How to back up and prepare your old iPhone for sale or trade-in ahead of Apple's iPhone 6 launch

Posted:
in iPhone edited June 2015
With preorders for Apple's next-generation iPhone beginning tonight, AppleInsider takes a look at the precautions iPhone owners planning to sell or trade their old handset for a brand-new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus need to take before divesting themselves of their pass? device.


Backups

Before taking another step, you should ensure that you've backed up your data -- there's no worse feeling than realizing your contacts, photos, or Angry Birds saves have disappeared into the ether. Most iPhone owners have likely enabled automatic backups via iCloud; If you aren't sure, you can check the status by navigating to Settings → iCloud → Storage & Backup.

If iCloud Backup is already enabled, look just below at the "Last Backup" timestamp. Since iPhones will only perform automatic backups when locked, plugged in, and connected to Wi-Fi, the latest backup could be as much as two weeks old, and you'll want to run a new one before proceeding by tapping "Back Up Now."




This week, Apple launched new, cheaper iCloud storage plans, so if your iPhone is too large to back up to a free 5-gigabyte account, you can add more space to ensure you won't lose any of your precious data.

Alternatively, users weary of uploading their data to the cloud can back up to their computer using iTunes. Connect your iPhone to your computer with the Lightning cable, then open iTunes -- you can either sync the device, or open File → Devices → Back up to bring up the backup menu. To start a backup, right-click your iPhone and select Backup Now.

Data Destruction





Wiping your iPhone is fairly trivial. Once you've completed your backup, tap Settings → General → Reset, then tap "Erase All Content and Settings."

You'll be prompted to confirm that you really want to erase your device. Users who've upgraded to iOS 7 and enabled Find My iPhone will need to enter their Apple ID, thanks to iOS 7's anti-theft provisions -- this will allow the phone to be removed from your account as part of the erasing process.

That's it. Once you've completed these steps, it's safe to sell off your old phone and get ready for your shiny new one.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Uh....To Disable Activation Lock, you still need to login to iCloud > Find My iPhone > Remove the device from your list.

    Otherwise it cannot be activated by anyone else after trade/sale.
  • Reply 2 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pmz View Post



    Uh....To Disable Activation Lock, you still need to login to iCloud > Find My iPhone > Remove the device from your list.



    Otherwise it cannot be activated by anyone else after trade/sale.

     

    Why do some people waste everybody else's time ...

     

    Here is what Apple says in its help on Activation Lock -

     

    Before giving away or selling your device, be sure to erase your content and settings (go to Settings > General > Reset). When you erase your content, Find My iPhone and Activation Lock are also turned off. If you no longer have the device, follow the instructions to remove a device you no longer have. For more information, see the Apple Support article What to do before selling or giving away your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

  • Reply 3 of 22
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by prokip View Post

     

     

    Why do some people waste everybody else's time ...

     

    Here is what Apple says in its help on Activation Lock -

     

    Before giving away or selling your device, be sure to erase your content and settings (go to Settings > General > Reset). When you erase your content, Find My iPhone and Activation Lock are also turned off. If you no longer have the device, follow the instructions to remove a device you no longer have. For more information, see the Apple Support article What to do before selling or giving away your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.




    So you're saying the On-Device Reset All Content and Settings takes care of Activation Lock? That is good to know!

     

    Because....restoring the device in iTunes, which is how I've always reset devices, DOES NOT turn off Activation Lock.

  • Reply 4 of 22
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member
    The last thing you want to do is back up into any cloud. You've been warned.
    Back up to your own drive. It's faster too.
    If you don't believe me ask Kirsten Dunst.
  • Reply 5 of 22
    Don't forget to take out your SIM card
  • Reply 6 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pazuzu View Post



    The last thing you want to do is back up into any cloud. You've been warned.

    Back up to your own drive. It's faster too.

    If you don't believe me ask Kirsten Dunst.

    If you can provide her phone number I would like to ask her.

  • Reply 7 of 22
    pmz wrote: »

    So you're saying the On-Device Reset All Content and Settings takes care of Activation Lock? That is good to know!

