One day, when it’s time to upgrade your smartphone, you can lower the price of buying a new one by selling the old one. Before you say goodbye to your old Android or iPhone, you need to do a few short and simple checks to ensure that you do not leave private information such as conversations or Internet accounts on your former phone.
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Ideally, it pays to have an old phone next to a new one to ensure that everything is working correctly and that you no longer need the one you just replaced. Whatever your situation, you will be safer if you do these checks.
Create a backup
No one who changes an old phone for a new one wants to be left without data, but thanks to numerous cloud services, today’s situation is significantly more effortless than a few years ago. If you sign in to Netflix on a new device, all your settings will be the same as before.
It is also worth going through the applications and checking if everything is transferred to the cloud or another device. For example, keep an eye on your photos and videos. If you’re using a podcast program, be careful not to lose your downloaded episodes. Android and iPhone devices have built-in backup systems that can do that for you. Just in case, check the official Apple and Google documentation, which describes the storage procedure, and think about what you want to transfer to the new device.
Switch the verification codes to two factors
If you use your device to log in to two factors, you may encounter problems after switching to a new one. Your phone is the key to accessing various accounts, from social networks to email clients. If you use an application to generate verification codes, you must install the application on a new device and ensure that your old accounts go with it.
The switching method between devices varies from program to program, which means that you will have to consult the instructions. As a reminder, Authy and Google Authenticator offer simple guides for transferring codes from one device to another.
Log out of all accounts.
This step is unnecessary for some applications, but it is always a good idea to log out if you are unsure. Some apps have restrictions on the maximum number of devices – streaming apps only allow you to download music on a limited number of devices. In contrast, some paid apps limit the number of installations, so you may have to sign out of your old phone before signing up.
Before you do anything, make sure you have all the passwords because you will have to enter them again.
Switch your conversations
Apps like Twitter and Facebook Messenger are all stored in the cloud. If you have Apple iMessage, your conversations are kept on iCloud. If you use Signal and have two phones at hand, you can transfer data from one to the other using the built-in account transfer option.
Perform a factory reset
Lastly, after you’ve done everything, it would be good to do a factory reset to get your old phone back to the state it was in when you bought it. Just make sure this step is done after you’ve done all the previous ones – restoring your phone to factory settings also includes deleting data: everything from your Wi-Fi network details to downloaded screen backgrounds will be deleted.
If you have Android, your path to deleting the device will depend on the design acrobatics of each manufacturer. At the same time, on the iPhone, you will be able to delete everything by going to settings, selecting available items in General, pressing Transfer or Reset iPhone, or then deleting or Reset iPhone. Erase All Content and Settings.
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