How to Dispose of Your Smartphone

  • September 3, 2015
  • 0

An enormous amount of money lies wasted in drawers and cupboards as a result of broken or unwanted mobile phones being discarded and forgotten. Whether you decide to trade in a mobile that is no longer required, give it to friends or family, or donate it to a charity, make sure your personal data is secure before doing so.  The following instructions will guide you through this procedure.

Clean It

Before wiping data and restoring phones to a factory condition, don’t forget to back up any information you wish to save.

To wipe and restore an Android smartphone:

  1. From the main menu of the phone, tap ‘Settings’ and then ‘SD Card and Phone Storage.’
  2. Take out and format your SD Card
  3. From the main menu of the phone tap ‘Privacy.’

To wipe and restore an iPhone:

  1. From the ‘Settings’ Menu, tap ‘General.’
  2. Tap ‘Reset’ followed by ‘Erase All Content and Settings.’

To wipe and restore a Windows Phone

  1. From the ‘Start’ screen – slide to the left
  2. Tap ‘Settings’ and then go to the ‘About’ menu.
  3. Tap ‘Reset Your Phone.’

Sell It

Having deleted all personal information from your phone you will now need to research options for selling it. Obviously some brands will retain their value better than others, and some buy back sites will offer you a reasonable price for certain brands. However, some sites will only offer you store credit or a gift card and others will give you cash, so it is worth checking this and shopping around before you make your final decision to sell. In addition, phones must be in a good condition with no water damage or cracked casings or screens. Some phone recycling sitescan offer a great price.

Donate It

You may decide to donate your old phone and there are many charities happy to accept these. Again, it may be an idea to choose a charity according to your personal preference as many distribute discarded phones to worthy causes. For example, abused women, victims of violence or senior citizens living alone or perhaps to soldiers to contact their families.

There are also schemes available which will enable you to trade in your smartphone or tablet in return for account credit or gift cards. Your provider may be able to offer some advice on this option.

However you choose to dispose of your devices, you can be sure that they will be treated in an environmentally friendly manner. As technology increases, and with people wishing to upgrade regularly and purchase newer brands and models, the number of discarded items will also increase. It is important to choose a safe and effective way to recycle or dispose of unwanted devices. Whether you select to earn a little cash back incentive or donate to a charity you can be assured that by doing this you will ultimately protect the environment and human health from toxic substances by keeping them away from landfill sites.