Berlin – For all smartphones: Attention! First, secure all the personal data that you still need. Then remove the SIM card and – if inserted – memory card, so that you don’t forget that later. – For androids: If the device is encrypted, which is actually all newer Androids from the factory, it is enough to reset the device to factory settings in the settings. Depending on the manufacturer, the corresponding item can also be called “Delete all data” or “Delivery status”. Attention! For older devices, you must first look for the “Encryption” menu item in the settings – for example in the “Security” area – and activate the encryption before resetting, if necessary. – For iPhones and iPads: For iOS devices, users only have to remember the reset in the settings under “General / Transfer iPhone / reset”, because Apple has encrypted all devices from the factory since iOS 7 (2013). And this is behind the encryption trick: with encryption, it is no longer important that the data is actually deleted, for example by overwriting it many times over. It is rather important here that when resetting the key, which otherwise opened the device and memory when entering the lock code or when reading in the fingerprint, is deleted. This means that access to the memory is irretrievably lost. From now on, this can only be described with new data.
How to delete smartphone data safely
