Backing up an iPhone before you sell it
The backup usually fails for one reason — iCloud is full — and there is a free way around it.
Almost every iPhone backup that goes wrong goes wrong for the same reason: the free iCloud tier is 5GB and the phone has 60GB on it. Deal with that first and the rest is straightforward.
The easiest route: set up the new phone from the old one
If you have the new iPhone already, put the two next to each other and use Quick Start. It moves everything device to device, needs no iCloud storage, and finishes with both phones in front of you so you can check. Once the new phone is working, the old one can go.
Or back up to iCloud
Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Backup → Back Up Now, on Wi-Fi, plugged in. If it will not run, the storage is full. Either buy one month of the smallest paid tier — it costs less than a single lost thing — or use the option below.
Or back up to a computer
Plug the iPhone in. On a Mac, open Finder and select the phone; on Windows, use the Apple Devices app. Choose to back up to this computer, and tick Encrypt local backup — the encrypted backup is the only one that carries your saved passwords and Health data.
The two things to move by hand
WhatsApp. WhatsApp → Settings → Chats → Chat Backup → Back Up Now, inside the app.
Your authenticator. Codes for banking and work logins do not always travel in a backup. Move them from inside the app while both phones are with you.
Then check, then sign out
Read the date on the backup. Better, open the new phone and look at your photos and chats. Only then: Settings → your name → Find My → Find My iPhone → off, and sign out of your Apple ID. That is what releases Activation Lock, and it is the step that decides whether the phone can be sold at all.
Take the SIM out. Leave the erase to our agent, who resets the phone in front of you at your door before paying you.
See what your iPhone is worth
A price in about a minute, free doorstep pickup in a two-hour slot, and paid — cash or bank transfer — before our agent leaves.
Questions people ask
- My iCloud is full. How do I back up?
- Three options: set the new phone up directly from the old one with Quick Start, which needs no cloud storage at all; back up to a computer over a cable; or pay for one month of extra iCloud storage, which costs less than anything you would lose.
- How do I know the iCloud backup finished?
- Settings → your name → iCloud → iCloud Backup shows the time of the last successful backup. Read the timestamp, not the promise.
- Does the backup include WhatsApp?
- WhatsApp has its own iCloud backup, which you start inside the app under Settings → Chats → Chat Backup. Run it separately.