• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • DCMA
  • Write For Us / Submit
Tech News, Magazine & Review WordPress Theme 2017
  • Tech
    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    Can You Repair Printed Circuit Board ?

    Mastering PCB Board Repair Comprehensive Guide

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    transfer whatsapp from android to iphone

    How to Transfer WhatsApp from Android to iPhone!

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Best Book Recommendation Apps

    11 Best Book Recommendation Apps

    How to quickly divide or Split PDF files

    How to Quickly Divide or Split PDF Files

  • Gear
    • All
    • Camera
    • Laptop
    • Smartphone
    The New Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Ring Are Announced by Samsung

    The New Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Ring Are Announced by Samsung

    Exploring the Innovative Features of Pear Phones

    Exploring the Innovative Features of Pear Phones

    Latest Smart Home Gadgets for a Connected Life

    Latest Smart Home Gadgets for a Connected Life

    Eco-Friendly Products for Students

    Eco-Friendly Products for Students

    Essential Photography Equipment and Gadgets

    Mastering Your Shots: Essential Photography Equipment and Gadgets

    Level Up Your Game: Must-Have Gaming Gear!

    Level Up Your Game: Must-Have Gaming Gear!

    Trending Tags

    • Best iPhone 7 deals
    • Apple Watch 2
    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • iOS 10
    • iPhone 7
    • Sillicon Valley
  • Gaming
    Master the World of Online Gaming with the Best Gaming VPN

    Master the World of Online Gaming with 3 Best Gaming VPN

    7 Powerful Strategies to Overcome Video Game Addiction and Reclaim Your Life

    7 Powerful Strategies to Overcome Video Game Addiction and Reclaim Your Life

    Powerful Ways Xbox Cloud Gaming is Revolutionizing the Gaming World

    5 Powerful Ways Xbox Cloud Gaming is Revolutionizing the Gaming World

    9 Best Alternative Games Like Kahoot

    9 Best Alternative Games Like Kahoot

    The Top 8 Free Bubble Shooter Games for Endless Entertainment

    The Top 8 Free Bubble Shooter Games for Endless Entertainment

    Cloud Gaming Revolution: How Streaming is Changing the Future of Gaming

    Cloud Gaming Revolution: How Streaming is Changing the Future of Gaming

  • Crypto
    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    Can You Repair Printed Circuit Board ?

    Mastering PCB Board Repair Comprehensive Guide

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    transfer whatsapp from android to iphone

    How to Transfer WhatsApp from Android to iPhone!

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Best Book Recommendation Apps

    11 Best Book Recommendation Apps

    How to quickly divide or Split PDF files

    How to Quickly Divide or Split PDF Files

  • Business
    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    Can You Repair Printed Circuit Board ?

    Mastering PCB Board Repair Comprehensive Guide

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    transfer whatsapp from android to iphone

    How to Transfer WhatsApp from Android to iPhone!

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Best Book Recommendation Apps

    11 Best Book Recommendation Apps

    How to quickly divide or Split PDF files

    How to Quickly Divide or Split PDF Files

No Result
View All Result
Geeky Insider
  • Tech
    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    Can You Repair Printed Circuit Board ?

    Mastering PCB Board Repair Comprehensive Guide

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    transfer whatsapp from android to iphone

    How to Transfer WhatsApp from Android to iPhone!

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Best Book Recommendation Apps

    11 Best Book Recommendation Apps

    How to quickly divide or Split PDF files

    How to Quickly Divide or Split PDF Files

  • Gear
    • All
    • Camera
    • Laptop
    • Smartphone
    The New Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Ring Are Announced by Samsung

    The New Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Ring Are Announced by Samsung

    Exploring the Innovative Features of Pear Phones

    Exploring the Innovative Features of Pear Phones

    Latest Smart Home Gadgets for a Connected Life

    Latest Smart Home Gadgets for a Connected Life

    Eco-Friendly Products for Students

    Eco-Friendly Products for Students

    Essential Photography Equipment and Gadgets

    Mastering Your Shots: Essential Photography Equipment and Gadgets

    Level Up Your Game: Must-Have Gaming Gear!

    Level Up Your Game: Must-Have Gaming Gear!

