3 Steps to Take Before You Trade in Your Old Smartphone

Smartphones have become an essential part of our lives, which means that they house everything from sensitive personal and health information to bank and financial records. If you have a smartphone right now and you are thinking about trading it in, here are some important things you should do before you go to the shop to trade it for cash or toward a new phone.

1: Back it Up

The first step before you trade in a new phone is to back up all the items on there that you want to keep. That includes things like pictures, videos, important files, contacts, logins and passwords, and more. If you have an iPhone you can use the iCloud feature to backup your phone to the cloud, then easily download all that information to your new iPhone. With an Android phone you can back it up to your Google Drive. You can also use third-party backup services like Dropbox or Microsoft Office OneDrive. Do this before you get to the store to trade in your phone, since it can take a while to complete.

2: Wipe the Data

If you have a relatively new phone model, and it’s still in pretty good shape, there’s a good chance your phone will be refurbished and resold to another user in the near future. For that reason it’s critical that you erase all the sensitive information on your phone that, if it fell into the wrong hands, could hurt you. Most devices have a factory reset option, which deletes most everything that you have done on or to the phone, although it may not erase everything.

The challenge you may have is with an older model, or one that is broken and you cannot turn it on to get to the factory reset. In that case, take it to a place where they can help you remove all the data stored on the solid state drive (SSD) chip inside. That means you don’t want to just mail it off to some phone rebate place, or drop it in a container at a big-box store, since you have no idea what will happen after that. Take it to a place like FixITMobile | Bad Apple, where our helpful staff can clear the information so you know you are secure.

3: Find the Best Place for Trade-Ins

It might seem like all phone trade-ins are the same, but they definitely are not. If you are looking for a new phone, look for a place that offers a credit toward your new device for current phones that are in good condition. If you just want cash, compare all the available options before you go to make sure you’re getting the maximum value from your phone.