    Because....restoring the device in iTunes, which is how I've always reset devices, DOES NOT turn off Activation Lock.
    When you restore normally it will ask you to switch off Find My Phone first. But if you put your phone in DFU or whatever mode then it won't ask and activation lock will still be on.
  • Reply 8 of 22
    No one mentioned unlocking your iPhone. You will get $50 extra from Gazelle if you unlock first. Contact your Cellular Carrier to do it.
  • Reply 9 of 22
    Gazelle shows you the form to do it , if you recycle with apple it was the same price about 310 in a gift card where the 335 on gazelle was for flawless condition unlocked
  • Reply 10 of 22

    I do believe you need to do more than just a backup. You might think a "backup" saves the entire contents of the phone, so that a later "restore" restores it to its previous state. Not so. A backup does not do anything with your photos (and music too?). For that you have to perform a sync. I lost a phone full of pictures thinking that "backup" meant backup.

     

    Which brings up a question I have. How do I save & restore the photos I have in my phone without them co-mingling with the photos I have in iPhoto (when I sync)?

  • Reply 11 of 22
    A backup [B]does[/B] include all photos in the camera roll. The only photos that won't be included in a backup are those originally synced from a computer.
  • Reply 12 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wings View Post

     

    I do believe you need to do more than just a backup. You might think a "backup" saves the entire contents of the phone, so that a later "restore" restores it to its previous state. Not so. A backup does not do anything with your photos (and music too?). For that you have to perform a sync. I lost a phone full of pictures thinking that "backup" meant backup.

     

    Which brings up a question I have. How do I save & restore the photos I have in my phone without them co-mingling with the photos I have in iPhoto (when I sync)?


    Any time I have had to get a device replacement from the Apple Store, you just do a backup and the restore on the new device. Backup contained everything, photos, etc. Usually, if you have purchases made on your device, which are not on the computer (assuming you are backing up to iTunes/computer) it will ask you if you want to transfer your purchases. If you don't transfer then you may loose those, especially if the app/song in no longer avail in the iTunes/app store. If you are backing up to iCloud and you don't have enough storage space to store all of your photos, data and video then yes you can loose it all. But now you can upgrade and increase the storage so that everything can be backed up. 

     

    However, as been said here above, it is much faster to do a backup to the computer and restore then via iCloud. Also, go into preferences and make sure that you backup is listed. If a backup did not work, maybe because you are using an earlier version of iTunes, which may not support the backup/features of the current iOS, you will be SOL. You may think you had a backup and don't I always check to make sure that the backup of that device is listed in preferences and with a date of today.  May also pay to do this on more than 1 machine, if you have it, in case.

        

  • Reply 13 of 22
    In general, if you have some sort of data and a backup, and you erase the data, you no longer have a backup. You have a single un verified copy.

    I would always have two backups, and see the backup restored, before erasing the data. Phone, computer, SAS. ... Any data.

    If you ever lose data, and have a backup, you just got demoted to "no backup" status. How many times have I seen an amateur or wannabe grab their backup and in their haste somehow compromise it. The very first thing to do is get a backup of what is now your only copy.

    Likewise, if a disk begins to fail, STOP! Get an image copy with a recovery tool before you continue scraping oxide off the platter.
  • Reply 14 of 22
    nagrommenagromme Posts: 2,834member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pazuzu View Post



    The last thing you want to do is back up into any cloud. You've been warned.

    Back up to your own drive. It's faster too.

    If you don't believe me ask Kirsten Dunst.

     

    The last thing you want to do is NOT back up into any cloud. You've been warned!

     

    Your own hard drive is vulnerable to fire, leaks, drops, dogs, kids and theft. It's a nice, quick, piece of the ideal plan. But telling people to back up to their PC/Mac won't make it happen: convenience is the enemy of security, and people use phones on their own these days. iCloud brings convenience to vital backups.

     

    A remote backup IS vital if you don't want to lose everything.

     

    And have a good password. If you're a celebrity, government official, or other high profile target, especially.

     

    Telling everyone not to use cloud backups because some celebrities had stuff stolen is going to REALLY hurt the people who lose their whole family photo album in a fire. Totally misguided judgement.

     

    As for this recent photo "hack," it wasn't a hack, and it wasn't just Apple. Android users had their photos stolen too. But iCloud users still HAVE their photos. THAT's security too.

     

    And what if your whole phone is stolen, which can happen to anyone? Better hope you have iCloud backups enabled then, unless you're one of the tiny minority who backs up to iTunes regularly.

