Selling, recycling or giving away a laptop or phone: how to wipe it properly

A laptop or phone remembers you: your photos and documents, your email, the passwords your browser saved, the banking app that opens with your face, and the accounts that still treat it as yours. When it leaves the house, none of that should go with it.

Wiping it properly is not hard, because every maker builds the tool in. What goes wrong is the order. Reset before you back up and you lose things. Reset before you sign out and a phone can stay tied to your account, which leaves the next owner locked out. Here is the order that avoids both, device by device, with each step taken from Microsoft’s, Apple’s, Google’s and Samsung’s own help pages, checked on 3 November 2026.

If you would like to tick it off as you go, there is a one-page printable checklist.

Before you wipe anything

Four things come first, whatever the device.

1. Back up, and open the backup. Copy your photos, documents and anything else you want to keep to somewhere that is not the device, then open a few files from the copy to make sure they are really there. How to back up your files walks through it. Moving to a new machine? Set it up and live with it for a while before the old one is wiped; setting up a new laptop explains why.
2. Know your passwords. You will need your Apple Account, Google Account or Microsoft account password to sign out and to turn off the locks described below. If you have forgotten one, reset it now, while the device still works. If you reset a Google Account password, Google’s advice is to wait 24 hours before you factory reset an Android phone.
3. Move your sign-in codes. If the phone is how you prove it is you, for example by receiving codes by text, the National Cyber Security Centre advises making sure that works on another device, and checking it, before you erase anything. The same goes for anything you control from the phone, such as security cameras or a thermostat.
4. Do not tidy up by hand. It is tempting to delete your photos and contacts one by one first. Do not. Apple warns that while you are signed in to iCloud, deleting items by hand removes them permanently from iCloud’s servers and from all your connected devices. Erasing the device itself does not: Apple says your content is not deleted from iCloud when you erase it.

A Windows laptop or PC

Windows has a proper wipe built in, called Reset this PC. Microsoft’s advice for a PC you are recycling, selling or giving away is to back up, reset it, and then take it off your Microsoft account.

First, if the drive is encrypted, have your BitLocker recovery key to hand: Microsoft’s reset instructions say to make sure you have it before you begin. If the computer was set up with a Microsoft account, the key is in that account at aka.ms/myrecoverykey, and our guide to the 48-digit recovery key explains the rest.

Then, following Microsoft’s reset steps:

1. Windows 11: open Settings, choose System, then Recovery, and under Recovery options select Reset PC. Windows 10: Settings, Update & Security, Recovery, then Get started under Reset this PC.
2. Choose Remove everything, then Cloud download or Local reinstall. Both reinstall Windows; Microsoft says the cloud download brings the latest version with its updates.
3. Before it starts, switch on Clean data. Microsoft says this removes files and cleans the drive, and that it is the option to use if you plan to donate, recycle or sell the PC. It takes longer, but it makes it harder for other people to recover your files.
4. Let it run. Microsoft warns that the screen can go black for a long time, occasionally more than 15 minutes, and that the computer may restart itself. Restarting it yourself part way through can make the reset fail.
5. Afterwards, sign in at account.microsoft.com/devices, find the old computer, select Show details, then More actions, then Remove. Tick the box to confirm, and select Remove.

Microsoft is candid about one limit. It says this erasure “is targeted at consumers and does not meet government and industry data erasure standards”. For a laptop from home, that is exactly the job it was built for.

A Mac

Newer Macs have a one-step wipe called Erase All Content and Settings. Apple says it needs macOS Monterey or later on a Mac with Apple silicon or the Apple T2 Security Chip, and that if you can use it, you do not need any of the other steps. Apple’s steps:

1. From the Apple menu, choose System Settings, click General in the sidebar, then Transfer or Reset, then Erase All Content and Settings. On macOS Monterey, choose System Preferences, then Erase All Content and Settings from the System Preferences menu in the menu bar.
2. Enter your Mac login password and your Apple Account password when asked.
3. If a message offers to sign you back in to your Apple Account, ignore it and carry on with the erase, as Apple’s instructions say.
4. When the Mac restarts to the setup assistant, do not set it up. Press and hold the power button until it turns off, so the next owner starts from new.

