Protect Your Business Secrets: A Solopreneur’s Crash Course in Apple Device Disposal

Introduction to Disposing Old Apple Devices

Ever wondered what to do with your old Mac, iPhone, or iPad once it is past its prime? 

Today, we’re diving deep into how you can safely and responsibly dispose of your Apple devices, keeping your business data secure. 

By the end of this episode, you will have a step-by-step guide to ensure your data is safe, your old devices are reset properly, and you will learn some insider tips to make the process smooth and hassle-free.

I’ll unpack all of this after the intro.

Welcome to Macpreneur Podcast

Hello, hello, and welcome to episode 102 of the Macpreneur podcast. Whether it’s your first time or you’re a long-time listener, I appreciate that you carve out some time in your busy solopreneur schedule. I’ve created Macpreneur to help as many solopreneurs as possible save time and money running their businesses on their Macs.

Now, in order to give you the most relevant Mac productivity tips and information, I need to know how well you’re currently dealing with the three killers of Mac productivity. Namely, unnecessary clicks, repetitive typing, and file clutter.

For that, just visit macpreneur.com/tips and answer a few questions, which will take you less than two minutes.

After submitting your answers, you will receive personalized time-saving tips based on your results. 

Once again, visit macpreneur.com/tips and start boosting your efficiency today.

Importance of Secure Disposal

Apple devices are known for their longevity, but there comes a time when they no longer receive security updates. And for solopreneurs, this is a big risk, especially if the device holds business-related data.

And the challenge is how to properly dispose of these devices while ensuring that all your personal and business information is wiped clean.

And so, the solution is to reset your Apple devices to factory settings, which can vary slightly depending on whether you’re dealing with an iPhone, iPad, or a Mac.

So we’ll walk through the process step by step, ensuring that you cover all bases from backups to the final reset.

This episode is split into three parts. We will start with iPhones and iPads, then cover newer Macs, and in practice, most Macs released since 2018. Then finally, older Macs, most of them released before 2018, as well as the 2019 iMac.

Resetting iPhones and iPads

Okay. iPhones and iPads are the easiest to deal with, but before resetting an iPhone or iPad, I recommend manually triggering a last iCloud backup and also making a local backup on a Mac or a Windows PC.

Why the local backup? Because the Terms of Service of iCloud state that iCloud backups are kept for a maximum of 180 days after it’s turned off.

So if you ever needed to restore your old device backup onto another one more than 6 months after resetting it, the only solution will be by using a local backup.

The process to reset an iPhone or iPad to factory settings is very simple. Step number one, you open the Settings app, you visit General, and you scroll to the bottom. Step number two, you tap on Transfer or Reset. It could be simply called Reset on older iPhones. Step number three, you tap on Erase all content and settings.

And step number four, you enter your Apple account password. This will turn off Find My, and then you will follow the instructions for the rest.

After the iPhone or the iPad has been rebooted, it will be ready to be set up again.

Resetting Newer Macs with Erase Assistant

Now let’s have a look at newer Macs, and in particular, those supporting a feature called Erase Assistant.

So Erase Assistant offers the same seamless process on Mac as what is possible with iPhone and iPad, plus a few more.

So it will erase all user accounts and their data, not just your own user account, and it will erase the Bootcamp volume if you installed Windows alongside macOS.

Now, this feature was introduced with macOS 12 Monterey, so if your Mac is still on Big Sur or earlier, and it supports Monterey, upgrading to Monterey could be worthwhile.

I say could be because not all Macs running macOS 12 Monterey can use Erase Assistant.

Only two types of Macs can. The first one are Apple Silicon Macs. So if you have an M1, M2, M3, or M4 kind of device, you will be covered, but for Intel-based Macs, only those with a T2 security chip, like my 2020 iMac, can do it as well.

So basically, all Macs produced since 2018 with one exception, the 2019 iMac.

Now, to check whether your Intel-based Mac has a T2 security chip, check out these official Apple support pages available at support.apple.com/103265. Don’t worry, I will put a link in the show notes.

Now, before resetting your Mac, I strongly recommend manually triggering at least a last Time Machine backup, and also making a bootable clone of the internal hard drive.

I talked about bootable clones in episode 101, and my tool of choice for that is Carbon Copy Cloner.

So why make a bootable clone before resetting the device? Because it’s faster to restore from a clone than from Time Machine. And also, it would allow you to boot from the clone to access some settings that are very hard to get by browsing just the backup.

And if some of your business-critical apps require a paid license, double-check whether you need to unlicense your old Mac before being able to use those apps on your new Mac.

In some cases, the number of devices that can be licensed is limited. So, by removing the license now, it can prevent issues down the road.

And this is one of the reasons why I’ve started using Setapp. 

In case you don’t know Setapp, it’s a subscription service that gives access to a catalog of more than 240 Mac apps. 

The base plan covers one Mac, the intermediate plan covers one Mac and four iOS devices, and the plan that I have, called Power User, covers four Macs and four iOS devices.

