Tips to protect your data and privacy when trading in your smartphone

With the holiday season coming up, many people are indulging themselves, or their loved ones, for the hard work endured for this year. The holiday season has major online sales enticing you to buy those new smartphones you have been eyeing for quite some time. Given the fact that there is a pool of different smartphones being sold around the world, consumers are likely to turn to the latest gadgets to relish in the most advanced and popular technology in the market. However, to purchase a new phone, the question is what to do with your current phone. Either trading in your phone for cash, a discount on a new phone, or just locking it away in storage.

Selling or trading in your old phone for a new phone would be the most practical thing to do. Yet, there is still a concern, ensuring that the buyer cannot access your data. You can argue that deleting a phone’s storage would put an end to this debate. However, data can still be extracted from your old device even if you delete everything. Listed below are some tips to protect your personal data when selling or trading in your phone.

Back-up

One of the major advantages of using a smartphone is the ability to back-up personal data. In the past, people had to back-up their data manually, which could sometimes consume hours of your time. Today, we have the ability with a few clicks to allow us to sync and back-up our data with ease.

Android users can back-up their data with Google Drive, or other cloud storage solutions, to save everything such as photos, files, contacts, and much more. Apple iOS users are restricted to use Apple products such as iTunes or iCloud to back-up their data. Once you have everything backed up, you can easily connect and transfer them to your new device.

Wipe saved credentials

This is one of the most important things to do before selling any phone. Most of us have our credentials, as well as security patterns, on our smartphones to protect them from cybercriminals. If you have decided to get rid of your old phone, verify that you do not have saved passwords left on your device.

Remember, most browsers, such as Google Chrome, save your credentials whenever you enter a password. This is to remove the monotony of entering passwords every time you access a site. So, before trading in your phone, delete your stored credentials.

Unpair your Bluetooth devices

Your old phone may have been paired with Bluetooth devices. If you have smartwatches, Bluetooth speakers, or headphones paired with your phone, consider unpairing them before handing over your smartphone.

Factory Reset

In this stage, you erase your personal data from your phone. If you want to sell your old phone, it is a must that all your data is wiped clean. Go to your phone’s settings and look for the ‘reset phone’ option. Sometimes a simple factory reset will not completely delete your personal data. So, to ensure all data is thoroughly wiped, what you can do is deactivate factory reset protection (FRF). This is an option provided by Android phones only, Apple iOS users do not have this option.

Lastly, do not forget to remove your old phone’s sim card, and the SD card, before finally handing over your phone. You do not want the buyer to have access to your contacts or other information possibly stored on your SD card.

For more tips and advice, visit https://blog.excellimatrix.com/

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