Before selling old iPhone

Loobs72 · 27/09/14 - 06:57

Hi. I have just bought the iPhone 6 so am going to sell my iphone 5.

I am paranoid about any info being left on the phone. If I restore it to factory settings or whatever it is will that 100% wipe everything as I won't be able to check when it's done as it will be ready to set up for new user?

Thanks

sethpet · 27/09/14 - 07:33

In theory no. Your data it's still on the device until those sectors of memory are written over.

But the data won't be visible on the device to anyone other than a skilled hacker

Stig · 27/09/14 - 07:49

Loobs72 wrote: »

I am paranoid

Exactly. You have an irrational fear. A factory reset is all you need.

Roush · 27/09/14 - 07:52

Short answer: No recoverable data will remain on your device after erasing though the settings menu. iOS devices run permanently encrypted flash memory and as part of the process of erasing a device these encryption keys are permanently destroyed, rendering any remaining data permanently unreadable.

For those interested, a more technical explanation of how the encrypted filesystem works can be found here: https://www.apple.com/privacy/docs/iOS_Security_Guide_Sept_2014.pdf

Loobs72 · 27/09/14 - 11:45

Is it Erase all contents and settings I should be doing?

On my new iPhone when I first got it I restored from the last backup of the old phone. I cannot backup my new phone at the moment as there is not enough space as the old phone backup is still there.

I am a bit worried that if I erase everything to reset old phone will anything be affected on my new phone, eg, iCloud account etc.

Sorry I'm not very technical

BKM · 27/09/14 - 12:41

Loobs72 wrote: »

Is it Erase all contents and settings I should be doing?

Yes - this will put the old phone into its initial state. As others have said it will securely prevent access to your former content by changing the memory access keys.

On my new iPhone when I first got it I restored from the last backup of the old phone. I cannot backup my new phone at the moment as there is not enough space as the old phone backup is still there.

I am a bit worried that if I erase everything to reset old phone will anything be affected on my new phone, eg, iCloud account etc.

No the old phone backup is now pretty much redundant as you have successfully restored it to the new phone.

shaggy_x · 27/09/14 - 12:49

Loobs72 wrote: »

Is it Erase all contents and settings I should be doing?
....
Sorry I'm not very technical

Id like to add that erasing all contents simply changes access keys to your data on the phone so technically it's still possible to gain access to your data if someone really wants to

There, have I scared you enough?

BKM · 27/09/14 - 12:52

shaggy_x wrote: »

Id like to add that erasing all contents simply changes access keys to your data on the phone so technically it's still possible to gain access to your data if someone really wants to

Only if you are GCHQ! You do realise how hard it is to find access keys by brute force?

For ALL practical purposes the data is gone!

AxeVictim · 27/09/14 - 13:27

Remember to remove the iphone from icloud or the new owner wont be able to use it.

shaggy_x · 27/09/14 - 13:43

BKM wrote: »

Only if you are GCHQ! You do realise how hard it is to find access keys by brute force?

For ALL practical purposes the data is gone!

Yes I know

was just having the OP on

shaggy_x · 27/09/14 - 13:44

AxeVictim wrote: »

Remember to remove the iphone from icloud or the new owner wont be able to use it.

Lol. Never heard of that one. Your iCloud backup is yours and linked with your id. No need to remove anything.

Roush · 27/09/14 - 13:53

shaggy_x wrote: »

Lol. Never heard of that one. Your iCloud backup is yours and linked with your id. No need to remove anything.

He means to make sure that activation lock isn't left on by mistake, but erasing the phone through the settings menu deactivates this as part of the process.

AxeVictim · 27/09/14 - 15:22

The ipad i sold was erased but still connected to icloud.
Had to log into icloud and delete it from the settings.

simon69c · 27/09/14 - 17:06

You should also turn off find my iPhone (if it's on) prior to erase all contents and settings.

Roush · 27/09/14 - 17:25

simon69c wrote: »

You should also turn off find my iPhone (if it's on) prior to erase all contents and settings.

This is done automatically. When you select 'Erase All Content and Settings' it will first prompt you for your passcode (if set), then your restrictions code (if set) and then finally if Find my iPhone is on it prompts you to provide your iCloud password to turn it off.

The only way you can wipe the device without turning off Find my iPhone is if you force wipe it by putting it in recovery mode and doing a restore in iTunes. If you wipe this way with Find my iPhone on it will prompt you for your iCloud account details before it will allow the device to be reactivated after the wipe.

Rick_Davis · 27/09/14 - 20:34

Roush wrote: »

This is done automatically. When you select 'Erase All Content and Settings' it will first prompt you for your passcode (if set), then your restrictions code (if set) and then finally if Find my iPhone is on it prompts you to provide your iCloud password to turn it off.

The only way you can wipe the device without turning off Find my iPhone is if you force wipe it by putting it in recovery mode and doing a restore in iTunes. If you wipe this way with Find my iPhone on it will prompt you for your iCloud account details before it will allow the device to be reactivated after the wipe.

Also, via iTunes de-authorise your account.

Loobs72 · 28/09/14 - 08:24

AxeVictim wrote: »

Remember to remove the iphone from icloud or the new owner wont be able to use it.

How do I do this?

davethorp · 28/09/14 - 08:27

As mentioned above it should do this automatically when you wipe it. If you want to make sure go to settings/iCloud and check that find my iPhone is turned off

Stig · 28/09/14 - 09:29

Apple have lots of information about this.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts4515

Anika Hanson · 28/09/14 - 12:34

All you need to do is go into the settings and switch off find my iPhone. Once you've done this you can hit erase all settings and content and you're ready to sell it on. If you plan on upgrading to a new iPhone just make sure you back it all up before you erase everything.

TheRottweiler · 28/09/14 - 20:57

Just reset the phone to factory settings then download a few shows from the BBC I player so you fill the phone up then reset it again

Loobs72 · 29/09/14 - 06:06

TheRottweiler wrote: »

Just reset the phone to factory settings then download a few shows from the BBC I player so you fill the phone up then reset it again

Why fill phone up and reset again?

Stig · 29/09/14 - 06:29

Loobs72 wrote: »

Why fill phone up and reset again?

Ignore that. It's a workaround for an entirely theoretical scenario.

Just reset/erase it.

Jack_Wilson2 · 29/09/14 - 12:43

It's worth looking at 'Data Remanence'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_remanence

You can NEVER remove data off a storage device you can 'Format' it as many times as you like but the data can always be retrieved unless the device or hard drive is incinerated.

tycho-mag · 29/09/14 - 12:53

Jack_Wilson2 wrote: »

You can NEVER remove data off a storage device you can 'Format' it as many times as you like but the data can always be retrieved unless the device or hard drive is incinerated.

Probably why Apple decided to encrypt everything by default back in the 3GS days.

Force overwriting a 128bit key is a lot easier than overwriting 16/32/64 GB of flash

and you know the encryption works when the FBI is talking to Apple and Google!!
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-25/fbi-talking-with-apple-and-google-about-cell-phone-encryption.html

TheRottweiler · 30/09/14 - 09:10

Over righting data then deleting is a better option

Hey there!

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