How to Completely Erase All the Data on Your Android Phone? Complete Guide

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Are you going to sell your Android smartphone to someone? Then before you sell it, be cautious to wipe all the data on your phone, because it contains a lot of your personal and confidential information that you do not want to share with others. Moreover, if the wrong people access these data, they can misuse them and ruin your life. As a result of this, you might become a victim of identity theft and a mentally retarded person. So it is important to delete all the data on your phone before selling.

But did you know that manually deleted data can be recovered later? You got scared, right? But do not worry, there are several ways to wipe all the data to avoid data recovering later permanently. Let me describe each method.

Method 1: How to wipe your Android phone using Factory Reset?

Factory Reset will return your Android phone into the state when it was shipped from the factory by deleting all the media files, third-party applications, device settings, user data, and other private data. However, the Factory reset does not temporarily delete your data from the phone. Ready? Then follow the below steps.

Step 1. Go to Settings->Backup & Reset

Step 2. Tap on “Factory Data Reset”

Step 3. Tap on the “RESET DEVICE” button at the bottom of the screen.

Step 4. It takes a few minutes to complete the factory reset process. Your phone might restart several times during the process.

Method 2: How to wipe your Android phone from PC

In method 1, data is not permanently deleted. But in this method, we will wipe all the data from your phone permanently. To do this you need to install third-party data erasing software like TunesBro DroidWiper. TunesBro DroidWiper currently supports devices with Android 4.0 onwards and works on both Windows and Mac Operating Systems. It will delete all the messages, contacts and media files on your phone preventing later data recovery using any recovery software. Let’s jump into the process.

  1. Download and install any data erasing software on your PC. Here I use TunesBro DroidWiper.
  2. After the installation, open the software.
  3. Connect your Android phone to your PC using a USB data cable.
  4. Activate USB debugging mode on your Android phone
    • Go to Settings->Developer Options
    • Put a tick on USB debugging checkbox

 

  • “Allow USB debugging” popup will appear. Tap on “OK” in the popup

Wait a moment until the software detects your phone.

  1. When the software detects your phone, it will install an Android app on your phone to create intercommunication between PC and Android phone. The system will ask permission to continue on the phone. Please give it.
  2. Click on “Erase All Data”
  3. Type “Delete” in the text box to ensure that you are not deleting the data accidentally.
  4. It takes a couple of minutes to complete the deleting process. After the completion, the software will ask you to do the factory reset on your phone. This will ensure that you have been logged out from all the apps and online services.

Now your data is permanently erased and no one can recover them in the future.

Method 3: How to wipe your Android phone remotely?

Imagine you have lost your phone or someone has stolen it and now you can not find it. Then what would happen if someone accesses the data in it? Scariest Nightmare, right? But now there is a way to erase all the data remotely as soon as possible. To do this first of all you must sign in to the Android Device Manager service (now it is called as Find My Device) on your phone. Remember your phone must be connected to the Internet when you try to do this.

  1. Go to Find My Device page and check whether you have enabled this service on your phone or not. If yes, then go to the second step.
  2. Type “android.com/find” as the browser URL.
  3. Sign in to Google account connected with your phone.
  4. You can view the last location of your phone on Google map.
  5. Click on the device name
  6. You can find three options: PLAY SOUND, SECURE DEVICE and ERASE DEVICE. Click on ERASE DEVICE.

Data on your phone except for the data on SD cards will be permanently deleted.

Conclusion

Now you know how to wipe your data on your Android phone permanently and securely. Though the factory reset method is safer it is not the best option. The best option is to use professional data erasing software to delete data permanently. That will avoid falling data on to the wrong hands. When you lose your phone or someone steals your phone, Find My Device will help you to protect your privacy and identity by preventing illegal access to your data. Keep in mind that prevention is better than a cure.

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