I have an old iPhone 11 that hasn't connected to Wi-Fi in about three years. It's still logged into my Apple ID, which I now use on my iPhone 14 Pro. I want to connect it to a Wi-Fi network, erase everything, and then give it to a family member. Is there anything I should be worried about when reconnecting to Wi-Fi after such a long time?
4 Answers
Since it's still connected to your Apple ID, it will start syncing with iCloud again. Be careful with any data you may have deleted; if you deleted photos on that old iPhone, they might be deleted from iCloud too. I recommend removing the old iPhone from your Apple account first, which is possible through the iCloud settings or the Find My app. That way, you can reset it without issues when you give it away!
Honestly, I don't see much risk here. Just power it on and erase the device. It should just work as usual without any major issues.
When you connect it to Wi-Fi, it might start syncing photos with iCloud if you had that feature enabled before. Just a heads up—if you want to erase everything safely, you don't really need to connect to Wi-Fi first; you can reset it directly. But logging out of iCloud will require an internet connection, right?
You could also restore it to factory settings using a PC or Mac. Once that's done, you can sign out of iCloud and let the new owner set it up fresh. If you have the original purchase receipt, it's a good idea to give that to them in case they ever get activation locked.
Yeah, that's correct! You definitely need Wi-Fi to log out of iCloud.