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News · Upgrade season

How to Wipe Your Phone Before Selling It (2026 Guide)

The new handsets landed this week. Over the next fortnight, millions of old phones will go out for trade-in or onto a marketplace. Do the steps in the wrong order and you hand a stranger your photos, lose the payout, or both.

It is that season again. O2 opened pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max on 14 September 2026, and every launch sets off the same wave: the old phone comes out of the drawer, and it gets sold, handed down, or traded in. Ten minutes of tapping, done in the wrong order, and the handset arrives at the buyer still tied to your account. It is worth nothing, and your data is still on it. The fix is short. It is the sequence that matters.

The trapAlmost everyone resets first. That is the mistake.

The instinct makes sense. You want it erased, you search for "reset", you tap. But erasing and unlocking are two separate jobs, and they do not answer to the same button.

Apple and Google both built an anti-theft lock that survives a factory reset. On iPhone it is Activation Lock, tied to your Apple Account through Find My. On Android it is the check that demands the Google account already signed in on the device. Both do precisely what they were designed to do: stop a stranger using a phone that is not theirs. The catch is that on the day you sell, the stranger is your buyer.

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Erasing without signing out is the worst of both worlds

Your data goes, the lock stays. The buyer hits a screen asking for your credentials, the trade-in gets rejected or posted back to you, and the handset is no longer in your hands to fix it. Apple is explicit about the way out: Activation Lock and Find My are turned off when you erase the device from Settings while signed in, with your password. Sign out first and both problems disappear at once.

The sequenceFive steps, in this order, no swapping

1
Back up, then check the backup actually existsNot "start a backup": open it and read the date and the size before you go any further. Do this before the irreversible erase. If you are moving between two recent handsets, the direct transfer at setup is cleaner than restoring from the cloud later. Our guide to backing up before a loss walks both routes.Five minutes, the night before
2
Unpair everything attached to the handsetApple lists the exact items people forget: unpair the Apple Watch, cancel or transfer the AppleCare plan, and turn off iMessage if you are moving to a non-Apple phone, or your texts keep vanishing into the old device for weeks. Check the parts and service history too. If any part shows a "Complete Repair" message, the trade-in is blocked until that is cleared.Where the rejections hide
3
Sign out of the account. This is the step that lifts the lock.On iPhone: Settings, your name, scroll down, Sign Out, then your Apple Account password. On iOS 26 the screen offers "Erase This Device" or "Sign Out Without Erasing". On Android: Settings, Accounts, your Google account, Remove account. If you reset that Google password recently, Google advises waiting twenty-four hours before you factory reset.The one that decides everything
4
Erase, and say yes to erasing the eSIM profileSettings, General, Transfer or Reset, Erase All Content and Settings. Apple flags one line almost nobody reads: if the device uses an eSIM, pick the option that erases the device and the eSIM profile. On Android, give it room: Google recommends charging to at least 70%, staying on the network, and allows up to an hour. The difference between the two technologies is unpacked in our eSIM versus SIM card comparison.The only real erase
5
Remove the handset from your trusted device listThe last step, and the most skipped: take the old phone off the device list on your account, pull the physical SIM and any memory card, and if your number is changing, add a trusted phone number to your account so you do not lock yourself out. While the old device is still listed, it can still receive your verification codes.Two minutes, then you are done

Screen by screenThe two routes, side by side

iPhone

  1. Back up, then confirm the date.
  2. Unpair the Apple Watch, settle AppleCare.
  3. Turn off iMessage if you are moving to Android.
  4. Settings, your name, Sign Out.
  5. Erase All Content and Settings, including the eSIM profile.
  6. Remove the device from your trusted device list.

Android

  1. Back up to your Google account, transit cards included.
  2. Check that you know the account username and password, and keep them in a password manager accessible from another device.
  3. Settings, Accounts, Remove Google account.
  4. Charge to 70% and stay connected.
  5. Factory reset, up to an hour.
  6. Pull the SIM and memory card, which the reset does not touch.

One detail that catches people at the counter: if Stolen Device Protection is switched on, changing your Apple Account password in store can trigger a one hour security delay. Handle that part at home, the night before, not in the queue.

From the forumsThree situations that come round again and again

What support threads are full of

"Trade-in value dropped to zero"The most common one. The handset reaches the processing centre still locked to an account. It is not paid for. It gets recycled for free or returned. Apple Community thread.
"I cannot trade in my iPhone"The same mechanism from the other side: the owner turns up to swap, discovers the lock at the counter, and walks back out with the old phone. Apple Community thread.
"Activation Lock is still there after erasing"The reversed-order scenario: erase first, unlink after, device still blocked. There is a way back, but it runs through the original account and the manufacturer's site. Apple Community thread.

