Selling or giving away a phone? Remove your accounts first

When you sell or give away a phone, the most helpful thing you can do is take your accounts off it before it goes. Skip this, and the next owner may find the phone asking for your Apple ID or Google account after a reset, with no way past it unless they can reach you. It takes a few minutes and saves everyone a lot of trouble.

Why this matters

iPhones and Android phones both have a theft protection lock that is tied to the owner’s account, not to the phone itself. Resetting the phone doesn’t remove it. Only signing out of the account, before the reset, takes the lock off. If you forget, the phone stays locked to you, even though it now belongs to someone else.

iPhone and iPad

Back up first if you want to keep anything, using iCloud or a computer. Then:

1. 1

   Sign out of your Apple ID

   Open Settings, tap your name at the top, scroll to the bottom and tap Sign Out. You’ll be asked for your Apple ID password, which turns off Find My and removes the lock.

2. 2

   Erase the phone

   In Settings, go to General, then Transfer or Reset iPhone (or iPad), then Erase All Content and Settings. Follow the prompts until the phone restarts at the Hello screen.

3. 3

   Unpair any Apple Watch

   If you used an Apple Watch with the phone, unpair it in the Watch app first, so the watch isn’t left locked either.

Android phones

The menu names vary between makers, but the steps are the same. Back up your photos and contacts first.

1. 1

   Remove your Google account

   Open Settings and find Accounts (it may be called Passwords and accounts, or Accounts and backup, then Manage accounts). Tap your Google account and choose Remove account. Repeat for any other Google accounts on the phone.

2. 2

   Reset the phone

   In Settings, look for Reset options or General management, then Factory data reset or Erase all data. Confirm, and wait for the phone to restart at the welcome screen.

Removing the account before the reset is the important part. If you reset first, the phone will ask the next owner for your Google account.

Samsung and Xiaomi extras

• Samsung: remove your Samsung account as well as your Google account, from the same Accounts screen, before resetting.
• Xiaomi, Redmi and POCO: sign out of your Mi account in Settings, which also turns off Find device, before resetting.

Before you hand it over

• Take out your SIM card and any memory card.
• Remove any bank cards from Apple Pay or Google Wallet, if you haven’t erased the phone yet.
• Let the buyer see the phone start up at the welcome screen, so they know it’s ready for them.
• Pass on the original receipt if you have it. It can help the new owner prove the phone is theirs one day.

Already sold it without doing this?

You can still release it without having the phone.

• iPhone or iPad: sign in at icloud.com, open Find Devices, choose the phone and remove it from your account. If it shows as offline, you can still remove it.
• Android: sign in to your Google account, go to Security, then Your devices, choose the phone and sign out of it. Then tell the buyer to restart the phone and try setup again.

If you’re on the other side of this and have bought a phone still linked to the seller, our guides for a used iPhone and an Android phone explain what to do.