    Trending Tags

    • Best iPhone 7 deals
    • Apple Watch 2
    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • iOS 10
    • iPhone 7
    • Sillicon Valley
  • Gaming
    Master the World of Online Gaming with the Best Gaming VPN

    Master the World of Online Gaming with 3 Best Gaming VPN

    7 Powerful Strategies to Overcome Video Game Addiction and Reclaim Your Life

    7 Powerful Strategies to Overcome Video Game Addiction and Reclaim Your Life

    Powerful Ways Xbox Cloud Gaming is Revolutionizing the Gaming World

    5 Powerful Ways Xbox Cloud Gaming is Revolutionizing the Gaming World

    9 Best Alternative Games Like Kahoot

    9 Best Alternative Games Like Kahoot

    The Top 8 Free Bubble Shooter Games for Endless Entertainment

    The Top 8 Free Bubble Shooter Games for Endless Entertainment

    Cloud Gaming Revolution: How Streaming is Changing the Future of Gaming

    Cloud Gaming Revolution: How Streaming is Changing the Future of Gaming

  • Crypto
    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    Can You Repair Printed Circuit Board ?

    Mastering PCB Board Repair Comprehensive Guide

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    transfer whatsapp from android to iphone

    How to Transfer WhatsApp from Android to iPhone!

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Best Book Recommendation Apps

    11 Best Book Recommendation Apps

    How to quickly divide or Split PDF files

    How to Quickly Divide or Split PDF Files

  • Business
    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    How Drones and 360-Degree Cameras Are Changing Bridal Photoshoots

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    120+ Best Creative Names for Team at Work

    Can You Repair Printed Circuit Board ?

    Mastering PCB Board Repair Comprehensive Guide

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    Breaking Barriers Federal Inmate Texting Service

    transfer whatsapp from android to iphone

    How to Transfer WhatsApp from Android to iPhone!

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Understanding the Role of Humidity Chambers in Climate Testing

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Everything You Get to Know About Movember Beard Memes

    Best Book Recommendation Apps

    11 Best Book Recommendation Apps

    How to quickly divide or Split PDF files

    How to Quickly Divide or Split PDF Files

Submit
Geeky Insider
No Result
View All Result

How to secure your personal data before getting your phone fixed

by Staff Writer
October 31, 2022
in Smartphone
Reading Time: 6 mins read
How to secure your personal data before getting your phone fixed
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comment on this story

Comment

Shattered screens. Bum batteries. A too-long dip in the toilet.

Table of Contents

Toggle
  • READ ALSO
  • The iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS Feature Is Now Live
  • Testing Apple’s new iPhone 14 Emergency SOS via Satellite
  • Keep control of your phone number

READ ALSO

Analyst: iPhone 14 Plus Sales Lagged Behind iPhone 13 Mini, Strategy 'Failed'

Apple’s Emergency SOS Service for iPhone 14 Goes Live in US and Canada

November 16, 2022
Apple is upgrading the iPhone 14 Pro's always-on display

Apple is upgrading the iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on display

November 16, 2022

The phones we poke at every day can be surprisingly hardy, but invincible? Not even close. And even though companies such as Apple and Samsung have launched self-service programs for some straightforward fixes, sometimes a trip to a local repair shop — 0r gleaming gadget store — is unavoidable. Just don’t forget about securing your personal data first.

After all, our phones are about as personal as tech gets. And when you have to turn that device over to someone else — someone you usually don’t even know — it’s worth taking every precaution. (That’s especially true when you have to mail in your phone for repairs, since it could run into even more people in transit.)

The next time you have to get your phone fixed, be sure to keep these steps in mind before dropping it off.

Keep control of your phone number

Unless you’re fairly sure your repair job will be a quick one, you’ll probably want to make sure you can still stay connected. If your phone still has a physical SIM card — that tiny sliver of plastic and silicon that stores your phone number — you can remove it and pop it into another phone to use as needed.

Not everyone will be that lucky.

Some newer smartphones — including all of Apple’s new iPhone 14 models sold in the United States — use “embedded” SIMs instead of those fiddly bits of plastic. That means you can’t walk out of that repair shop and easily slip your phone number into another device.

Our advice? The moment you know you’ll have to fork over your phone for repairs, call your wireless carrier to figure out your options. If you’re lucky, you can temporarily transfer your service to another phone that works with an eSIM — that includes iPhones from the XR and XS generation, newer Samsung Galaxy S phones from the S20 onward and all but the first Google Pixel phone.

