What Happens to My Photos When I Sell My iPhone?
If you erase the phone the right way, the buyer gets none of your photos. Your copies stay in iCloud and on your new phone. The risk is skipping the erase, or clearing photos by hand with iCloud Photos on.
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What do I need to know?
- Back up first. Apple's order is to back up, transfer to your new device, then remove your personal information.
- Erase, do not delete. Deleting photos with iCloud Photos on deletes them on your other devices.
- Erasing turns off Find My and Activation Lock. The buyer can then set the phone up as their own.
What does the buyer see if I erase it?
Apple's steps end with Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings. Before that, you sign out of iCloud and, if you move to a non-Apple phone, deregister iMessage.
After the erase, remove the old phone from your list of trusted devices. Apple's full list is on its sell, give away or trade in page.
What happens to my photos in iCloud?
They stay. Apple says that with Optimize Storage, full-resolution originals live in iCloud. Your new phone gets them when you sign in.
Check that iCloud Photos finished uploading before you erase. A full iCloud blocks new uploads, and our guide on a full iCloud explains what stops.
What is the mistake to avoid?
Do not delete photos one by one to "clear" the phone. Apple says that with iCloud Photos on, deleting from one device deletes the photos on your other devices.
They sit in Recently Deleted for 30 days, then they are gone. Erase All Content and Settings is the step that clears the phone itself.
What about private photos?
Move them into a vault before you sell, and keep the recovery phrase on paper. A vault is a second layer if a step goes wrong.
It does not replace the erase. Everything else on the phone still goes to the next owner if you skip it.
What this doesn't protect against
An erase does not recall photos you already sent or shared. It does not protect your iCloud account, so use a strong Apple Account password. If you lose both your vault pattern and your recovery phrase, the vault is gone.
Do it with Cryptile
Cryptile has no account and no server, and the developer never holds your keys. An encrypted iCloud backup lets you restore the vault on your new phone with your 9-word recovery phrase.
Cryptile is free to start. Cryptile Send, Files-app access, shared vaults and sync are coming and are not available yet.