How to completely erase your Android phone before selling it

When is a complete cleaning needed?

Before looking for the answer to the question of how to delete all data from an Android phone yourself, you need to understand the reasons for this action. Global cleanup is necessary in the following situations:

• there was a need to simply clear the internal memory. This is a cache memory that stores all system elements activated while using mobile phone applications, as well as when searching for information in the browser;
• the user needs to remove all passwords, addresses and other data that were saved while using the mobile device. The data will not be deleted on its own. It can become a problem if someone gains access to the cell phone;

Forced memory clearing

• You need to clear your cookies. These are files activated while searching for information in the browser, as well as due to the use of applications that work only on the Internet;
• it is required to remove all information from the phone before selling it;
• the owner may have forgotten the password for the mobile device and therefore cannot use it. Often, to save money, you simply have to reset the entire system to factory settings.

Note! Smartphone applications remember not only passwords, but also bank card data. If the phone falls into the hands of fraudsters, they will easily use the money.

Using special programs to erase data in Android

There is a software called Safe Wiper that will permanently delete all data on your Android phone. The program is distributed free of charge and does its job perfectly well.

Although we still recommend following the guide above. Since this method is more reliable and after it no one will have access to your data, much less be able to restore it from a deleted copy.

A notification with the text “Forbidden by the administrator, encryption policy, or data storage” most often appears on Android (ASUS, Honor, Lenovo, Huawei) when the user intends to remove the security PIN, graph. key to perform accelerated unlocking without unnecessary movements.

But the system does not give up its position so easily and does not allow changes to be made, citing certain prohibitions. In fact, the situation is quite typical, there is a simple way out of it. Now let's take a closer look!

How to delete all data

Android phone won't turn on - what to do

There is an easy way to delete everything from an Android phone. The reset is carried out to factory settings, which greatly simplifies the preparation of the mobile device for sale. But a characteristic thing should be noted - with such a reset, all data will be deleted, including applications and phone numbers in the contact list.

Full reset to factory settings

How to completely clean your Android phone yourself:

1. Go to your phone settings. Select the “Backup and Reset” tab.
2. Next, a menu with possible functions will be presented. Select "Reset settings".
3. Confirm your actions by clicking the “Reset phone settings” button.

The presented sequence of actions is applicable for smartphones version 4 and higher. If we are talking about series 5, then they follow slightly different instructions:

1. In the settings you need to find “Backup and reset”.
2. Next, open the “Data Reset” tab.
3. Confirm the actions by clicking on the “Reset device” button.

Factory reset for 5 series

Depending on the smartphone series, the sequence may vary. But the general principle is the same: through “Settings” you need to find the reset function and confirm your actions.

Note! There is an even easier way to reset all settings to factory settings. Every mobile device has a button for this. It must be pressed and held for a few seconds until the reset starts. You can find it on your smartphone or tablet on the side of the case or under the cover.

Prohibited/disabled by administrator - how to remove protection, disable Android screen lock

Android OS tries to protect us from the negative consequences associated with providing unfettered access to the device. In addition, sometimes third-party applications (optimizers, antiviruses) can gain admin privileges and create obstacles to making changes.

You can actually check and fix it in a matter of seconds:

• There is a section related to security or privacy in the settings. The names may differ on different firmwares. We will show the example of Android 7 with the MIUI shell:

• Go to the “Device Administrators” tab:

• We look through the list and deactivate unnecessary elements created by third-party programs. Usually, by default, only the “Find...” line is present:

The problem should now be resolved. But suddenly the method did not work - so we move on to the second chapter of our instructions.

Preparing a smartphone for sale

If you need to sell a smartphone, you need to study exactly the sequence of steps on how to erase all data from an Android. The entire operation consists of several stages, for which it is important to follow the recommendations and rules.

Creating a Backup

How to clean your Android phone of unnecessary files

You must first create a backup copy so that the owner can later restore files, phone numbers and other data. Saving takes place on Google servers. As a result, after turning on the new device, all data will be restored. The owner just needs to enter the password for his Google account, and all data will be transferred to the new device.

Note! It is recommended to periodically backup the data on your device to your Google account. This will help restore them if the phone owner loses them.

