Avoid giving your personal data to others when getting a new phone

Reset old phone and reset it again

ONALASKA, Wis. (WKBT) — If you are swapping out your phone for a new one you probably don’t want any of your personal information to be left on it.

Geek Squad at Best Buy in Onalaska says the best way to do that is to reset the device.

After resetting your phone turn it back on and make sure none of your information is on the phone, then reset it again.

“It’s pretty much gone for good. I mean, there’s no such thing as something permanently coming off a system, but at least, usually once you’ve gone through a restore, it’s so incredibly expensive to try to get that data back, it’s really not worthwhile for anybody. So for all intents and purposes, it is gone for good,” said Geek Squad Consultation Agent Sean Molstad.

If there are files like pictures on your phone you’d like to keep the geek squad recommends backing them up on the computer or an SD card before resetting the device.