Our smartphones are privy to some of our most important secrets. Sensitive business emails, financial details, contact information, and perhaps even a risqué photo are not things you want falling into the wrong hands. Performing a factory reset is always a good idea, but it might not always be enough. When the security firm Avast bought 20 Android smartphones from eBay, for example, it was able to [http://www.android-rescuer.com/recover-deleted-photos-from-samsung-galaxy.html|recover deleted photos from samsung galaxy], Google searches, emails, text messages, and [http://www.android-rescuer.com/recover-contacts-from-android-phone.html|recover deleted contacts from android] details. We’re going to show you how to make sure that can’t happen to you.
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How does a factory reset work?
When you do a factory reset on your Android smartphone, it’s supposed to wipe it clean, but it doesn’t. It deletes the addresses of all of your data, so it no longer knows where it’s stored, but it doesn’t actually overwrite the data. That being the case, it’s possible for someone to employ off-the-shelf recovery software and get some of that data back. Let’s look at how to wipe your Android smartphone properly.
The first step is to encrypt your data. This option is built in to Android, and requires you to enter a PIN or password every time you turn your phone on. It means that anyone attempting to recover data from your phone after you will need a special key to decrypt it, and they won’t have the key.
Fully charge your phone or keep it plugged in to the charger while this process is running, because it can take several hours depending on how much data you have.
The exact method for navigating this next step will differ slightly from phone to phone. It will generally be Settings > Security > Encrypt phone. But on a Samsung Galaxy, for example, you want to go to Settings > Lock screen & security > Protect encrypted data. You have the option to encrypt the SD card as well, but if you’re passing the phone on, we would recommend removing it instead.
If your phone came with Android 6.0 Marshmallow or above, it will be encrypted by default, and you can skip to the next section. If you’re unsure about which version of Android your phone is running, then take a look in Settings > About device/phone > Software info. Keep in mind that it will only be encrypted by default if Android 6.0 Marshmallow was installed out of the box.
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To delete/erase everything in your device you can see the following tutorials here:
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[http://www.erasephone.com|ErasePhone]
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[http://www.erasephone.com/ios-data-eraser.html|ios data eraser]
Our smartphones are privy to some of our most important secrets. Sensitive business emails, financial details, contact information, and perhaps even a risqué photo are not things you want falling into the wrong hands. Performing a factory reset is always a good idea, but it might not always be enough. When the security firm Avast bought 20 Android smartphones from eBay, for example, it was able to [http://www.android-rescuer.com/recover-deleted-photos-from-samsung-galaxy.html|recover deleted photos from samsung galaxy], Google searches, emails, text messages, and [http://www.android-rescuer.com/recover-contacts-from-android-phone.html|recover deleted contacts from android] details. We’re going to show you how to make sure that can’t happen to you.
How does a factory reset work?
When you do a factory reset on your Android smartphone, it’s supposed to wipe it clean, but it doesn’t. It deletes the addresses of all of your data, so it no longer knows where it’s stored, but it doesn’t actually overwrite the data. That being the case, it’s possible for someone to employ off-the-shelf recovery software and get some of that data back. Let’s look at how to wipe your Android smartphone properly.
The first step is to encrypt your data. This option is built in to Android, and requires you to enter a PIN or password every time you turn your phone on. It means that anyone attempting to recover data from your phone after you will need a special key to decrypt it, and they won’t have the key.
Fully charge your phone or keep it plugged in to the charger while this process is running, because it can take several hours depending on how much data you have.
The exact method for navigating this next step will differ slightly from phone to phone. It will generally be Settings > Security > Encrypt phone. But on a Samsung Galaxy, for example, you want to go to Settings > Lock screen & security > Protect encrypted data. You have the option to encrypt the SD card as well, but if you’re passing the phone on, we would recommend removing it instead.
If your phone came with Android 6.0 Marshmallow or above, it will be encrypted by default, and you can skip to the next section. If you’re unsure about which version of Android your phone is running, then take a look in Settings > About device/phone > Software info. Keep in mind that it will only be encrypted by default if Android 6.0 Marshmallow was installed out of the box.