

Occasionally we've heard cases of erased iOS devices still being linked to Find My iPhone or iCloud accounts.

If you buy a new iPhone to replace your existing one and you use an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, for example) to access online accounts protected by two-factor authentication (2FA), then you should transfer those accounts to your new phone as soon as possible, because without the 2FA codes close at hand, you could find yourself locked out of your online accounts. You can find steps to back up your iPhone by clicking here. You can back up your data to iCloud, but we'd advise you connect your iPhone up to a computer and perform an iTunes backup instead, just to be sure. Here's what to do.īefore you reset, you should back up your device. The procedures described below shouldn't take long to follow, and at the end of it you can rest assured that you have a clean iPhone reset to default factory settings and ready to trade in.

If you're planning on trading in your old iPhone for a new one, there are some steps you'll want to take beforehand to ensure it's de-linked from your accessories and accounts and that everything on it is erased.