If that’s not an option, you may be able to reactivate a physical SIM card that’s still wedged inside your last phone to use temporarily. And if all else fails, you may have to venture to a carrier store to get a physical SIM to use in one of your older phones until you get your repaired one back.

Apple’s iPhone 14: Dependable and boring, and that’s okay

There’s only one way to be absolutely sure a repair technician can’t poke around in your files: get rid of all of them before you hand your phone over. Here’s how to make that happen safely.

1. Back up your phone. For iPhones, you can choose to either back up everything to iCloud or directly to a computer with a USB cable. We recommend the latter, as it’s usually a lot faster.

Things can be a little trickier for Android phones; you can back up your installed apps, messages, preferences and more to your Google account, but you’ll have to make sure your photos and important files are saved somewhere else. Google Photos and Google Drive are obvious choices, but you may also want to store files on your computer instead. (For a brief video guide, check out our Quick Fix videos here.)

2. Erase your phone. Once you’re sure your important files are stored somewhere safe, wipe your phone entirely. On iPhones, open the Settings app, tap General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Contents and Settings. Different Android phones organize things their own way — you can open the Settings app, tap System or General management, select Reset, then choose the option for a Factory Data Reset.

3. Restore your phone. Once your repaired (or replaced, or new) phone is in your hands, begin by setting it up as normal. At some point during the setup process, you’ll be asked if you want to restore from a backup. Be sure to pick the right — in this case, probably the most recent — one!

Look, if you’re giving your phone to someone — anyone — to work on away from your supervision, you should seriously consider the backup-erase-restore process. But what if your phone is in such bad shape that you can’t even really use it?

Don’t worry — it happens to the best of us. And there are still a few precautions you can take, even without directly touching your phone.

If your phone still turns on

Android phones and iPhones that still turn on and connect to the internet leave us with some helpful options. If you’ve previously set up your device to back up to iCloud or Google One automatically, you can check the last time that’s happened — here are the instructions from Apple and Google — and wait for the next auto-backup if needed.

Maybe it turns out you have a workable backup after all, or maybe you just want to play things as safely as you can. Either way, you can also remotely erase an iPhone or Android phone from the comfort of your computer.

If you have an Android phone that seems like a step too far, there’s one more thing to try: remotely logging out of your Google account. That ensures that others can’t see anything you have stored in, say, your Gmail or Google Drive’s cloud storage. Here’s how to do it from a computer:

  1. View your account settings at myaccount.google.com
  2. Click on the “Security” option on the left side of the screen
  3. Scroll down to the box labeled “Your devices,” then click on “Manage all devices”
  4. Click the name of the device you want to log out of, followed by “Sign out”

If your phone won’t turn on

We hate to say it, but there’s not much you can do if this is the case. If you’re really concerned about what remains on your phone, you could try to remotely erase the phone the way we described above — should the phone turn on and connect to the internet, it will automatically try to reset itself.

For more basic repairs such as screen replacements and battery swaps, going to a local repair shop or a chain like uBreakiFix is totally fine. But if you find yourself in a situation like this where your phone well and truly won’t come back to life, the best play might be to go through the company that made it for a repair — if only because it improves the chances of getting a full replacement.

Source by www.washingtonpost.com

Related Posts

The New Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Ring Are Announced by Samsung
Smartphone

The New Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Ring Are Announced by Samsung

July 11, 2024
Exploring the Innovative Features of Pear Phones
Smartphone

Exploring the Innovative Features of Pear Phones

October 25, 2023
Analyst: iPhone 14 Plus Sales Lagged Behind iPhone 13 Mini, Strategy 'Failed'
Smartphone

Apple’s Emergency SOS Service for iPhone 14 Goes Live in US and Canada

November 16, 2022
Apple is upgrading the iPhone 14 Pro's always-on display
Smartphone

Apple is upgrading the iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on display

November 16, 2022

Recommended.

Calendar pages flipping through months. [time / past / future / history / what

Tech event calendar 2022: Upcoming US shows, conferences, and IT expos

July 12, 2022
Microsoft Teams Won’t Open on Your Computer? 9 Fixes to Try

Microsoft Teams Won’t Open on Your Computer? 9 Fixes to Try

October 14, 2022

Trending.

No Content Available
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • DCMA
  • Write For Us / Submit
Contact us for submission queries. editor[at]geekyinsider.com.
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Review
  • Apple
  • Gaming
  • Gadget and Gear
    • Camera
    • Smartphone
  • Microsoft
  • Security