How to ensure I dispose of an iPhone properly

[Soubriquet]

I gave dd my old iPhone to play games on. Well, it died the other day and won’t turn back on at all.

It’s still logged into her iCloud, and the phone itself wasn’t password protected because it never left the house. Anything they required to be paid for, or downloaded is password protected.

Should I smash the screen before disposing?

I dont think smashing the screen make any difference. Id just recycle it.

Smashing the screen, just smashes the screen. You need to take out the workings in the back to be totally secure.

I was sort of hoping a smashed screen would deter anyone wanting it.

You can access the Apple ID from another device or apple online and remove data via the I cloud, change the pass word etc.
And remove that device from her iCloud.

This.

Apple will take it back and recycle it correctly.

I have 3 old phones in my bedside cabinet. If I charge them up all my info such as messages and apps, email etc are still there and as I'm not technical I have no idea how to dispose of them properly!

Do that. You can probably do a factory reset remotely.

Then, depending on how old it is, it may have a small value on somewhere like Music Magpie, as batteries, screen, connectors etc can be replaced and then the phone reused, or you can put it in a 'tech bank' at the supermarket/tip/local recycling pod and it will get assessed and repaired or recycled.

Don't smash the screen, it doesn't make it less likely your data will fall into the wrong hands and it destroys a working component that can still be reused.

Thanks! I didn’t know about remote wiping.

I doubt it will be of use to anyone. It’s an iPhone 5, so quite an old model. It was on its last legs when I gave it to dd

I would speak to Apple for advice. If you’ve got another Apple device to hand, there is an SMS chat service with Apple Support which I find really helpful. Sometimes the person on the SMS chat can help you directly and other times they suggest you call them or head to an Apple Store.

Smashed screen won’t do anything to protect the data. I would try to get it wiped before disposing of it but I’m a bit paranoid about data in that sort of way.

Use a hammer. Smash it into component parts. Hit those component parts with the hammer until they break. Place all the bits in the bin.

No one is getting that phone back to it's log in screen.

Go to settings on each phone and wipe the phone via factory reset

It will ask you to log out of your phone with your Apple ID, all apps and delete all your passwords and data on your phone.

Apple will take old devices and recycle them. Sometimes they give you money off your next purchase too!

Don't smash it! Ye Gods. Give it back to Apple and they will recycle it. Their are lots of precious metals in that phone that we don't have an unlimited store of.

And Apple already have all your info anyway!

Ah!! Thankyou I'll do this! Appreciate it.

Providing you can unlock the screen, you can then go into settings and go to factory reset. Make sure anything you want to keep is backed up before you reset, as the phone will wipe itself. Depending on the phone, it will either re-boot itself, or go straight to 'welcome' menu. If it's an iPhone you want be able to do anything with it until you've set your phone up. Other smartphones you can check it's wiped by going into settings and making sure the phone isn't registered to you. You can then recycle or sell on.

Op depending on the iPhone, you can remove it from your apple account. And then send it to recycling. Smashing the screen won't make any difference and it's easy enough to replace. Similarly it's not difficult to replace a battery. It's a buggar to replace the hard drive though, and if it suddenly stopped working I'd be more inclined to think hard drive than battery.

I don't advise smashing it with a hammer, you might damage the battery. Lithium batteries are full of unpleasant chemicals and need to be recycled/ disposed of properly.

If you smash it don't bin it. It needs to go in small electrical recycling.