Wiping your Android phone? Here's the easiest way to erase all personal data

Getting a new Android phone is always a fun experience. You’re anxious to try out the device’s powerful chipset or whatever generative AI features it houses. But before you have fun with your purchase, I strongly recommend wiping out all personal data from the old phone.

Also: This simple Gmail trick gave me another 15GB of storage for free – and I didn’t lose any files

Bad actors are always lurking around, waiting for someone to get careless online and steal hordes of sensitive information. Home addresses, phone numbers, emails, names, and more could easily fall into the wrong hands, so you must take the necessary steps to protect yourself. 

While third-party tools are available to help you protect or delete your data from the internet, if you’d like to take matters into your own hands — and know exactly what’s being wiped in the process — I will instead show you one easy way to clean your phone. Before you do anything, you’ll need to unlock your phone and perform several important steps first.

1. Preparing for the clean-up

It goes without saying, but backing up your personal data is incredibly important, as it protects your files from accidental deletion, malware attacks, or even theft. After saving your information, you can restore the data to your new phone without having to start from the beginning. It’s a great time-saving tool.

Also: 7 Android widgets to make your phone or tablet more useful

Android manufacturers have their own unique methods of backing up user data, so I encourage you to look them up if you want alternatives, but the process I will explain utilizes Google servers, which is a universal method and will work on any Android phone or tablet.

First, launch your device’s Settings app. Scroll down until you locate the Google section. Tap it and select Manage Backup in the following window. To finish everything up, tap Back Up Now. This process may take several minutes to complete — it depends on how much data you’re saving in the cloud. 

If you’re backing up more than your account can hold, Google will prompt you to upgrade your storage plan. Backing up locally to an SSD is another great (and affordable) way to save your data.

2. Removing your Google account

Now, it’s time to disconnect your Google account from your old smartphone. Cutting off access ensures that saved data won’t appear on the device in the future. To do this, go to the Security section on your Google Account page — it’s found on the left-hand side of the page — and then scroll down to Your Device, where you’ll see a brief list of all connected devices.

Also: How to factory reset your Android phone without unlocking it

Click on Manage all Devices. Find your old smartphone, select the entry, and click the Sign Out button. Don’t worry if you have third-party accounts saved on your Android phone, such as for gaming platforms and food service apps. Once you perform a factory reset, they’ll all be erased.

3. Factory resetting your phone (properly)

Factory resetting a smartphone is the most efficient way to wipe out all the data on a phone’s storage space in one fell swoop. The method of wiping a phone’s drive clean is mostly the same among Android phones; You’ll need to go into your device’s Settings app and locate its reset data option.

This process differs slightly from brand to brand, as each smartphone manufacturer has the factory reset setting tucked in different places. I recommend looking up the unique method for your smartphone on the company’s official support page. To save you some trouble, here are some examples from a couple of major Android brands to give you an idea of what to look for. 

The image above shows the deletion process on a OnePlus smartphone. On a OnePlus device, go to System Settings, which can be found under the Settings app. Scroll to the bottom, then tap Back up and Reset. Tap Reset Phone, and then Erase All Data on the following page. Enter your credentials on the following page to begin the process.

On a Samsung Galaxy phone, open the Settings menu and tap General Management. Scroll to Reset, then select Factor Data Reset. The Galaxy device will show a list of all the information that will be erased from the drive. Once ready, tap Reset, enter your credentials if it asks for any, and hit Delete All.

Like the backup method, wiping a storage drive may take a while. The length of time depends on how much you have saved on the device. Rest assured, after the process has been fully completed, you’ll be left with a phone that has no remnants of your personal data.