If your Mac does not offer Erase All Content and Settings, Apple’s older route takes longer. Sign out of iCloud (Apple says it is faster to keep a copy of your iCloud data on the Mac when asked, since you are about to erase it anyway), sign out of Messages, then start up from macOS Recovery, erase the drive with Disk Utility and reinstall macOS. When it restarts to the setup assistant, press Command-Q to shut it down instead. On an Intel-based Mac, Apple also suggests resetting NVRAM, and on a Mac older than macOS Catalina, deauthorising it in iTunes first. Apple’s page has each step for each version.

An iPhone or iPad

Apple’s order is: unpair your Apple Watch, back up, sign out, then erase.

1. Unpair your Apple Watch, if you have one (see the section on watches below).
2. Back up, to iCloud or a computer.
3. Sign out. Open Settings, tap your name, scroll down and tap Sign Out. On iOS 26 or later you are offered a choice between erasing the iPhone as you sign out and signing out without erasing; if you are asked which account to sign out of, Apple says to choose Sign out of iCloud and Store. On iOS 18 or earlier, enter your Apple Account password and tap Turn Off.
4. Erase. Go back to Settings, tap General, then Transfer or Reset iPhone (or iPad), then Erase All Content and Settings. Enter your passcode if asked, and confirm.
5. eSIM. If the phone uses an eSIM and you are selling it, Apple says to choose to erase the eSIM as well when you are asked.

The reason for the order is Activation Lock. Apple turns it on automatically when Find My is set up, and from then on your Apple Account password is needed before anyone can turn off Find My, erase the device, or reactivate and use it. Apple says that erasing the device turns off Find My and Activation Lock, although it may ask for your password to do it. A phone still locked to you is no use to anyone else, and Apple tells buyers not to take one.

Two more from Apple’s list: if your next phone is not an iPhone, deregister iMessage; and once the old phone has gone, remove it from your list of trusted devices.

An Android phone

On Android, the thing to get right is Google’s theft protection. Google calls it device protection, and you will also see it called Factory Reset Protection. With your Google Account on the phone, a reset phone can ask for that account, or the old screen lock, before anyone can use it. Google’s way to turn it off is to remove your Google Account from the phone, and Samsung gives the same advice for any phone you are passing on.

So, in this order:

1. Set up the new phone first. Google’s Pixel help warns that if you remove your Google Account, your backup will be deleted, so make sure your photos and data are safely on the new phone, or open them from another device, before the next step.
2. Remove your Google Account. Open Settings and tap Passwords and accounts (some phones call it Users and accounts, or Manage accounts), tap the account, then Remove account. Do this for every Google Account on the phone. Those are Google’s steps.
3. On a Samsung, remove your Samsung account too. Samsung’s steps are Settings, Accounts and backup, Manage accounts, your Samsung account, Remove account, then Sign out and enter your Samsung account password. Samsung notes that the menus vary by model and software version.
4. Charge and connect. Google says a factory reset can take up to an hour, and to charge the phone to at least 70% and connect it to Wi-Fi or your mobile network.
5. Reset from Settings. On a Google Pixel: Settings, System, Reset options, Erase all data (factory reset), then Erase all data. On a Samsung Galaxy: Settings, General management, Reset, Factory data reset, then Reset. Other makes put it elsewhere, and Google’s advice is to follow your phone maker’s own instructions.

SIM cards, memory cards and eSIMs

• Take out the SIM card. Recycle Your Electricals lists it as one of three steps before a device goes, alongside backing up and wiping.
• Take out any memory card, and keep it. Samsung says a factory reset does not delete what is saved on an SD card, and Recycle Your Electricals advises against selling a used memory card with the device.
• Erase the eSIM. Apple says to erase it when you erase an iPhone you are selling, and Google’s trade-in steps for a Pixel include erasing any downloaded SIMs.
• Many laptops have a card slot too. Look in it before the laptop goes.

