal stuff manually first just in case.

Delete all your apps.
Most apps will contain your user information, and if you are a normal user, you probably use the same ID and password for most of them. To avoid being an easy prey for hackers, just delete all of the apps first.

Log out of your Apple ID and iCloud.
Most people forget to do this! Also, remember to log out of your email app so that nobody can gain access to your inboxes.

Do a factory reset.
Just go to your iTunes phone summary, and restore your iPhone. Restoring it to factory settings will erase whatever information that is left on your phone and it will be as good as new.