How to wipe an iPhone that you're looking to sell or give away, or wipe a lost iPhone remotely

• You should wipe an iPhone of all of its data and return it to factory conditions if you are giving away, selling, or recycling an old iPhone.
• Even if you no longer have your phone, you might be able to completely erase it using the Find My feature.
• Here are two ways to erase your iPhone to protect your personal and private information.

If you're selling, giving away, or even simply recycling an old iPhone, it's important to "wipe" all the data from it, restoring it to factory conditions. This way, someone else can't recover personal or private data from your old phone.

How to wipe an iPhone you still have

Before you begin erasing your iPhone, make sure your iPhone is backed up so you can restore it to a new device. See our article "How to backup an iPhone to iCloud, to a computer through iTunes, or to an external hard drive" for details.

In addition, if you have an Apple Watch, you should unpair it from your phone as well, using the steps in "How to reset your Apple Watch and unpair it from an iPhone."

1. Sign out of iCloud and iTunes. To do that, open the Settings app and then tap your name at the top of the screen. Scroll down and tap "Sign Out." You'll need to enter your Apple ID password to complete this step.

2. Back on the main screen in the Settings app, tap "General."

3. Scroll down and tap "Reset."

4. On the Reset page, tap "Erase All Contents and Settings." If prompted, enter your Apple ID credentials to complete this step.

Your phone will restart in its original factory condition.

How to wipe an iPhone you no longer have

If you don't have your iPhone - it's lost or stolen, or you gave it away before resetting it - you can erase it remotely if you opted into Apple's Find My service and your phone is turned on and able to connect to the internet.

1. Open a web browser and go to iCloud.com/find. If necessary, sign in with your Apple ID. You can also access the Find My app on another device and erase it that way.

2. Click "All Devices" at the top of the page and select your phone.

3. Click "Erase iPhone." You may need to enter your Apple ID credentials.

If this does not work, you won't be able to wipe your phone remotely. At the very least, you should change the password to your Apple ID, which will prevent anyone who has your phone from using it with your Apple ID and accessing your iCloud information. To do that, open your Apple ID page in a web browser. Log in, and then, in the Security section, click "Change Password…"

Related coverage from Tech Reference:

• How to wipe an Android device of your personal data if you plan to sell it or give it away

• How to track your iPhone's location when it's missing or stolen, or track the location of someone else's iPhone

• How to stop Google from tracking your iPhone's location

• iOS 14 lets you direct mention someone in an iPhone Messages group chat - here's how to do it

• How to set up Face ID on your iPhone to increase the security of your device and data