Watches and other paired things

An Apple Watch should be unpaired from the iPhone, not just erased. Apple says unpairing restores the watch to factory settings and removes Activation Lock, while erasing the watch on its own leaves Activation Lock in place. On the iPhone, open the Apple Watch app, go to the My Watch tab, tap All Watches, tap the info button next to the watch, then Unpair Apple Watch. If the watch has a mobile plan and you are selling it, Apple says to remove the plan. You will need your Apple Account password.

A Google Pixel Watch is reset on the watch itself: Settings, System, then Disconnect and reset, according to Google’s trade-in steps. For any other smartwatch, follow its maker’s instructions.

On a Mac you are passing on, Apple suggests unpairing any Bluetooth keyboard, mouse or other accessory you are keeping if it will stay within range of the Mac, so it cannot type into it by accident.

If it has already gone

It happens. If a phone or computer left your hands before it was wiped, you can still act from another device.

• iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple Watch: Apple says you can erase it from Find Devices at icloud.com/find, then select Remove This Device, which removes Activation Lock. Apple also suggests changing your Apple Account password.
• Android phone: Google’s Pixel help says to go to your Google Account online, open Security, then Your devices, and sign the phone out.
• Windows PC: remove it at account.microsoft.com/devices, as above.

And ask the new owner to erase it using the steps above, which is exactly what Apple suggests.

If it will not switch on

A reset needs a working machine. A laptop that will not switch on still has its drive, and the drive still has your files. Where the drive is a separate part, it can be taken out and read on other equipment, so your files can come off it before the laptop goes anywhere; storage soldered to the board is a harder job. Your laptop will not turn on: can you still get your files off it? explains.

Recycle Your Electricals is clear that wiping a device before you pass it on or recycle it is your responsibility, and a dead laptop is no exception.

Where to recycle it in the UK

Electrical products should carry the crossed-out wheelie bin symbol, which means they should not go in your household rubbish. The government’s consumer guidance gives the reasons: they can leak toxic chemicals in landfill, the metals in them can be recovered, and lithium-ion batteries can catch fire if they are dumped in a rubbish bin, particularly if they get wet or are damaged.

Your options:

• A shop, when you buy a new one. The same guidance says the retailer must accept your old item for free on a like-for-like basis, whether you buy online or in a store. Under the retailer rules, a shop with its own in-store take-back must give you at least 28 days to bring the old one in. Smaller and online-only sellers can instead belong to a take-back scheme that supports council recycling centres, and every seller has to tell you which service it offers.
• A larger shop, even without buying. Retailers with more than 400 square metres of space for electrical goods should take small items, under 25 cm on the longest side, for free without you buying anything. A phone qualifies easily; measure a laptop first.
• Your council’s household waste recycling centre, where electrical products are kept apart from other waste.
• The Recycle Your Electricals recycling locator, which searches by UK postcode for repair, reuse and recycling points near you.

On batteries, Recycle Your Electricals advises taking out a removable laptop battery and recycling it with your other batteries, because batteries pose a fire risk mixed in with other recycling. Where the battery is built in and cannot be taken out, the government’s guidance treats the whole thing as an electrical product, so leave it in place rather than prising it out.

Where we come in

If you would rather have a hand, wiping the old computer safely is part of how we set up a new one: everything comes across first, you see it arrive, and the old machine is not wiped until you have. We do that in person across Leeds, West Yorkshire, Harrogate, Knaresborough and York.

Activation Lock and Google’s device protection can only be cleared with the owner’s own Apple or Google login. We cannot bypass them, and we will not pretend to. If it is your own account you are locked out of, getting you back into it the proper way, through the provider’s own recovery, is a job we do.