Passing it on, or getting rid of it safely
Hand a tablet to a grandchild, sell it, or take it to be recycled, knowing that not one photograph, letter or password has gone with it.
A tablet passed on carelessly hands over rather more than the tablet. Photographs, saved passwords, the email account that can reset every other password you own.
Getting this right is four steps in a particular order, and the order is the part people get wrong. Signing out must come before erasing, because a tablet erased while still signed in stays locked to your account, and is then useless to whoever you gave it to.
Key points
- Check that your photographs and documents are held in your account before you begin
- Sign out of the account first, which is the step everybody skips
- Erase the tablet completely, knowing exactly what goes and what stays
- Hand it on, sell it or recycle it with nothing of yours left behind
What to remember
- Sign out, then erase. That one ordering is the whole of what people get wrong.
- The tablet asks you to confirm twice and to type your password. It is difficult to do this by accident.
- If it happens, it is fixable: sign in with your own password on the tablet, or sign out of that device from your account on another one.
Try this
If there is an old tablet or phone in a drawer in your house, take it out and check whether it is still signed into your account. A great many are, and it takes five minutes to put right.
Practice: Passing it on, or getting rid of it safely. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.