To create a backup copy, you must follow the following instructions:

1. Go to the “Settings” section. Open the "Backup and Reset" tab, and then select your account.
2. Open a menu with functions available for your account. Select backup and auto-recovery.
3. Confirm actions.
4. Connect your phone to the Internet, if this has not been done previously.

Next, you just need to wait for the files to be copied to your Google account. This may take about half an hour, it all depends on the amount of information being stored and its size.

Creating a Backup

Disconnecting from Google account

The next step is to necessarily disconnect your smartphone from your Google account. To do this, select the “Settings” folder, then “Accounts” and Google. A list will open that lists all Google accounts previously connected to this smartphone. It is selected and disabled, all backup copies remain in the account. They can be viewed by logging into your account via computer.

Disabling an account on a smartphone

Delete private messages and calls from your call history

Personal messages with call logs can also be cleared. To do this, you need to do the following:

1. Open the Phone/SMS app.
2. You need to click on the three dots at the top to open the menu.
3. Next, select “Clear call log”/”Clear message log”.
4. To complete the process, you must confirm the operation.

Important! It is necessary to clear the history regularly or as needed - when the memory is full. This will improve the phone's performance.

Removing personal applications

In questions of how to completely clean an Android before selling it, you cannot do without deleting the applications that the owner uses. You can remove programs separately one after another, but it’s better to do it in one fell swoop:

1. Go to the “Applications” section.
2. Next, open the “Third Party” tab.
3. Find the application you want to delete and confirm the action by clicking “Erase data”.

This removes the program and all system files that were open for it to work. The cache memory is cleaned efficiently, resulting in no debris remaining on the device, and no additional actions are required.

Automatic movement of information in the device

The operating system itself, when receiving information from various applications, sorts it into certain folders. An exception is the situation when files are saved manually. Also, do not forget that you need to delete only those files that you know. If you do not have an Android device, download an Android emulator on our portal.

Android is an open mobile operating system that gives access to internal files. Removing some may cause the operating system to not work.

• Media – a folder that contains various media files. Quite often, files are sent here that the system did not detect or have an unusual extension.
• Music folder is dedicated to music that is downloaded from the Internet and many other sources
• Movies is used by the system to save videos. At the same time, captured videos can be saved in the same folder.
• Sounds can also be used to save sound files that can be used by the system to operate various functions.
• Bluetooth is the folder in which downloaded information is saved via the transfer method in question.
• DCMI can be used by the system in various cases.
• Download is the folder in which all downloaded files from the network or through other sources are saved. In some cases, there is a possibility that the file will not end up in this folder after downloading, but will be redirected to another. It all depends on the features of the operating system and the installed system settings.

We clean the computer

To begin with, we note that you can delete most of the information from the device without a computer. To do this, just download a special program that works as a file manager.

In this article we will look at how to clean your phone from your computer.

The process of deleting information is presented as follows. First you need to connect the device to the computer, for which you use a regular cable. Quite often, the device will require installing drivers, but they are not needed to open the internal memory. At the same time, we note the need to have an anti-virus program, since a virus can move from one device to another.

After connecting, all folders become open. Please note that the computer may not see some folders because they are marked as hidden directories. Therefore, you should set the "Show hidden folders" setting on your computer.

Hard reset your phone

How to format an Android phone - format the built-in memory

If there is no need to save data, do a hard data reset. To do this, use one of the methods, which depends on the software version.

Hard reset for old versions of android

Old versions of Android can be completely cleaned by restoring them to factory settings. This will help in improving the performance of the entire device. To implement your plan, you must perform the following sequence of actions:

1. Fully charge the device and turn it off.
2. Next, you need to press a specific key combination on your phone to enter reset mode. For most devices, this is pressing the volume up and power keys simultaneously. In some gadget models, you need to press the volume down key and the power button, as well as all three buttons available on the smartphone.
3. Wait for system information to appear. An inscription should appear on the dark screen.
4. Use the volume down key to go down to “Wipe Data / Factory Reset” and confirm the action by pressing the power button.
5. Agree by pressing confirmation with the same key in the next action.

The system will open the hard reset option, begin the operation and automatically reboot the phone as soon as possible.

