Your data, erased for good before any resale

1. 1

   You keep control of your accounts

   Back up, then sign out of iCloud or Google and turn off Find My before you sell. If you are unsure how, the counter walks you through it in front of you: you type your own password, on your own phone.

2. 2

   The phone is checked

   Model, condition and IMEI: every phone is checked against stolen-phone databases before we buy it, and you show photo ID as the law requires for used goods.

3. 3

   Professional erasure, not just a reset

   Before any resale, the phone goes through professional data-erasure software. The software wipes every user file, account and setting, the same way on every phone, whoever is at the counter that day.

4. 4

   Checked again before it goes back on sale

   A phone only goes back on sale once it starts on the first setup screen, with no account and none of your data on it.

5. 5

   Unsellable? Destroyed, not resold

   A device we cannot put back in circulation goes to recycling, where its storage is physically destroyed by our partners, recyclers compliant with Québec standards.

Why a simple reset is not always enough

To be fair: on a recent iPhone, Erase All Content and Settings, done right, makes your data unreadable, because it destroys the device’s encryption keys. The problems come from elsewhere: a reset done before signing out (the phone stays locked to your account), a forgotten memory card, an old unencrypted Android model, or a reset that never finished. Our erasure software does the job the same way on every phone, and we check the result.

The step by step to do it yourself: how to wipe a phone before selling, and for an iPhone in detail: erase your iPhone before selling.

• What should I do before selling my phone?

  Back up your data, unpair your Apple Watch, move your eSIM and two-factor codes, sign out of iCloud (Find My off) or your Google and Samsung accounts, then erase the phone and take out the SIM. Bring photo ID. At SubSell, every phone also goes through professional data-erasure software before it is ever resold.

• How to wipe a phone before selling?

  Back up, sign out of your accounts, then reset: on an iPhone, Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings; on a Samsung, remove your Google and Samsung accounts, then Settings → General management → Reset → Factory data reset. Take out the SIM. SubSell then wipes every phone a second time with professional software.

• How do I remove everything from an old phone?

  Sign out of every account first, then erase the phone with its built-in reset (Erase All Content and Settings on an iPhone, factory data reset on Android), take out the SIM and memory card, and remove the phone from your Apple or Google account online. Your cloud copies stay safe. At SubSell, every phone is also wiped with professional erasure software before resale.

• Does removing SIM card from phone delete everything?

  No. Removing the SIM card deletes nothing on the phone: your photos, messages, apps and accounts live in the phone’s storage and in your online accounts, not on the SIM. The SIM mostly identifies your phone line. To remove your data, sign out of your accounts and erase the phone, then keep the SIM.

• Which is the most hacked phone?

  There is no official “most hacked phone” ranking. By volume, Android phones face far more malware, largely because of their numbers and apps installed from outside official stores; iPhones are targeted less often, and when they are, it is mostly by rare spyware aimed at specific people. The biggest risks are a phone that no longer gets updates, phishing, and an old phone sold without being erased.

• Reputable stores where I can sell my used iPhone in Montréal

  A reputable store has a real address, years of history, lots of recent reviews, asks for ID, checks that the phone is not stolen and pays you on the spot with a receipt. SubSell ticks every box: same address on Beaubien since 2017, 1,700+ Google reviews at 4.9/5, 50,000+ transactions, cash on the spot, data erased before any resale.

All our answers