Be careful when you sell that smartphone!

[RogerS]

This is Nigel.

How do I know this ? Well, I was browsing through my Photos library this morning and out of curiosity looked in an album called 'Selfies'. Now I've never taken a selfie in my life. Nor do I intend to. So you can imagine my surprise to see 54 selfies of someone I do not know !

I bought Nigel's secondhand iPhone 6S. He didn't clear it down properly. :lol:

 

[akirk]

there is usually an option to return to factory default - wipes everything

 

[RogerS]

there is usually an option to return to factory default - wipes everything

Indeed there is. But if you don't use it !

 

[SammyQ]

Same applies to hard drives. My father acquired one that I had to rapidly do one of those '7-repetition' wipe and reformat jobs. Previous owner's entertainment tastes were all too evident....
S.

 

[TheUnicorn]

Same applies to hard drives. My father acquired one that I had to rapidly do one of those '7-repetition' wipe and reformat jobs. Previous owner's entertainment tastes were all too evident....
S.

sound dubious, my main concern in using a second hand drive would be viruses and the like

 

[doctor Bob]

DO NOT OPEN any file labelled "**** pics" .......... they won't be photos of his mate Richard.

 

[transatlantic]

Surely the real question is why didn't you factory reset it when you bought it?

Aside from the fact that a few selfie photos should be the least of your worries in regard to potential exposed personal details

 

[Andy Kev.]

Roger's post is a useful reminder though.

I am baffled though that somebody didn't clear their phone. When I replaced my iphone and gave the old one to a friend, the first thing I did was to find out on the internet what steps you should take to return it to the original settings. It's not exactly rocket science.

 

[SammyQ]

sound dubious, my main concern in using a second hand drive would be viruses and the like

Precisely Unicorn. Nasty trojans was my first thought and it was a quick skelly at the drive USB'ed to an ancient laptop (that didn't matter if it got compromised) with them in mind that led to my discovery.
No viruses, no trojans amazingly enough, considering the files that WERE on it....The fella had just done a 'delete all' number on it. He didn't realise that only removed the 'address' for each file, hunnerds'n'hunnerds of actual files were still there and needed formatted over a few times to clear them thoroughly.
Shows to go you, eh?

Sam

 

[TheUnicorn]

Roger's post is a useful reminder though.

I am baffled though that somebody didn't clear their phone. When I replaced my iphone and gave the old one to a friend, the first thing I did was to find out on the internet what steps you should take to return it to the original settings. It's not exactly rocket science.

I guess, like with anything, you have no know the risks before you can address them

 

[Sideways]

There's always the option to erase hard disks and memory with a lump hammer Foolproof and very satisfying.

 

[Droogs]

I used to enjoy taking a plasma torch to all the uber classified ones that had to be destroyed even after having a "government wipe" used on them. was lots of fun, though did think of all the evidence I might be getting rid off.
Often wondered if one of them had thelocation of lord lucan on it

 

[RogerS]

Surely the real question is why didn't you factory reset it when you bought it?

Aside from the fact that a few selfie photos should be the least of your worries in regard to potential exposed personal details

It had been taken back to the Hello screen. Reasonable to assume that it had been reset.

 

[OldWood]

I used to enjoy taking a plasma torch to all the uber classified ones that had to be destroyed even after having a "government wipe" used on them. was lots of fun, though did think of all the evidence I might be getting rid off.
Often wondered if one of them had thelocation of lord lucan on it

That wiouldn't have been at the large electronics company on the north side of the city would It? The norm on the site that I worked at was to use the workshop's metal cutting bandsaw watched by a government official.

 

[Andy]

you are probably both logged in to the same apple icloud account - you need to log out on your phone and create yourself a new account

 

[Droogs]

Near there but actually at as it was then HQ Scotland at Cragiehall.

 

[RogerS]

you are probably both logged in to the same apple icloud account - you need to log out on your phone and create yourself a new account

Impossible for that to happen, Andy. I set thge phone up with my account.

 

[transatlantic]

It had been taken back to the Hello screen. Reasonable to assume that it had been reset.

Not really.

You bought a phone from a random person, I suspect from ebay or the likes? Who knows what they might have put on there.

Unless you bought it brand new from a reputable retailer, ALWAYS manually wipe it yourself.

 

[RogerS]

Not really.

You bought a phone from a random person, I suspect from ebay or the likes? Who knows what they might have put on there.

Unless you bought it brand new from a reputable retailer, ALWAYS manually wipe it yourself.

LOL...but you can't reset it because it's already been reset. At least as far as the previous owner took it...since when you turn it on, you get the Hello screen and have to start initialising all the settings. At this point in time, you can't reset it. You have to set it up first. True..I guess one could then go find the definitive factory reset, choose that and then start all over again. But, of course, by that time if there was anything dodgy on the phone then it will already be too late.

 

[transatlantic]

If it had already been reset fully then how were you seeing the photos?

I don't have an iPhone, but I assume there are different modes of reseting? fully data wipe, and partial settings wipe?