A study has revealed that 61 percent of consumers don't get rid of their old handsets predominantly due to privacy concerns.
Lookout's nationwide Google Consumer Survey found that a considerable proportion of cellphone owners keep their old mobile device. Apparently, should you line up these handsets across the country end-to-end, there would be a trail from San Francisco to the North Pole and back.
One of the major reasons of consumers keeping old cellphones is due to privacy. Many of those surveyed said they didn't wish to throw an old phone away as it may contain personal information or due to the risk of personal information being exposed.
27 percent said they don't know what to do with the device after they've replaced it, while six percent of consumers want access to information and apps stored on the handset.
Lookout suggested several methods in how to give one's old phone a purpose:
- Save the data. Some might want to save photos and other content from an old phone, and there are several options available, depending largely on the device type. For Android, Lookout Premium backs up photos and contacts and can restore data to a new device. iPhone owners can use iCloud to back up and store important data.
- Wipe it clean. It’s important to remove data off of your unwanted phone before reselling, donating or recycling. For Android, Lookout Premium can wipe personal information, restoring the phone to its original settings. For other device types, do a Google search on how to factory reset. Factory resetting will restore an old phone to its original state, erasing apps, photos, contacts, call logs and more.
- Ditch the SIM. If your phone is equipped with a SIM card, it’s important that you remove it. Doing so will further ensure that none of your phone’s previous information will be passed on to a future owner.
Around 86 out of 100 people in the world own at least one cell phone; there's over 6 billion cell phone subscribers.
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Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide.
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bavman I wipe my old ones clean and sell it every year I upgrade. I find, that in the case of smartphones at least, it can cover anywhere between 75-100% of a new subsidized phone's price. For example I sold an old evo 3D phone last summer to buy a galaxy s3...difference was only $40...not too shabby. If you wipe internal NAND and the microsd card correctly you shouldn't have to worry about your privacy.Reply -
A Bad Day I rarely upgraded because it's too much of a hassle to adjust to the new layout (and flaws). I used my dad's old Nokia flip-phone (now 11 years old) until a few months ago and replaced it with my mom's old phone (now 3-5 years old).Reply
And who knew that swapping the SIM card from one phone to the other would cause several bugs. Not only I had to redo the contact information list because a bug completely wiped all of the names and numbers from the card, I'm still dealing with my current phone's tendency of checking the cloud for several minutes for my contact information when I never setup such account before allowing me to access it. -
NuclearShadow I do the evil socialist thing. I give my old phone to someone I know if my old one is better than their current or if theirs got damaged and so on. I am truly a evil socialist, fascist, anti-Amrican liberal Stalinist, Nazi. Sharing & caring it's pure f'in evil kids!Reply
This message was brought to you and made possible by Capitalism, The Republican party, and by consumers wh*res like you, thank you. -
Ananan I always save my latest phone in case something happens to the new one (I never buy the stupid insurance).Reply -
tipoo If it's worth any significant amount of money, I sell it, if it's broken I recycle it, if it's working but worth little it falls victim to my experiments.Reply -
house70 Hey, Zak, in case you didn't know, even for Android one can factory-reset one's phone without having to buy that Lookout app (a very good app, don't get me wrong, but not really needed to achieve this goal). Don't make it sound like Android users have to buy an app, whereas the rest of the world get their factory reset option for free from the manufacturer.Reply
Why don't you stick to your Apple guns, huh?
NuclearShadowI do the evil socialist thing. I give my old phone to someone I know if my old one is better than their current or if theirs got damaged and so on. I am truly a evil socialist, fascist, anti-Amrican liberal Stalinist, Nazi. Sharing & caring it's pure f'in evil kids!This message was brought to you and made possible by Capitalism, The Republican party, and by consumers wh*res like you, thank you.
LOL, good one. I do the same (unless the phone is very old and decrepit...).