Giving away your old smartphone is a clear-cut process. For the most part, selling it to a stranger is also pretty straightforward. You must wipw out all the data on the phone before selling it or giving it away. That’s one of the reasons every mobile phone has an ooption for a factory reset.

However, there are a couple of steps you must do first before hiting the reset button.These steps will ensure that your smartphone is completely wiped out of your personal data.

Step 1: Back Up

Before deleting anything or resetting the phone, make sure to back up your data and files. It doesn’t matter if you think some of the data are trivial, just back them all up. More than just the usual photos, videos, and audiofiles, you need to save and store your documents, downloads, call logs and texts. The good news is that data back up these days is fast and easy.

For your photos and videos,consider using Google photos.The program automatically stores and saves everythig to your Google account. Even if your old smartphone is an Apple unit, you can still use Google Photos.You can easily access all your stored multimedia files online.

Note though that Google photos doesn’t back everything up in its original quality unless you purchase the premium plan. But if you have a Google Pixel account , you’ll have free unlimited storage and unlimited backups at their original resolution.

For very large videos that can be time-consuming to store and save online, you may use thumb drives or external hard drives. The same goes for important documents , call logs, text messages, and downloads . Alternatively, you can upload and update the filesto your cloud storage.

Step 2: Data Encryption 

Don’t be afraid of the word “encryption”. It sound ominous, but if you follow the steps on data encryption properly, you won’t have problems with it . It’s a good idea to encrypt the data on your phone before you do a factory reset to avoid invasion of privacy. A reset may not 100% remove your data. Furthermore , there are certain programs and tools that can actually retrieve your information even if the phone  has already undergone a factory reset.To ensure you don’t leave out file fragments, encrypt your phone data. This way , if there are leftovers, all that is visible is unintelligible.

Step 3: Complete Factory Reset

When you’ve backed up and encrypted your data, it’s time for a complete factory reset. The process will clear off everything on your smartphone . If an SD card is inserted on the phone , the data will also be deleted . Your old smartphone will revert to its fresh-out-of-the-box condition. The actual procedure for factory reset may slighty vary from one manufacturer to another. But in general, the process is clear-cut across the board. Goto the phone’s Settings. Click Backup and Reset. Choose Factory Data Reset. Then Reset.

For your safety and convenience, it’s important to take the time to do all three steps before giving away your old smartphone.