Question Before I Sell Old Phone

[MJ502]

Hi Everyone,

Last December I switched phone carriers (from AT&T to T-Mobile) and had to purchase a cheap android phone to use while I was trying to get my iPhone 5 unlocked by AT&T. I ended up grabbing an Alcatel OneTouch Evolve 2 to use during this time since it was inexpensive. I ended up only using the phone about a week and it has just been sitting in a drawer since. I am ready to sell the device and have been reading about what to do in order to securely wipe the phone. I have already done a factory reset and was looking into encryption but this phone does not seem to have an encryption option. As a side note... I have never owned an android phone before so I may be missing something, but do you all think I have done all I can? I cant imagine there being much data on the phone to begin with since I only used it a week... but I want to make sure. Any thoughts or suggestions would be great.

 

[PapaGary]

A factory reset should be sufficient.

 

[Mooncatt]

If you're not worried about sensitive info being on the phone, then a reset is fine. If you've ever shared any banking/personal info in apps or anything else on your phone you wouldn't want others to see, then you should encrypt.

A factory reset is like a basic delete on steroids as far as actually wiping data goes. Someone with the right software could still go in and recover "deleted" data that hadn't been written over yet. If you've ever used a program to recover accidentally deleted pictures from your phone/computer, it's about the same thing. The recommended way to prepare a phone for giving it up is to first encrypt the phone. Once that's done and everything is scrambled, then do a factory reset. That deletes the encryption key, so any data that wasn't overwritten is still scrambled and not recoverable (except maybe with law enforcement level forensics programs, but I'm not 100% sure). If you decide you need this, make sure to factory reset a second time. I know you did it once already, but it must be done after an encryption to make sure the key is deleted.

You should be able to find the encryption option in the security settings of your phone.

 

[treetopsranch]

I'm still from the 'old school' about that. I use a hammer and throw it in the trash.

 

[MJ502]

Yea I have checked under security. I have looked EVERYWHERE in settings and there is no encryption option. Its weird. I didn't use any banking apps on it and didn't purchase anything so hopefully I should be good. Thanks for the replies!

 

[priya9898]

What the price of this mobile ?

 

[MJ502]

What the price of this mobile ?

It has been sold. I was just making sure I did everything I could to wipe it before I sent it off.