How you can permanently erase data from your smartphone, tablet

There are a lot of tempting reasons to upgrade your phone or computer these days. On average, most people change their phones every two years and their computers, every three years. But what do you do with your old phone? We mostly give it out, sell or trade-in.

Smartphones and tablets essentially pack your entire life into a small package, including your contacts, emails, records of incoming and outgoing phone numbers, social media information... the list goes on.

Individual apps

You could try deleting individual apps and contacts, but the odds of doing that effectively are close to zero. Just hitting “delete” might not be enough. You might not be able to see it, but the data could still be on your device.

You have to take some extra steps to permanently wipe it clean. Otherwise, someone who knows some little computing may not find it hard to retrieve the information.

It could be devastating if all your personal information fell into the wrong hands, especially in these days where our lives revolve around the smartphone. If you don’t wipe them clear of data, you could become a victim of identity theft.

Before changing ownership of the phone, the first step is to reset it back to its factory settings, which entails different process for iPhone, Android and Blackberry users.

If you want to erase all personal data on an iPhone, remove the SIM and any memory cards, go to the home screen, click on Settings then General. Scroll to the bottom and click Reset. Look for Erase All Content and Settings and click on it.

This is a fast process that should work for any iPhone, as well as all iPads and any iPod Touch that falls in the Third Generation and latter categories.

Older devices

For older devices, the process will take longer as iOS overwrites all of your data with random information. Either way, though, these steps should assure users of a secure wipe.

If you have a Blackberry, remove the SIM and any other memory cards from the phone. Go to the home screen, click on Settings and then under Options, scroll to the bottom and click Security Options.

You will find Security Wipe. Select the content you want erased and click Wipe.

On Android, from the home screen, press the Menu button, and then click Settings. Select Privacy/Backup & Reset, scroll to the bottom and select Factory Data Reset. Tap it and you’ll see a warning of some kind.

This will reset the phone to its original state and delete all the data on the device.

Remember, it’s not deleting your accounts such as Twitter, email or Facebook; it’s just deleting any trace of your activity from the phone.

Memory cards

Now, when you’re almost ready to kiss your phone goodbye, you’ll want to make sure you’ve removed any memory or SIM cards.

As a precaution, first shut down the phone, then remove the cards.

Memory cards are typically located either on the side of the phone or behind the battery compartment near the SIM card. Some phones might not have a memory card slot or won’t have any memory cards installed, so if you can’t find anything, don’t worry.

The bottom line is, it’s important to make sure that when you part with your devices, your personal information doesn’t go with that device.