how do I wipe my old iPhone of all info?
iPhone 3G, iOS 4.2
Settings> General> Reset > Erase all contents and settings.
Settings> General> Reset > Erase all contents and settings.
Does this actually do a secure erase of the content, or just delete the header info? I want to recycle my old iPhone 4, but I CAN NOT take the risk that some hacker could get access to it and recover any personal or client content. I'm hearing stories of lots of old electronics gear being snatched up in bulk and shipped to Russia and China where they recover info to use for various identity theft schemes.
Yes.
<https://www.apple.com/iphone/business/docs/iOS_Security_Feb14.pdf>
Page 8
The “Erase all content and settings” option in Settings obliterates all the keys in Effaceable Storage, rendering all user data on the device cryptographically inaccessible. Therefore, it’s an ideal way to be sure all personal informa- tion is removed from a device before giving it to somebody else or returning it for service. Important: Do not use the “Erase all content and settings” option until the device has been backed up, as there is no way to recover the erased data.
Older iPhone models, (original iPhone and iPhone 3G) do not have hardware encrypting so “Erase all content and settings” on those models does multi-pass overwrites of memory. This can take hours so the phone should be connected to a charger. If interrupted by loss of power, the process will resume when power is restored. The phone can't do anything else until the erase is complete.
Excellent news, thanks for the reference Malcolm!
how to wipe old iPhone?
