If you plan on selling or donating your smartphone and want to make sure all of your data is off of it, make sure you do more than just factory reset through the phone's OS. Security researchers picked up several phones "wiped" this way, and found tons of data.
On their blog, Security software developer Avast! highlighted the ridiculous amount information they managed to gather from just 20 used—and supposedly "wiped"—smartphones. A good deal of the information was personal, and all of it was easily retrieved.
Each of the phones had been reset using the built-in factory reset option, which their users thought wiped their data off of the device. Here's what they were able to grab anyway:
More than 40,000 photos, including: over 1,500 family photos of children, 750 photos of women in various stages of undress, and 250 selfies of the previous owner's "manhood.
More than 1,000 Google searches.
More than 750 emails and text messages.
More than 250 contact names and email addresses.
Four previous owners' identities.
One completed loan application.
If you're going to get rid of your smartphone in any way, make sure you clean off your information properly. Your phone is a treasure trove of information about you, and often includes photos, downloaded documents, app passwords and more. It's worth the time to make sure it's completely blank before you sell or give it away.
Tens of thousands of Americans sell themselves online every day | Avast! Blog
Photo by Carlos Varela.