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iPhone 101: Don't forget to wipe... your iPhone's data

by Kevin Harter Aug 23rd 2009 at 10:00AM

Stepping up to a shiny new 3GS? Thinking about selling your old iPhone on eBay or craigslist? Don't forget to wipe!

I buy iPhones from time to time to unlock and offer to our local customers. One such phone arrived today and I eagerly opened the box to get things prepared. After charging the dead iPhone for a while, I powered it on and was greeted with tons of personal information about the previous owner.

The phone was loaded up with three accounts full of literally thousands of emails, 107 contacts, 974 songs, a few dozen photos and a handful of apps -- all still happily filling the 8GB. There were faxed checks related to the previous owner's sales position, visual voicemails available to anyone's ears, and a huge log full of text messages.

The previous owner hadn't deleted anything before sending his iPhone off to a complete stranger! While I was taking care of that important step for him, I thought "This is a perfect opportunity to save some TUAW readers from this sort of embarrassment, not to mention potential ID theft, with a quick reminder."

Clearing all of the data from your iPhone was made simple with the 2.0 firmware update last year.
  1. Go to Settings
  2. Tap on General
  3. Scroll all the way down and tap Reset
  4. Choose Erase All Content and Settings
  5. Confirm (twice) that you REALLY want to lose everything
Make sure you have it plugged in, as the process will take quite a long time, "about an hour" according to the warning. But, believe me, it is time well spent!

Once the process is complete, you'll be left with a "factory fresh" installation of the iPhone OS with no trace of you or your data, and you can safely sell it and upgrade to the latest and greatest model. Oh, and do me a favor -- if I'm the auction winner, include a working sync cable this time!

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Stepping up to a shiny new 3GS? Thinking about selling your old iPhone on eBay or craigslist? Don't forget to wipe! I buy iPhones from...
 

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wilson

hi
i'm in the process of selling an original 2G 8gb iphone on ebay.

my phone was unlocked and jailbroken 2 years ago by somebody in a shop who i paid, however i have never redone this step or updated the firmware etc as 1) i don't really care abt apps etc and just use the phone as a phone/camera/ipod etc and 2) i'm scared that if i update anything that i'll lose the update/jailbreak.

anyway i want to delete all the information on the phone without removing the unlock/jailbreak. is this possible with the 'reset all settings' or 'erase all content and settings'?

i really do not want to delete everything and find that the unlock/jailbreak has been removed from the phone as i have promised that the phone is unlocked/jailbroken in the ebay auction.

i've never unlocked/jailbroken a phone before so i'm worried that if i delete everything and lose the unlock/jailbreak that i'll have to redo it all over again.

if this were to happen, what is the best program to use to re-unlock/jailbreak? my phone is still on version 1.1.2 (3B48b) and firmware 04.02.13_G. I have no idea what any of that means.

thanks for taking the time to put this information up :)

September 06 2009 at 12:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gregg

Lol!! That's a definite!! Man that stuff never happens to me!

August 26 2009 at 2:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gregg

I sold my 16GB 3G, deleted everything with the restore. Didnt send my sim card with.. Of course I sold it to my best friend of 25 years. So I didnt have anything to worry about anyway.

Im surprised no one asked, Kevin, were their any "Good" pics on the phone :P

August 25 2009 at 11:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Gregg's comment
Kevin Harter

Hehe.... Gentlemen never tell. =)

August 26 2009 at 12:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nate

When you perform a complete wipe/restore can you simply leave the SIM card in or should it be removed before selling on Ebay or Craigslist?

August 24 2009 at 4:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Nate's comment
Kevin Harter

Wiping your iPhone's data has nothing to do with the account data stored on the SIM card.

All of your "account information" is SIM-based. So, if you sell your iPhone to someone, and don't remove the SIM card, they will be able to use your cell phone account until you deactivate it. If the account has already been deactivated, you should be safe, unless you've stored phone numbers to the SIM card directly (on a phone you owned previous to the iPhone, for example).

To be on the safe side, I never send a SIM card with any phone I sell.

August 24 2009 at 4:38 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeff

I'd like to know how to turn my 1G iPhone into an iPod Touch so my kids could play games on it. Can I have to devices linked to my iTunes acct? Or do I need to establish a new acct?

August 24 2009 at 11:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Jeff's comment
Kevin Harter

Sure, you can do that. I have three iPods and two iPhones currently "connected" to the same account. I'm not sure what the portable device limit is, but I know you can have up to five computers authorized on one iTunes account.

When I purchase an app or media, I can install it on all compatible devices that I sync with an authorized computer (we have three Macs and one PC, right now).

August 24 2009 at 12:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jake

you should you also take the AT&T sim card out before selling it, right?

August 24 2009 at 8:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to jake's comment
Kevin Harter

If you have used the SIM that's in the iPhone, I would definitely remove it before sending the phone to the new owner.

Personally, I never send a SIM card out with a phone of any kind. If they have an account, they'll already have a SIM, and if they don't, they'll get one when they sign up.

August 24 2009 at 8:34 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
robogobo

I've bought three used iPhones, and they all had the owner's stuff left on them. Fortunately, I didn't care to read all their garbage, so I just did a restore and moved on.

August 24 2009 at 6:55 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
cartoonasaurus

If I was a criminal AND I stole an iPhone, I would claim to be the guy or gal who it had been stolen from - that way, my name would match and there would be NO QUESTIONS.

Did the guy show ID? I doubt it. Maybe see if his phone number is on the iPhone...

August 23 2009 at 11:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jon

It takes about 30 seconds on an iPhone 3GS, which has hardware encryption.

Instead of erasing the flash memory, it just deletes the encryption key and makes a new one.

(see "crypto-shredding": http://db.tidbits.com/article/10416)

August 23 2009 at 8:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
aoklordtyrant

Actually you should repeat this process twice! A determined person can still find fragments of information after one wipe. If you really want to be safe you should also reinstall the firmware

August 23 2009 at 8:05 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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