goa.uld
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: I didn't follow Apple's instructions before selling my phone ... is this bad?

So, I realized I forgot to follow these: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5661 rules before I wiped my iphone 4 earlier today. I didn't turn off iCloud or iMessages or anything, just went to reset and wiped it clean. Has anyone else made this mistakes? Doesn't the wiping everything out take care of any data that might be connected to me? I took the simcard out too, obviously, and am about ready to ship the phone to the person that bought it. Is it possible that they will see my imessages when they set up their phone? Or is that help article just fear mongering? I guess I'll change my account password just to be safe, as the article instructs, but I'm concerned that's not enough.

 

I'm not a regular Apple user and I'm not part of the Apple community like a lot of people here, so I have a pretty dim understanding how all of this works. Appreciate any help.

iPhone 4, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on Jul 25, 2013 1:57 PM

by Ocean20,Solvedanswer
Ocean20 Ocean20
Level 6 (13,601 points)
A:

Change your passwords for iCloud and iMessage. Also Delete the phone from your profile in https://supportprofile.apple.com if you registered your phone there

Posted on Jul 25, 2013 2:00 PM

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goa.uld

Q: I didn't follow Apple's instructions before selling my phone ... is this bad?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by AAN2,

    AAN2 AAN2 Jul 25, 2013 2:00 PM in response to goa.uld
    Level 3 (640 points)
    Jul 25, 2013 2:00 PM in response to goa.uld

    If you've wiped the device you should be fine. The reason they wanted you to turn everything off was to prevent data loss. It's rare, but it does sometimes happen.

  • by Ocean20,Solvedanswer

    Ocean20 Ocean20 Jul 25, 2013 2:00 PM in response to goa.uld
    Level 6 (13,601 points)
    Jul 25, 2013 2:00 PM in response to goa.uld

    Change your passwords for iCloud and iMessage. Also Delete the phone from your profile in https://supportprofile.apple.com if you registered your phone there

  • by wjosten,

    wjosten wjosten Jul 25, 2013 2:52 PM in response to AAN2
    Level 10 (94,634 points)
    iPhone
    Jul 25, 2013 2:52 PM in response to AAN2

    AAN2 wrote:

    The reason they wanted you to turn everything off was to prevent data loss.

     

    You make this stuff up? This is the third post of yours I've seen with info that has no basis in fact.

     

    The reason Apple wants users to turn things like iMessage & FaceTime off & delete the iCloud account is to disassociate the device from their Apple ID.

  • by wjosten,

    wjosten wjosten Jul 25, 2013 2:53 PM in response to goa.uld
    Level 10 (94,634 points)
    iPhone
    Jul 25, 2013 2:53 PM in response to goa.uld

    Follow Ocean20's advice.

  • by AAN2,

    AAN2 AAN2 Jul 25, 2013 3:17 PM in response to wjosten
    Level 3 (640 points)
    Jul 25, 2013 3:17 PM in response to wjosten

    I'm sorry, I was mislead by both this article http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2110?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US and him saying that he "just went to reset and wiped it clean", which implies that he went into Settings > General > Reset > Erase all Content and Settings. Not to mention that the article that he provided actually mentions data loss in it, but not the disassociation of Apple ID's.

     

    Since the article states that it "erases user settings and information by removing the encryption key that protects the data" or "overwrites user settings and information, writing a series of ones to the data partition" I was lead to believe that all user settings and information (such as Apple ID's, iCloud accounts, and passwords for both) would be removed or overwritten on the device. And since I've seen people complaining about their iCloud data going missing after erasing all content and settings, I thought the reason that Apple would want you to turn these features off is to prevent the wipe from deleting data before the account itself, resulting in data loss.

     

    Also, since there is a different article describing the steps on how to disassociate an Apple ID from a device/computer that does not mention turning off or deleting the accounts on the device/computer (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4627) I could never have guessed that that would be why they wanted you to turn those features off. I'm curious as to what my other two posts that weren't based on fact are, as well.

  • by Ocean20,

    Ocean20 Ocean20 Jul 25, 2013 3:22 PM in response to AAN2
    Level 6 (13,601 points)
    Jul 25, 2013 3:22 PM in response to AAN2

    If I was going to prepare a phone so I could sell it Iwould do:

     

    To wipe phone

    Turn off imessage in settings/messages

    Turn off Facetime in settings/Facetime

    Delete icloud account in settings/icloud

    Erase all data and settings in settings/general/reset

    Delete the phone from your profile in https://supportprofile.apple.com if you registered your phone there

  • by wjosten,Helpful

    wjosten wjosten Jul 25, 2013 3:23 PM in response to AAN2
    Level 10 (94,634 points)
    iPhone
    Jul 25, 2013 3:23 PM in response to AAN2

    FYI:

     

    Prior to iOS 6.0, if you did not first turn off iMessage & FaceTime BEFORE wiping the phone, the phone was still associated with your Apple ID for those services. Even when sold to another person who changed numbers & setup those services using their Apple ID. iOS 6.0 "supposedly" fixed this, but we get enough posts from users indicating that this "fix" may not be all its supposed to be. That's why its advised to turn these services off, delete the iCloud account, then wipe the device.

  • by goa.uld,

    goa.uld goa.uld Jul 25, 2013 3:46 PM in response to AAN2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 25, 2013 3:46 PM in response to AAN2

    She, not a he

     

    And thanks guys, for the info. I pretty much just changed my iCloud password. I don't see any place to change the iMessage password ... am I missing something? And facetime ... I never used that, certainly didn't turn it off before wiping the phone clean - is there anything I can do retroactively?

     

    I actually don't know which iOS I have but I'm pretty sure it was the most recent that the iphone 4 (not 4s) was serviced with. Whatever that number is. Hopefully 6.0.

     

    It's pretty incredible (stupid more like it) that they wouldn't have it automatically dissociate everything from a person's accounts/ID if the entire phone was re-set ... that's at least in part the point of re-set. A clean slate. Sigh.

  • by wjosten,

    wjosten wjosten Jul 25, 2013 3:46 PM in response to goa.uld
    Level 10 (94,634 points)
    iPhone
    Jul 25, 2013 3:46 PM in response to goa.uld

    If you changed your Apple ID password, you should be good to go. There's nothing more you can do at this point.

     

    Don't lose any sleep over this, like I said, Apple "supposedly" fixed this in iOS 6.0.