Delete cell phone securely - how it works

If you want to sell your cell phone, you should definitely delete it. You can find out how to do this on Android and iOS in this practical tip.

Delete Android phone securely - so go ahead

With our tips below, you have safely deleted your Android smartphone:

1. Open the "Settings" on the smartphone and switch under "Security" to "Screen lock".
2. Here you can now define a pattern or a PIN as you wish. The longer the PIN or the better the pattern, the more secure the encryption.
3. Under "Encrypt phone" you can activate encryption for your phone. To do this, the cell phone must be connected to the mains.
4. Note that the SD card remains unaffected and is not encrypted. You can find out how to delete a microSD card safely in another article.
5. You can then reset the phone to factory settings under "Backup and reset". To do this, simply click on the "Return to factory settings" button.
6. After a successful reset, set up the phone without an account. Then put it face down on the table and start video recording.
7. Wait until the memory is full and then reset the device a second time. This ensures that all data is also securely deleted from the smartphone.

Delete iPhone securely - so proceed here

Unlike Android, iOS makes it a lot easier to completely erase the device:

• Open the "Settings" of your iPhone here as well.
• Under "General" you will find the "Reset" option.
• Finally, tap on "Clear content & settings".
• Finally, select the "Delete iPhone" button so that all data is deleted from the iPhone.

This guide is based on Android 4 and iOS 8. Can a hard reset on Android be done without data loss? You will find the answer in our next practical tip.