Whether you're turning in your cellphone for a new one or just trading it in for some cash, clearing the personal data is a big deal.
- Deleting contacts, photos from your old phone is not enough
- It's best to completely wipe the device
- Click here for more information on how to wipe your phone
"I go into my phone, go to my gallery, delete all pictures, contacts, delete all contacts," cellphone user Maria Youngblood said.
That's good, but for cellphone users such as Youngblood, it's not enough. It's better to wipe your phone clean.
"If they have an iPhone, they just need to back it up to their iCloud,” iCell and Repair sales manager Chris Love said. "Once the backup is done, we have to remove the iCloud account and then we just totally reset the phone."
Other smartphones, like Androids, have a similar process.
"Everything will normally back up to your Google account, and in there they have a backup and restore, so when you go in there and click the backup, it will back everything up to your Google and then you can remove the account from the device," Love said.
You might even wonder whether after the data is cleared and your phone is reset, a tech savvy person could still get your personal data.
"Not on iPhones, but on the Android phones, it would be really, really hard, because once we do a factory reset, it does wipe the device clean," Love said.
iCell and Repair said if your phone uses a SIM card or an SD card, make sure to remove it or erase it as well.
Click here for more information on how to wipe your phone clean from DigitalTrends.com.