It comes a time when we all need to part ways with our beloved iPhones either to upgrade to a newer one or simply to try the Android world. When that time comes, you can either give away the phone to a friend or a member of your family OR you can sell it/trade it in for credit.
In either of these last 2 options, selling or trading in your iPhone, you have to make sure the phone is ready for its next user. Apple has done an amazing job at keeping your iPhone secure so, before selling it, disabling all security protections is key. Doing this is extremely easy and we’re going to walk you through the steps. By the way, I am assuming your iPhone is running at least iOS 12.
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Step 1: Back up your iPhone
You can do this in 2 ways
- the light way: back-up your iPhone to iCloud. Go to Settings and then tap your profile at the top of this page. Scroll down to iCloud backup, tap on it and then select Back Up Now. Wait for the back up to finish. This is NOT a complete backup but it will help you restore messages, settings, iCloud photos and apps as well as other preferences.
- the complete way: backup your iPhone to your laptop (MacBook or any other Windows Laptop). Connect your phone to iTunes and initiate the complete backup. Wait for the backup to finish
Step 2: Sign out of your iCloud account
Go to Settings, tap on your iCloud account at the top of the page, then scroll at the bottom. Tap the red Sign out link.
Step 3: Erase all contents and settings
This last step will restore your iPhone to factory settings and remove all your content from it. Go to Settings, scroll down to General. Scroll to Reset and then tap on Erase All Content and Settings. You should be prompted with the message below:
If you skipped step 1, then this is your last chance of getting your iPhone’s backup to the cloud, so you can restore from it once you get your newer iPhone.
Tap Erase now and then let the phone complete the process. Once it’s done, the iPhone will restart and you’re done. Feel free to completely shut the phone down and either hand it over for trade it or sell it.