5 Things to Do Before Selling or Trading Your iPhone

This is what you need to do before you sell your iPhone or trade your iPhone for cash or an upgrade deal.

Whether you’re waiting for the new iPhone or enjoying the best iPhone X upgrade deals today, there are things you can do to make sure your information is safe and backed up.

These steps come from Apple, connections in the cell phone industry, and years of selling old devices. Even if you decide to give the old device to a friend, you should definitely take these steps.

Find the Best iPhone Price or Trade Deal

Depending on where you sell your old iPhone or to whom you sell your old iPhone, you will get very different value. Be sure to check all the options to find the best price for your old phone.

gazelle It’s one of the biggest names in phone buying, and they often offer a promotion that increases the price you can get for your old phone.

Next Value Another great option to sell your old iPhone. They offer great prices and, like the Gazelle, let you lock in a price without committing.

eBay Fast Selling Another alternative you should look into. With this option, you sell the phone directly to eBay instead of dealing with a buyer and the hassle that may come.

If you’re buying a new iPhone, check with Best Buy or your carrier. They often run trade-in promotions related to the release of a new phone, which can inflate the commercial value of the old device. These promotions may not always be the greatest value, so compare with all options.

Backup Your Contacts

Be sure to back up your contacts before trading in or selling your old iPhone. This is easiest to do if you have a new iPhone first, but you can do this without your new phone.

If you plan to backup your contacts and bring them to another iPhone, you can back up your contacts to iCloud, which is the easiest way. You can verify this on iCloud.com. You can also back up your contacts to iTunes if you prefer to make a backup this way.

Other options include using an app from your carrier or backing up using a free app like below. My Contacts Backup.

Back Up Your Photos

You can get phone numbers and emails back, but it’s impossible to recover photos after selling your phone. That’s why you need to make sure your iPhone photos are backed up.

You can back them up to your computer, but the cloud is a much better option for most users. We recommend using iCloud Photo Library to back up your photos.

You can also use Google Photos or Dropbox To back up your photos, Google Photos is a great option if you want high resolution backups that you don’t have to pay for. The free storage isn’t at full resolution, but it’s good enough for most users to be free.

Unpair Your Apple Watch

It’s easiest to unpair your Apple Watch while the phone is in your hand, rather than trying to do it after you’ve done this.

You should unpair your Apple Watch before wiping your phone and resetting everything.

1. Open the Apple Watch App
2. Tap the name of your watch
3. Tap the i icon next to your watch
4. Tap Unmatch
5. Enter your password.

This method disconnects the Apple Watch from your iPhone and removes the activation lock. When you’re done, you can sell your Apple Watch or pair it with your new iPhone. If you are selling your Apple Watch, you can use this guide to prepare it.

Wipe Your Phone and Remove iCloud

The final step is to reset your iPhone and remove it from iCloud. You need to do this so that it is no longer locked to your account and to keep your information safe from the people you sell it to.

1. Open settings.
2. Go to General.
3. Go to Reset.
4. Select Erase All Content and Settings.
5. Enter your iTunes password to turn off Find My iPhone.

Once this is done the iPhone will be reset and you can safely sell it, trade it or give it to a friend without worrying about your data.