Selling or trading in your iPhone

Back up, turn off Stolen Device Protection, sign out and erase. Deleting photos by hand can remove them from iCloud too.

Selling a phone takes a few steps that you need to do in the right order. Getting the order wrong can cost you photos, or leave them for the buyer. The sequence below follows Apple’s steps.

Keep your hands off the delete button

The tempting first step is to go through the library and delete the private stuff. Apple warns against this approach. While you are logged in to iCloud, manually deleting items permanently removes them from iCloud servers and all your connected devices. The erase step later takes care of the phone itself, without touching iCloud.

Before you erase

1. Create a backup. Make sure it finished.
2. Move to your new phone. If you have it, use Quick Start while both phones are nearby. If your phone number is changing, add a trusted number to your account first so you keep access.
3. Check Parts and Service History under Settings, General, About. If you are trading in, a part marked Finish Repair needs to be finished.
4. Unpair your Apple Watch if you have one.
5. Turn off Stolen Device Protection. Apple says to do this before you sell or trade in. If you are away from a familiar place, a security delay starts first, so do it at home.
6. Know your Apple Account password. You may need it at an Apple Store, and changing it there can trigger the same hour-long delay.

Sign out and erase

1. Open Settings and tap your name.
2. Scroll down and tap Sign Out. On iOS 26 or later, choose whether to erase now or sign out without erasing, and Apple links to details on what stays behind if you do not erase.
3. Go back to Settings and tap General, then Transfer or Reset iPhone.
4. Tap Erase All Content and Settings. Enter your passcode if asked, and tap Erase iPhone to confirm.
5. If you use an eSIM, choose to erase the eSIM profile as well when asked.

Apple says this removes cards, photos, contacts, music and apps from the phone and turns off services like iCloud and iMessage. It also turns off Find My and Activation Lock.

After it leaves your hands

Remove the phone from your list of trusted devices. If you switched to a non-Apple phone, deregister iMessage so your texts arrive.

If you use apps with their own storage

Some apps keep data only on the phone and outside any backup you control. Before you erase, open every app that holds private photos and find out how it handles moving to a new phone. Deleting an app removes it and its data from the iPhone, and erasing does the same at a larger scale. Export anything you want to keep, then check that the copy opens on the new device.

Other places your photos may linger

Erasing cleans the phone. Your old photos still live in iCloud, and in any email or message threads you sent them through. If you are getting rid of the phone because of a breakup or a leak, also look at shared albums an ex can open. Selling a phone with a cracked screen that you cannot unlock has its own issues, and an Apple Store or authorized provider can advise you on those.