6 things to do before you throw away an old cell phone

We all know that feeling of getting a new phone and instantly trying to transfer our data from our old phones.

The old phone is then cast aside or handed down to someone who can use it.
But
Did you know that experts recommend that you do the following 6 things before getting rid of your old phone?

Things to do before you change to a new phone

1. Backup
Your cell phone, if it is anything like mine has half of your life on it. Everything from to-do list notes to a calendar full of family birthdays and phone numbers for Lucy’s mom and that lady who cells honey. Not to mention the gazillion photos you don’t want to lose.
In order to not lose any files or important information, you can back up this data to a USB or cloud file.
It’s also worth clearing your cookies at the same time.
2. Sign out of all of your accounts
You will want to remove any apps that you’ve downloaded and sign out of all your accounts. This clears the phone memory and gets it ready for the next user, ensuring that your personal information stays safe. Always keep a list of passwords so that you can sign back into the accounts like your email, social media platforms, and banking Apps on your new phone.  You will also want to remove your phone from any 2-factor authorization accounts in your Google account ND remove it from platforms like iPhone and iCloud.
3. Change your account passwords
I must admit I thought this was silly advice until I realized that although the old phone would be reset, things like my banking App would be much safer if I changed my password.
4. Unpair from devices 
You will want to unpaired your Bluetooth from all authorized devices. Especially if you are connecting to things like smart TV., blue tooth speakers, or home printers.
5. Remove your memory and sim cards 
Once you’ve logged out of, unpaired, and backed up everything remove your memory card and SIM card. These often contain your personal information and things like contact numbers. For many of us, we will transfer these to our new phones. If you are not using your Sim card, cut it up to prevent anyone from using your information.
6. Reset the phone 
By resetting the phone back to factory settings you will wipe out any data or information left on the phone and prepare it for its next user.
If you use an android phone often many larger chunks of data like email addresses and documents will not delete with a factory reset so before you reset the phone you will need to go to settings and choose to encrypt phone first and then choose to reset to factory settings.
With many of us working from home and online it has become more important than ever to educate ourselves in how to keep our online data safe.

 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.