Factory reset older versions of Android

Hard reset on Android 8 and later

Modern smartphones can also be returned to factory settings if you follow all the manufacturer's recommendations. There are instructions for this:

1. Go to the “Settings” folder, select the “System” subsection.
2. Next, open “Reset settings”.
3. Here are several options for resetting data on your smartphone. If a hard wipe is required, select the “Delete all data” option.

Reset settings on Android from version 8 and higher

The selected action is confirmed. The owner only needs to wait until all data is deleted and the phone automatically reboots the system. Upon completion, you need to turn on the smartphone and use it for its intended purpose or sell it.

Note! A hard reset to factory settings is not recommended every time you encounter problems with your Android. The presented operation is resorted to only if all the actions carried out earlier did not give the desired result.

A hard reset can cause a system failure, which will require you to contact a specialist to ensure normal operation of your mobile device. They will flash the system, but it will be expensive.

Delete data from Windows Phone

How to delete information from your phone on Windows Phone? There are two ways to do this:

• Go to settings, then to “Device information”. The item responsible for deleting data will be located here.
• Hold both buttons on the volume rocker until the smartphone vibrates. Hold down the volume down button and an exclamation mark will appear on the screen. Now press the keys in the following sequence: volume+, volume-, power on, volume- again.

Instructions for full formatting via Recovery

Every Android is equipped with a software recovery function through the Recovery menu. You have to resort to something like this when the device completely fails to work in its previous mode. This could be a simple program freeze, when the owner can neither enter the menu nor open the application.

This option will help you format your smartphone without deleting applications and general data, but with complete clearing of information in the browser and cache memory. To achieve this, you need to do the following:

1. Turn off the device by pressing the corresponding button on the case. This is always resorted to if the phone does not respond to pressing the touch screen.
2. Next, press and hold the key combination - volume down and power button. As already described above, some models require pressing other buttons. It is important to wait for the black screen with information from the operating system to appear.
3. Find “Android System Recovery” in the list of suggested information. Some models provide other options; you can also find “Factory Mode”. Confirm the selection of the found item by pressing the power button.
4. Next, a list of other actions will open. You need to select “Wipe Data/Factory Reset”.
5. The next phrase is selected after opening a new action list. In most cases this is “Clear eMMC”.
6. Next, the selected action is simply confirmed by pressing the device’s power button.

Clearing memory via Recovery

This way, all information stored in the internal memory and previously performed actions at the time the smartphone froze is deleted. A kind of system reboot occurs, which requires the removal of the latest program files to start the mobile device.

For your information! The files were used to fulfill a specific request by the device owner. They are active, but in the event of a malfunction, it is not possible to delete them without the above steps.

Thus, the instructions for completely cleaning the smartphone were discussed above, as well as the sequence of actions on the question of how to prepare your phone for sale (Android) yourself. This is not difficult if all actions are performed according to the worked out steps.

Danger of data deletion

Before you start completely wiping your phone, it is important to check that all the necessary data has been copied and stored somewhere else, because after the operation it will no longer be possible to restore some of the information.

Deleting data has a twofold nature:

• on the one hand, it is necessary to permanently delete essential information so that it does not interfere with the new user and has no possibility of recovery;
• on the other hand, very often situations arise when part of the data has been overwritten and requires immediate recovery.

The latter cannot always be done, especially in the case of total deletion of all data from the smartphone.

Manual mode

In this Android update mode, you do not need to wait for the manufacturer to send an update over the air. However, you will have to search for the firmware file yourself for further installation:

• Download the required version of Android to your phone - https://www.android.com/intl/ru_ru/.

• Open your device settings.
• Go to the "Software Update" section.
• Tap on the three dots icon.
• Click on the “Select firmware file” button and specify the directory where the OS update file is located.

If everything is done correctly, the smartphone will reboot and begin installing the update. Please note that manual OS reinstallation mode should not be used by beginners and users who do not have sufficient experience with Android. To avoid errors, you need to look for the firmware file for your device, and not for similar models. If you install the OS for another phone, your device may simply crash and stop starting.

What to do if it is prohibited by the credential store?

In the privacy settings, scroll down and you will see the operation - “Remove all certificates”:

After confirmation and a short wait, try removing the pattern/PIN again. The ban message will disappear.

But in some cases it is additionally worth disabling encryption (if it is active). This is done in the same window:

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