how can I delete my messages on my iPhone completely? 28 February 2017 at 7:09AM in Techie Stuff 13 replies 3K views

iPooday

what to do if I want to sell my old iphone 5 online? I know I need to delete sensitive data, but is it enough to perform the delete option? anybody can recover my deleted data with some tools?

d0nkeyk0ng

I would do a factory reset. Would be enough for most people.

If it's that sensitive, then just destroy the phone. Anything less and it would be recoverable by the most determined of individuals.

RumRat

+1 for the reset.................To be honest, no one is going to even try to salvage your boring messages (They are to anyone else ) so no worries.
No record of anyone trawling cash converters for individuals message contents...:D

Strider590

iPooday wrote: »

what to do if I want to sell my old iphone 5 online? I know I need to delete sensitive data, but is it enough to perform the delete option? anybody can recover my deleted data with some tools?

Apple iPhone sends your data to a 3rd party over in the US, nobody really knows why, but the fact is that anything you do on an iPhone is shared almost instantly, so if your aim is to erase your data permanently so that nobody can ever see it, then your too late. If you just want to stop the next user seeing it, then do a factory reset.

Roland_Sausage

Strider590 wrote: »

Apple iPhone sends your data to a 3rd party over in the US, nobody really knows why, but the fact is that anything you do on an iPhone is shared almost instantly, so if your aim is to erase your data permanently so that nobody can ever see it, then your too late. If you just want to stop the next user seeing it, then do a factory reset.

What a load of nonsense.

If that was true, then why did the FBI have so much difficulty trying to gain access to the San Bernardino shooter's phone?

Mr_Singleton

Roland_Sausage wrote: »

What a load of nonsense.

If that was true, then why did the FBI have so much difficulty trying to gain access to the San Bernardino shooter's phone?

I agree YOU have written a load of nonsense.

Do you anything about the San Bernardino shooters case? If you did you'd know why the FBI went to Apple.

paddyrg

Some Apple products default away from SMS if communicating with other some products, but use a different messaging platform. That's why you can get the 'other person is typing dots'. All those messages go through their central servers, SMS don't (and go through the phone network)

Strider590

Roland_Sausage wrote: »

What a load of nonsense.

If that was true, then why did the FBI have so much difficulty trying to gain access to the San Bernardino shooter's phone?

Aside from Apples own software, the Facebook app (as one example) has full access to your SMS, it did for years on iPhone and has on Android for the last few years (unless like me you refuse to install the new versions).
Whether the FBI gets your data or not, is a moot point, the fact is that your data still leaving your device and being used by 3rd parties, for purposes that you have NO control over.

Undervalued

Long before the internet was even thought of and computers had floppy disks, somebody described a computer as being like "an unlocked filing cabinet with a built in photocopier"!

I wonder what they would say now?

udenyyp

For iPhone 5 with iOS 8 and below, there are chances that the data can be recovered by special programs. However, with the latest iOS 9+, there is no way to do that.

iPooday

udenyyp wrote: »

For iPhone 5 with iOS 8 and below, there are chances that the data can be recovered by special programs. However, with the latest iOS 9+, there is no way to do that.

But i still worry that someone could retrieve my data, I need a tool that can wipe my iPhone data permanently.