Erasing your Android phone? This is the easiest way to delete all personal data

Get a new one Android phone always an interesting experience. You can’t wait to try out your device’s powerful chipset or whatever Innovative AI features it contains. But before you are satisfied with your purchase, I strongly recommend that you erase all personal data from your old phone.

Also: This simple Gmail trick gave me 15GB more free storage — and I didn’t lose any files

Bad guys are always lurking around, waiting for someone to carelessly go online and steal a bunch of sensitive information. Home addresses, phone numbers, emails, names, etc. can easily fall into the wrong hands, so you must take the necessary steps to protect yourself.

While there are third-party tools available to help you protect or delete your data from the internetIf you want to take matters into your own hands — and know exactly what’s being erased in the process — I’ll show you an easy way to clean your phone instead. Before doing anything, you first need to unlock your phone and take some important steps.

1. Prepare to clean

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

Also: 7 Android gadgets 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 alternative methods, but the process I’ll explain uses a server. Google, this is a universal method and will work on any Android phone or tablet.

First, launch the Settings app on your device. Scroll down until you find the Google section. Click on it and select Manage Backups in the following window. To finish everything, tap Back Up Now. This process may take a few 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 Upgrade your storage plan. Back up locally to one SSD is another great (and affordable) way to save your data.

2. Delete your Google account

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

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

Click 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 accounts for gaming platforms and food service apps. When you do a factory reset, they will all be erased.

3. Restore your phone to factory settings (properly)

Factory resetting your smartphone is the most effective way to wipe all the data on your phone’s memory in one go. The method for wiping a phone’s drive is mostly the same between Android phones; You will need to go to the Settings app on your device and find the data reset option.

The process differs slightly between brands as each smartphone manufacturer installs factory reset settings in different places. I advise you to look for the unique method for your smartphone on the company’s official support page. To save you some trouble, here are some examples from some major Android brands to help you know what to look for.

The image above demonstrates the deletion process on a OnePlus smartphone. On a OnePlus device, go to System Settings, which can be found in the Settings app. Scroll down and tap Backup and Reset. Tap Reset phone then Erase all data on the next page. Enter your credentials on the following page to start the process.

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

Like the backup method, erasing a storage drive can take a while. The amount of time depends on the amount of money you have saved on your device. Rest assured, once the process is complete, you will be left with a phone that is free of your personal data.