     

    In short:

     

    - iCloud is THE best way to protect your photos and stuff. Ease matters HUGELY.

     

    - It has no known holes lying open to attack, has been praised for its security design--and you are not going to face what just happend to celebs. There is no underground network after you.

  • Reply 15 of 22
    1) I thought you'd also need to log out of iMessage, or has Apple fixed this?

    2) If you don't want to carry over any crappy leftovers from previous iOS versions, it may be better to install the new phone as new and drag in the apps and data yourself, rather than restoring from backup. Problem with that is you'll lose SMS history

    3) As mentioned, but let me QFT here: you will need to verify the backup by restoring it first, so you'll know the backup indeed works. Seems overkill for many, but anything can go pear-shaped, even with Apple. It's tech, it can last 40 years or 4 seconds.

    richlo wrote: »
    pazuzu wrote: »
    The last thing you want to do is back up into any cloud. You've been warned.

    Back up to your own drive. It's faster too.

    If you don't believe me ask Kirsten Dunst.
    If you can provide her phone number I would like to ask her.

    Wouldn't that be something easy to remember, like 1-800-password¿
  • Reply 16 of 22
    nagromme wrote: »
    pazuzu wrote: »
    The last thing you want to do is back up into any cloud. You've been warned.

    Back up to your own drive. It's faster too.

    If you don't believe me ask Kirsten Dunst.

    The last thing you want to do is NOT back up into any cloud. You've been warned!

    Your own hard drive is vulnerable to fire, leaks, drops, dogs, kids and theft. It's a nice, quick, piece of the ideal plan. But telling people to back up to their PC/Mac won't make it happen: convenience is the enemy of security, and people use phones on their own these days. iCloud brings convenience to vital backups.

    A remote backup IS vital if you don't want to lose everything.

    And have a good password. If you're a celebrity, government official, or other high profile target, especially.

    Telling everyone not to use cloud backups because some celebrities had stuff stolen is going to REALLY hurt the people who lose their whole family photo album in a fire. Totally misguided judgement.

    As for this recent photo "hack," it wasn't a hack, and it wasn't just Apple. Android users had their photos stolen too. But iCloud users still HAVE their photos. THAT's security too.

    And what if your whole phone is stolen, which can happen to anyone? Better hope you have iCloud backups enabled then, unless you're one of the tiny minority who backs up to iTunes regularly.

    In short:

    - iCloud is THE best way to protect your photos and stuff. Ease matters HUGELY.

    - It has no known holes lying open to attack, has been praised for its security design--and you are not going to face what just happend to celebs. There is no underground network after you.

    Your advice is sound but incomplete.

    I think the best compromise is to have iCloud backup turned on, but to back up once a month to iTunes. It's much quicker to restore from iTunes. That way, you can set up a new phone much quicker using iTunes but still have the security of a cloud backup if an emergency befalls.
  • Reply 17 of 22
    In addition to just backing up, I often like to also save / export all my text messages and sms history to my computer so that I have a copied archived separate from what is contained in my iTunes backup. To do this I use a utility called decipher text message. Helpful little program that folks at my office (law firm) turned me on to since many of us lost our iPhone data during the iOS7 upgrade last year. www.deciphertools.com
  • Reply 18 of 22
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Wings View Post

     

    I do believe you need to do more than just a backup. You might think a "backup" saves the entire contents of the phone, so that a later "restore" restores it to its previous state. Not so. A backup does not do anything with your photos (and music too?). For that you have to perform a sync. I lost a phone full of pictures thinking that "backup" meant backup.

     

    Which brings up a question I have. How do I save & restore the photos I have in my phone without them co-mingling with the photos I have in iPhoto (when I sync)?




    Backups include photos.  I've had the need to go in and dig through photos within a backup file.  You can do so via something like iExplorer.  Things that are sync'ed from your iPhone/iTunes (such as songs that are in iTunes) are not backed up however.

  • Reply 19 of 22
    65c816 wrote: »
    Things that are sync'ed from your iPhone/iTunes (such as songs that are in iTunes) are not backed up however.

    Which also makes sense, considering that is all on your Mac and backed up by TM.
  • Reply 20 of 22

    not only contacts, but also other data on your iphone can be backup

Sign In or Register to comment.