I factory reset my phone before finding out you're supposed to encrypt it first.

[AC Question]

Hi, i'm about to sell my phone so i got all the files off of it that i wanted then i factory reset it. However, afterwards i looked up and i saw people saying that you should have encrypted the phone before resetting it. I'm just wondering what to do now? Is there any point encrypting it now even after i've done the reset?

I have a samsung galaxy s5 if anyones wondering and the system it's running on at the moment is 6.0.1 but i don't know whether it came with that or it updated to that while i had the phone.

Thank you in advance to anyone that can help!

 

[hallux]

Encrypting first is an extra layer of protection against someone recovering your data. It's not SUPER critical that you do it as most buyers won't be horribly interested in your stuff. You could always reconfigure the device for your account, encrypt it, then re-do the factory reset if you still have the device.

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[smvim]

When your phone's internal storage media is encrypted, all data written to it will be relatively secure. If someone uses a file recovery utility to see if any files can be restored, it won't matter as every file will just appear as gibberish.
Unless you know who is going to buy your phone you typically won't know just where it will end up so just to be safe, I'd encrypt your phone's storage and just do a Factory Reset again. (... and don't forget to remove any SIM or microSD card.)

https://lifehacker.com/reminder-android-phones-may-still-leave-data-vulnerabl-1706255294

https://fieldguide.gizmodo.com/the-extra-step-you-need-to-take-before-selling-your-and-1623775880

 

[prabath9]

In my case I did the encryption but it did not ask for a key..Hence I am worried that it may not have been properly encrypted.

 

[hallux]

The device does not ask for a key. It generates its own, which is secured by the enabled lock screen. If the screen is not properly unlocked after a reboot, the key is not validated and the data is not decrypted.