Wipe data from your old phones
Whether you’re giving a phone to a friend or trading it in, it’s vital you erase all your personal information – and that requires more than a factory reset. Daniel Booth explains what you must do
Many people don’t know how to wipe data from their old devices. According to recent research from the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (www.snipca.com/53379) – which upholds the data privacy of individuals – 29 per cent of Brits lack the skills to erase files from phones, tablets and computers.
This matters because most of us don’t keep old devices once we’ve stopped using them, and this is particularly true of phones. A YouGov poll last year found that 42 per cent of people pass on phones to people they know, while 24 per cent trade them in to get money off a new device (www.snipca.com/53526).
Why a factory reset isn’t enough
The biggest mistake you can make when wiping your data is to assume a factory reset is enough. You should do this as a matter of course because it wipes all your personal data, including files, apps, passwords, settings and accounts. But it’s not sufficient on its own because some information might remain, including system logs and cached data.
System logs are kept by the operating system and apps to record significant events, such as your phone crashing. Cached data is temporary files stored by apps and websites to ensure they load faster and work more smoothly.