The right way to erase your iPhone

by Jay Hathaway May 21st 2008

With rumors flying about a summer release for the next-generation iPhone, a lot of people are going to selling off their current iPhones on eBay or Craigslist. Of course, you'll probably wipe the data from your phone before you let it go, but how can you be sure it's completely erased? Files have been recovered from refurbished iPhones already, so it doesn't hurt to take precautions.

First, do a restore of the phone from iTunes, with all syncing options turned off. That means clicking through each tab in the iPhone menu to make sure photos, videos, contacts and calendars aren't syncing to the phone anymore. Next, make 3 new playlists that are each big enough to use all of your iPhone's storage. Set one of them to sync, and fill up your phone with it. Then switch to the next one, sync it, and do the same with the third. These playlists should write over any remaining personal data, and leave your device lemony-fresh and ready to change hands.

[Via Hack a Day]

Tags: data, erase, iPhone, security, wipe

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

joey said 1:58PM on 5-21-2008

How does this handle user data that is store elsewhere on the phone? I can see how writing over existing data would help but I thought information like contacts and calendar events were store in a different part of the phone.

Its pretty sad that a certified refurb from Apple doesnt atleast refresh the entire phone to day 0.

sam said 12:16AM on 6-26-2008

thanxs for the great peice of info. appreciate enough to help me clean completely before selling it off.
http://www.computer-consulting-services.info/

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