Industry News

How to Erase Cell Phone Data

Posted on February 14, 2011

Chances are once you get a phone back from mobile testing, it's going to have some numbers, contacts, PINs, passwords and other data on it that you don't anyone else to have. Deleting cell phone data is a little harder than popping out an older phone's SIM card (or bulk-erasing a magnetic tape), but it's not something that requires an engineer, either.

  • iPhone: Go to Settings, scroll down to bottom of screen and select Reset All Settings (you will be asked for a security code). Go to Mail, Contacts, Calendars on the Settings menu and select Delete Account. Next, go to Settings/General/Reset and select Erase All Content and Settings (or Erase iPhone). You will, of course, see a confirmation message on each of these steps, but after this process, you will have erased all cell phone data from your iPhone.

  • BlackBerry: Various generations of BB's will have various procedures for deleting information. For all software versions, though, the Desktop Manager can be used to clear data. Open the Desktop Manager, double-click Intellysinc and click Auto Start. Check only Update handheld's time and date. Cradle the device, double click on Application Loader, then click Next (you may need to enter the password). You'll see the Handheld Application Selection screen; click Next. When you get to the Handheld Data Preservation Screen, select Erase All Application Data and click Next. Select Do Not Automatically Back Up and Restore the Handheld Application Data. Click Next, and Finish.

  • Android: Clearing all information on the Android is a simple matter. Go to Menu, then Settings, then Security, then Privacy, then Factory Data Reset. You may be asked for passwords and confirmations, but there shouldn't be much more to it than that. You can format the SD card by following Menu/Settings/SD Card and phone storage/Format SD Card.

With wireless testing, privacy issues are always a concern for Vienna Channels clients. Deleting cell phone data is a must for any phone testing program!