I recently sold my iPhone 12 after doing a factory reset, so it should have been fresh and ready for a new user. However, the buyer just contacted me, asking for my login information or needing me to remove the phone from "Find My". I'll do that soon, but I'm confused about whether resetting the phone should have automatically removed it from my account. Is it safe to remove it from "Find My", or should I be worried that my data might still be on the device? It's showing as "phone locked to owner" for the buyer, and I'm really concerned about potential data compromise.
3 Answers
You can safely remove it from "Find My". When you do that, the phone will unlock. It's common for this to happen if you didn't log out of Find My before the reset, which might cause confusion afterward.
If you reset the phone and got to the colorful hello screen, it's wiped and should be ready to sell. But remember, to fully bypass the anti-theft measures, you need to enter your Apple ID password when prompted during reset.
Thanks for clarifying! I'm a bit stressed about everything, but I’ll just focus on removing it from Find My to finalize things.
A factory reset itself doesn't remove iCloud. In the future, always log out of iCloud before resetting. Since you didn't log out, your account may still be linked, so definitely check before removing it from Find My.
So my account could still be on the phone? What happens if I remove it now?
I just did the factory reset without logging out. Is it really safe to remove it from Find My? I thought I followed all the steps for selling.