I am selling an iPhone 5s which currently has iOS 7.0.4 on it. Before I sell the phone, I will be erasing its data contents. However, and please forgive my complete ignorance, since the phone is on iOS7, the buyer could jailbreak it. If the buyer jailbreaks the phone, would they have access to recovery software/apps to try to restore the data I had on the phone, or is this simply impossible, and not something to worry about? It's just a paranoid thought I had since I have never sold one of my used iPhones before. Thanks!
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Question about selling iPhone with iOS7
- Thread starter Melodeath
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Technically it is possible but the probability is slim. I wouldn't worry about it.
Of course you can never count out a determined hacker from anything... but if you simply 'erase all content and settings' I don't think you have anything to worry about.
Thank you everyone. Just didn't know if it would be "safer" to update to iOS8 first, or if the jailbreak community specifically had apps for restoring erased data
Before selling, does resetting the iPhone turn off Find my iPhone, or do I need to turn that off before I erase all content?
The phone is not activated bc I switched to a 6, but do I need to take SIM card out, too?
Thanks a lot!
Before selling, does resetting the iPhone turn off Find my iPhone, or do I need to turn that off before I erase all content?
The phone is not activated bc I switched to a 6, but do I need to take SIM card out, too?
Thanks a lot!
It won't let you reset it till you turn off find my iPhone.
If you want restore it to iOS 8. Up to you.
I like to send my sold iPhones activated. This way even if they don't have a sim available they can still play with it.
If you want restore it to iOS 8. Up to you.
I like to send my sold iPhones activated. This way even if they don't have a sim available they can still play with it.
Thank you. I had to contact AT&T to switch my number from this 5s to my 6 when it arrived, so that is why the 5s has no service. I didn't know if the SIM in the 5s has any link to me or my account, and thus should remove it before selling or not. Again, I am very new to this, so apologies
I would "Erase all content and settings", then install an eraser app that writes random data to the free space until the device is full, then "Erase all content and settings" again.
Then connect your iPhone to your computer and run a free recovery software so you can make sure that nothing can be recovered. Oh and your Iphone does not need to be jailbroken in order to use recovery software on it.
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If someone bought your or anyones (i)Phone off of Ebay, the first thing many people would do is connect it to a computer and run recovery software, just for fun, and because it only takes 2 minutes to do it. So please delete the free space properly.
Then connect your iPhone to your computer and run a free recovery software so you can make sure that nothing can be recovered. Oh and your Iphone does not need to be jailbroken in order to use recovery software on it.
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If someone bought your or anyones (i)Phone off of Ebay, the first thing many people would do is connect it to a computer and run recovery software, just for fun, and because it only takes 2 minutes to do it. So please delete the free space properly.
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I have iErase and Ishredder installed. I've just searched in the appstore but could not find them anymore. Maybe they are just updating for iOS 8.
https://www.protectstar.com/en/products/ishredder-ios
Great reply! Thanks. Do you have the name of a free recovery software that I can use to check the 5s after I erase/reset?
Yes, apple has pulled all apps of this kind from the security section and no real reasons were given.
I would still recommend to fill up the free space of the device, you can make a video until it is full and redo this a couple of times. Then reset the device by using the "Erase all content and settings" option.
These two iPhone recovery programs are very easy to use:
http://www.easeus.com/mobile-tool/free-iphone-data-recovery.html
http://www.iskysoft.com/iphone-data-recovery/
You just connect the phone to your computer and hit "scan". It might not be free to actually recover the deleted files with these programs, but it will show you the files that could be recovered, i.e. thumbnail images of the pictures that are still there, so you will know if your phone is good to sell.
I would still recommend to fill up the free space of the device, you can make a video until it is full and redo this a couple of times. Then reset the device by using the "Erase all content and settings" option.
These two iPhone recovery programs are very easy to use:
http://www.easeus.com/mobile-tool/free-iphone-data-recovery.html
http://www.iskysoft.com/iphone-data-recovery/
You just connect the phone to your computer and hit "scan". It might not be free to actually recover the deleted files with these programs, but it will show you the files that could be recovered, i.e. thumbnail images of the pictures that are still there, so you will know if your phone is good to sell.
free iphone data recovery
There are many software can recover the data on the phone back, the best way is to remove a few more, and then put some useless files or something removed, then the software has the potential to restore the most recent one is no effect the files.
http://www.freeiphonedatarecovery.com/
There are many software can recover the data on the phone back, the best way is to remove a few more, and then put some useless files or something removed, then the software has the potential to restore the most recent one is no effect the files.
http://www.freeiphonedatarecovery.com/
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Usually when you erase all content and settings, a 256 bit encryption key is put over all your information that you just "erased" , it is still there technically but not readable to the phone or os, it dissapears when the next user overwrites and goes over your information/data
If I were to hazard a guess, it's because they usually do more harm than good. NAND Flash isn't like a hard drive. For starters, doing data fills will shorten the life of NAND flash storage. Second, the wear leveling algorithm on such storage could interfere with a data fill, and you can't guarantee that you've wiped everything.
Come to think of it, there's a lot of evidence that suggests a data fill at the OS level won't fully guarantee fill data erasure on current traditional hard drives, either.
The best bet remains encrypting the storage and fully wiping the key when you erase, which is what iOS currently does IF you have a passcode enabled. After that wipe, go get one of the data recovery tools that have been linked to here, and see if anything is recoverable, BEFORE you do a zero fill. If there's still data and it's sensitive, then try the zero fill, and try the recovery software again to be sure.
If the data STILL isn't gone, then you have to ask yourself what's worse: maybe having the data in someone else's hands where they might or not not go looking for it, or eating the cost of reselling that phone, because now you're probably gonna have to crush it to make the data go away.
If you sync your iPhone with iTunes before restore, that is easy to get the lost data back.
You can try restoring from the latest backup to get the data back. To do this:
Step 1: Connect your iPhone to the computer
Step 2: Open iTunes
Step 3: In iTunes, enable the sidebar through View -> Show Sidebar
Step 4: Right-click on your device and press ‘Restore from backup…
Step 5: Choose the latest backup and proceed.
By the time the restore is done, you might mostly recover lost iPhone data you’re looking for.
If you have no backup, don't worry, there is still anther way for you to get the data back - directly recover from iPhone, read the detail to recover the iPhone data: recover deleted imessages on iPhone, restore iPhone contacts
You can try restoring from the latest backup to get the data back. To do this:
Step 1: Connect your iPhone to the computer
Step 2: Open iTunes
Step 3: In iTunes, enable the sidebar through View -> Show Sidebar
Step 4: Right-click on your device and press ‘Restore from backup…
Step 5: Choose the latest backup and proceed.
By the time the restore is done, you might mostly recover lost iPhone data you’re looking for.
If you have no backup, don't worry, there is still anther way for you to get the data back - directly recover from iPhone, read the detail to recover the iPhone data: recover deleted imessages on iPhone, restore iPhone contacts
I never let my sim in phone. I can show buyer it works then pull sim. Not sure on iPhones but some personal things may be on sim.
I would just update if it does good job on erasing. Depends how personal the personal stuff is.
I think that would be less chance of messing up phone then running non Apple software.
IMHO--
I would just update if it does good job on erasing. Depends how personal the personal stuff is.
I think that would be less chance of messing up phone then running non Apple software.
IMHO--