What to Do Before You Sell or Trade In Your Phone

By Dana Okafor · Published Sep 20, 2026 · 6 min read

In this guide

1. Back everything up
2. Move your two-factor codes
3. Sign out and remove activation locks
4. Factory reset
5. Remove the SIM and tidy up

Selling, trading in, or passing down an old phone is a great way to recover some money and keep a device out of landfill. But a phone holds your photos, messages, saved passwords, banking apps, and two-factor codes — so how you hand it over matters.

Done in the right order, the process takes about half an hour and leaves the phone clean, unlocked for the new owner, and your data safely on your new device.

1. Back everything up

Make a fresh, complete backup before you do anything else. On iPhone, use iCloud Backup or a backup to your computer. On Android, use Google backup under Settings → System (or Google) → Backup, plus your photo app's cloud sync. Check that photos have finished uploading before continuing.

2. Move your two-factor codes

This is the step that catches people out. If you use an authenticator app, transfer or back up its codes to your new phone and test a couple of logins first. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Signal also have their own transfer steps for chat history.

3. Sign out and remove activation locks

Activation Lock (iPhone) and Factory Reset Protection (Android) stop a stolen phone being reused — and they will also block the buyer if you leave your account on it.

iPhone: Settings → your name → Sign Out, which also turns off Find My
Android: Settings → Passwords & accounts (or Accounts) → remove your Google account
Samsung: also remove your Samsung account
Unpair any smartwatch before resetting

4. Factory reset

iPhone: Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings. Android: Settings → System → Reset options → Erase all data (factory reset). Modern phones encrypt storage by default, so a factory reset makes the old data unreadable.

5. Remove the SIM and tidy up

Take out the physical SIM card and any memory card. If you use an eSIM, the reset normally offers to remove it — check with your carrier if you plan to reuse the number on the new phone. Finally, remove the old phone from your account's device list on Apple or Google so it no longer appears as trusted.

This is general technology information for home users, not professional IT or security advice. Menus and features change between software versions — check your device maker's official help pages for the current steps.

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