Forum Discussion
How to erase everything on iphone before trade in
Alright, trading in my iPhone soon. I need a definitive guide to nuke all personal data from this device. I want zero chance of recovery by the next owner. Can someone confirm the absolute correct me...
The standard "Erase All Content and Settings" is generally sufficient to wipe your data irreversibly. For the highest security, especially if sensitive data was on the device, restoring through a computer adds an extra layer of certainty. To ensure your iPhone is completely erase everything on iphone before trade in.
If you want to be extra cautious, you could restore your iPhone via iTunes/Finder on a computer:
- Connect your iPhone to a trusted computer.
- Open iTunes (Windows or macOS Mojave and earlier) or Finder (macOS Catalina and later).
- Select your device.
- Click Restore iPhone to erase everything on iphone before trade in and reinstall iOS cleanly.
This method overwrites all data and makes recovery extremely difficult.