Before you factory-reset a phone: the access-and-backup checklist

A factory reset erases local data; it does not prove that everything important has been copied somewhere you can recover. Before you erase a phone, test account access, create a current backup and separately protect anything a standard backup may not restore.

1. Confirm the accounts you will need afterward

Write down the primary Apple Account or Google Account email address and make sure you know its password. Confirm that its recovery phone number and email still work. Do not remove the device from the account until you understand the platform’s erase and activation-lock steps.

If this phone receives the only codes needed to sign in, create another recovery path first. Save account recovery codes in a secure place that is not the phone.

2. Make a current backup—and inspect its status

On iPhone, Apple documents iCloud and computer backups in its iPhone backup guide. On Android, Google describes the categories copied by its backup service and notes that not every app can back up or restore all settings and data (Google Android Help).

Connect to power and a stable network, run the backup, then verify the displayed completion time and account. If you use an encrypted computer backup for an iPhone, preserve that backup password; without it, the encrypted backup is not useful.

3. Check data that may live outside the general backup

Open the services that matter and confirm their own sync or export status:

• photos and videos, including recently deleted items;
• messaging apps with their own backup process;
• notes, voice recordings and files saved only “on this device”;
• health, wallet, transit or payment data;
• game saves and apps with local projects;
• downloaded media that must be downloaded again.

For essential photos or documents, verify them from another device or the service’s website. A toggle saying “sync” is less convincing than seeing the file elsewhere.

4. Protect authentication and work access

Authenticator apps vary. Some sync to an account; others require an export or a site-by-site re-enrollment. For each important account, confirm an independent recovery method before erasing. Work profiles, VPN certificates and device-management enrollment may require an administrator; ask before removing them.

Passkeys can sync through a platform account or remain device-bound depending on how they were created. Check each critical service’s security settings from another signed-in device.

5. Record carrier and eSIM information

Know whether the phone uses a physical SIM or eSIM. Save the carrier account credentials, support number and any transfer PIN. During reset, an interface may offer to keep or erase eSIMs; the correct choice depends on whether you are retaining, trading or transferring the phone. Ask the carrier if uncertain.

6. Prepare for a sale or trade-in separately

Only after the backup and access checks pass should you follow the manufacturer’s official sale or trade-in sequence. That may include unpairing a watch, signing out, disabling device-finding features and removing payment cards. Then erase through Settings—not by manually deleting photos and contacts, which can propagate deletions through sync.

After the reset, stop at the setup screen if the device is leaving you. If you are keeping it, restore while you still have the old credentials and recovery material available. The safest reset is the one whose recovery has already been tested.