What to know before you upgrade your phone. And how to protect your new one

By
Alvaro Puig
Consumer Education Specialist - Federal Trade Commission

It's that time of year when ads enticing you to upgrade your mobile phone seem to be everywhere you turn. If you're thinking about upgrading your phone, here are four easy steps to remove your personal information from your phone before you trade it in.

1. Save your information. Whether you're going to trade in, sell, or donate your phone, start by backing up your data. You'll need this copy when you set up a new phone.
2. Remove SIM and SD cards. If your phone has a SIM card, remove it because it may have your personal information on it. If you're keeping your phone number, ask if you can transfer your SIM card to the new phone. If you're not going to reuse the SIM card, destroy it. If your phone has an SD storage card, remove it, too.
3. Unlink accounts connected to the device. If you use multi-factor authentication to log in to any accounts, remove your phone from the list of trusted devices for those accounts. And double check that your phone is no longer connected to your online accounts. Here's how to unlink the phone from your Microsoft, Apple, and Google
4. Erase your personal information. Finally, restore your phone to the factory settings. That'll erase all your personal information, like your account numbers, passwords, messages, videos, and photos. Once you set up your new device, set it to automatically lock when you're not using it, keep it up to date, and back up your data. Check out Three ways to protect the personal info on your phone for details on how to do that.

If you use an authenticator app to log into your accounts, set up the app on your new phone. And finally, if you're not trading in or selling your phone, learn about where you can recycle it.