The lesson never changes, and it is fixable for as long as the phone is still in your hand: sign out before you erase. If it has already shipped, one door remains open, removing the device from your account remotely, but that assumes you remember the password.

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MoneyWhat the old one is worth, and what halved it

Start with the money sitting in the drawer. Research by Censuswide for Virgin Media O2, published on 16 January 2025, found the average UK household holding more than £218 worth of unused mobile phones, while only one in ten people, 11%, had traded a device in over the previous five years. Those who do trade in typically take up to three months to get round to it.

That delay costs, because the value falls every month. But the bigger hit is cosmetic. O2 Recycle's own experts put numbers on it: visible damage, cracks and scratches, can cut the trade-in value by up to half. Visible screen burn, caused by months at high brightness, can take up to 80% off. Put plainly, the crack you decided to live with last year has just cost you more than the case you did not buy.

And if you are the one buying second-hand this week rather than selling, the job reverses: check the handset was not reported stolen before you pay. The full method is in our three-minute check on a used phone. If your own phone disappears before you get round to selling it, the priority moves elsewhere entirely: blocking the handset by its IMEI.

FAQWiping a phone before selling

Is a factory reset enough to erase my data?

For an ordinary buyer, yes. A reset puts your data beyond the reach of almost anyone who would buy a used phone, and for a personal handset sold to an individual or a refurbisher, a reset preceded by signing out of your account is the correct procedure. What it does not do: erase a memory card, which has to be removed or wiped separately, and it does not delete anything stored in the cloud, which stays in your account.

Why is my old phone still locked to my account?

Because the anti-theft lock is not removed by erasing. It is removed by signing out. Apple states that Activation Lock and Find My are turned off when you erase the device from Settings while signed in and using your password. On Android, the protection lifts when you remove the Google account in Settings before the reset. If the phone has already gone, you can still remove it from your account remotely through your account's device list.

Do I need to remove the SIM or eSIM before selling?

Both, but differently. The physical SIM comes out by hand, as does any memory card: neither is touched by a factory reset. The eSIM lives inside the phone, and Apple recommends choosing the option that erases the device and the eSIM profile together. Watch the order here as well: erasing the eSIM before you have moved your line to the new handset leaves you without service until your carrier sorts it out.

I already sent the phone without signing out. What now?

Act the same day. Sign in to your account online, open your list of devices, select the old handset and remove it from the account. That is the action that lifts the lock for the buyer. Apple also advises changing your account password and turning on two-factor authentication in this situation. It does not delete what is left on the device, but it stops whoever holds it reaching your cloud content. If you used contactless payment, remove the saved cards.

How much is my old phone actually worth?

Less than you hope, more than nothing. Three things move the figure: cosmetic condition, which can cost up to half the value according to O2 Recycle, battery health, and delay, since the handset depreciates every month it sits in a drawer. The fourth factor is not negotiable. A phone still locked to an account is worth nothing at all, whatever condition it is in.

Keep your phone within reach

The next phone's resale value starts today, and it disappears in one second on a pavement.

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Sources: Apple, "What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad", published 12 June 2026: back up, transfer, check the parts and service history for a "Complete Repair" message that blocks trade-in, unpair the Apple Watch, cancel or transfer AppleCare, turn off iMessage when switching to a non-Apple phone, sign out of iCloud before erasing, choose the option that erases the eSIM profile, remove the device from your trusted device list; Activation Lock and Find My are turned off when you erase the device; a one hour security delay can apply if Stolen Device Protection is on and the password is changed in store · Google, Android Help, "Factory reset your Android device": you must know the username and password of a Google account used on the phone, wait twenty-four hours after a recent Google password reset, charge to at least 70%, stay connected to the network, the reset can take up to an hour, and Android 15 and later prompts you to back up transit cards holding funds · Virgin Media O2, press release of 16 January 2025, research conducted by Censuswide among 2,002 nationally representative UK consumers between 23 and 27 December 2024: the average UK household holds over £218 worth of unwanted mobile phones; only one in ten (11%) Brits has traded in a device in the last five years; those who do typically take up to three months; O2 Recycle experts state that visual and cosmetic damage such as cracks and scratches can reduce the trade-in value by up to 50%, and visible screen burn by up to 80% · Virgin Media O2, "iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max available to pre-order on O2", 14 September 2026. Written by the CARRY U team. Updated 17 September 2026.

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