How to Format Mobile Before Exchanging or Sell?

Are You Planning to Sell or Exchange Your Old Mobile? Make Sure You Have Format the Phone Data!

Recent market research has confirmed that more than 500 million people were using mobile phones in India as of December 2019, which is a 15 percent increase from 2018. A key reason behind this rapid growth is Chinese brands. They are offering the latest high-spec smartphones at cheaper rates.

Earlier, people used to stick to a mobile phone for years. But now mobiles are changing hands (exchanged, resold) faster than ever due to affordable prices. Other Key reasons behind smartphone consumption trends include— the availability of many makes and models. Consumers’ preference for the latest technology, and lucrative mobile exchange offer from online and offline retailers.

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When you buy a new smartphone, you either sell the old mobile to a reseller or exchange it. Most users delete data or factory reset the mobile before selling or exchanging used mobile. But they are unaware that deleting the data or formatting the mobile doesn’t remove the data from the phone memory. The data remains inside the phone storage and you can easily recover it by using data recovery software. This fact underlines an immense threat to your personal data that can be stolen from your used smartphone. This leads to implications such as identity theft, financial losses, harassment, and even legal troubles!

How to Format Mobile Phone Before Exchange/Sell?

There are 2 easy methods to format mobile, which are based on using built-in encryption features in iOS and Android smartphones or using a powerful mobile eraser software, as follows:

Method 1: Format mobile using the encryption feature

To format android mobile follow the below steps:

1. Go to Settings -> Security and tap on ‘Encrypt Phone’.

Note: The process will be time-consuming, so it is better to connect your phone with a charger before proceeding

2. Now tap on ‘Encrypt Phone’ again and leave the phone for a while. The process may take an hour or two depending upon the amount of data stored inside the smartphone.

3. Now go to Settings -> Backup & reset -> and tap on the ‘Factory data reset’.
4. On the next screen tap on ‘Reset Phone’.

You have encrypted the files stored on your Android smartphone and reset them, securing data privacy.

To format iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad follow the below steps:

1. Go to Settings –> Tap on General
2. Scroll down and tap Reset
3. Tap ‘Erase All Content and Settings.

The data is securely erased from your iOS device

Method 2: Format your Android mobile or iPhone using mobile eraser software

You can use the above methods to format old smartphones, but these methods are tedious and take time. So, if you want a secure solution to erase the data from your old smartphone, use BitRaser Mobile Eraser & Diagnostics software from Stellar. The step-by-step process to format mobile using BitRaser is given below:

1. Download the BitRaser^® Mobile Eraser ISO image file from the cloud account.
2. Burn BitRaser^® Mobile Eraser ISO image file on the USB drive to create bootable media.
3. Connect the bootable USB device to the computer or laptop.
4. Power on the laptop or PC and press the function key to boot your PC or laptop.
5. Select your bootable USB device and press enter to run BitRaser^® Mobile Erase.
6. Run the software and log in to your BitRaser^® cloud account.
7. Tick on the checkbox to select the mobile connected to your laptop or PC.
8. Click on Start to wipe the mobile.

This is a certified mobile data eraser software, for erasing sensitive data from any Android and iOS devices beyond the scope of recovery.

Leverage “Data Erasure” Instead of Deletion or Formatting Mobile Before Reselling or Exchanging

Smartphones store personal and sensitive data including photographs, videos, credit card details, bank account details, Aadhaar Card details, etc. Such data if it falls into wrong hands can pose a big threat to you. Hackers and data brokers can recover personal data from your old phone, posing threats in the form of extortion, financial fraud, identity theft, and more.

To avoid a data breach, ensure that the old smartphone you are reselling does not hold any personal data. Use data erasure software to erase the data from your old phone and ensure complete data privacy. Don’t rely on deletion and formatting. ‘Deletion’ simply removes addresses to the files stored on phone memory, the actual files remain inside your phone. Similarly, ‘formatting’ is a method to prepare the storage media for reuse, it may not remove the data that can still be recovered.

To Conclude

Smartphone users in India are increasing day by day, and the availability of the latest smartphones at cheap prices is making users switch their old phones more frequently. Users are reselling or exchanging their mobiles while purchasing a new smartphone. This can pose a threat to data privacy if the data is not securely erased. You can easily recover phone data by using data recovery software if you deleted or format mobile data.

Ensure that your Android or iOS device doesn’t contain any sensitive information. Encrypt the data by using an inbuilt encryption utility or use a professional data erasure software such as BitRaser Mobile Eraser to securely erase your smartphone data.