What is great is that I don’t have to worry about software licenses anymore, as everything is handled under a single subscription. 

And even if one of my devices dies on me, I can simply log into the Setapp admin panel and disconnect the dead device remotely. It’s super quick and easy. 

Normally, you can only try Setapp for free for 7 days, but if you use the promo code ‘macpreneur’ at sign up, the free trial period is extended to 30 days.

Now to get this special bonus at no cost to you, just visit macpreneur.com/setapp in one word.

And you will see that the promo code Macpreneur will be pre-filled for you. 

Just click on the continue button, then create a Setapp account using either your Apple ID, your Google account, or by submitting your name, email address, and the password of your choice.

Once again, visit macpreneur.com/setapp to start streamlining how you manage your software licenses today.

The process to reset a Mac supporting Erase Assistant is pretty straightforward.

On macOS 12 Monterey, the first step is to click on the Apple menu, then on System Preferences. Step two, click on the System Preferences menu at the top.

Step number three, click on Erase all content and settings, same wording as with the iPhone and the iPad. And step number four, enter your administrator account password.

After that, you will review what will get erased. And then click on Continue and follow the instructions.

On macOS 13 Ventura or later, the first step is again to click on the Apple menu, but then you will go to System Settings.

Step number two, you will click on General in the sidebar.

And step number three, you will click on Transfer or Reset.

Step number four, you click on Erase all content and settings.

Step number five, you enter your administrator account password.

And then, step six, you review what will get erased, you click on continue, and then you follow the instruction.

After rebooting, your Mac will be ready to be configured as new.

Resetting Older Macs

Now, in some cases, the Erase Assistant might tell you that it cannot do its job. In that case, you will need to follow the same process as for Macs that don’t support Erase Assistant, which means Macs released before 2018, as well as the 2019 iMac.

The same thing applies: make a last backup of your iMachine, create a bootable clone of your internal drive, and then unlicense your business-critical apps before doing anything else.

The process here has two main phases. Phase number one needs to be done by logging into each of the Mac’s user accounts, and phase number two requires rebooting into macOS Recovery.

The goal of phase one is to remove all ties to iCloud and other Apple services. So, if your Mac is running macOS 10.14 Mojave or earlier, you will launch iTunes, then visit the Account menu at the top, then Authorizations, and then click on “Deauthorize this computer.” You will need to enter your Apple ID and password.

The next step is to sign out of iCloud by visiting System Settings or System Preferences. If your Mac is running macOS 10.15 Catalina or later, click on your Apple ID. For macOS 10.14 Mojave or earlier, click on the iCloud option.

Afterward, sign out of iMessage by opening the Messages app. Use the keyboard shortcut Command + Comma to open the Preferences pane. Click on the iMessage tab at the top, and then click on “Sign Out.” Enter your administrator account password to validate.

If you plan to keep any Bluetooth accessory for your new Mac, such as a keyboard or a mouse, and the old Mac will stay close by after being reset, it’s best to manually unpair those Bluetooth devices.

Obviously, if you have a desktop Mac and need to unpair the keyboard, mouse, or trackpad, it’s best to do that operation from a wired keyboard or mouse. Otherwise, you won’t be able to use your Mac and finish the rest of the procedure.

Repeat all those steps for all user accounts configured on that Mac.

Now, the goal of phase two is to completely erase the internal hard drive and then reinstall a fresh copy of macOS.

Start by shutting down your Mac, then reboot into macOS recovery, which I covered in episode 101. The process is slightly different depending on whether you have an Apple Silicon Mac or an Intel-based one, but I will put all the links in the show notes. I recommend watching or checking episode 101 for the procedure.

Use Disk Utility from macOS Recovery to erase the internal hard drive of your Mac. Again, I will put the links in the show notes.

Don’t restart your Mac yet. Instead, choose the option to reinstall macOS and follow the instructions.

Once this is finished, your Mac will be almost ready to be set up again. If you have an Intel-based Mac, you will need to clear user settings from memory and restore some security features. This is done by resetting what is called NVRAM (non-volatile RAM).

To do that, shut down your Mac, turn it on again, then immediately press and hold four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. Wait for about 20 seconds before releasing those four keys, during which time the Mac will reboot more than once, including making the startup sound.

It’s normal to hear the startup sound once or twice. Just count slowly to 20, then release the four keys.

As you have noticed, this process is much more complicated than with Erase Assistant. That’s why, in my opinion, it’s best to upgrade a compatible Mac to macOS 12 Monterey or later after the backup and cloning and before resetting the device.

Final Tips and Recap

Before concluding this episode, there’s one more thing I’d like to mention: on top of making sure that no one can access data from your old Apple device, especially those stuck at older versions of iOS or macOS.

Keeping it linked to iCloud could prevent you from activating newer security features like advanced data protection, for instance.

And the same applies to newer productivity features in tools like Reminders or Apple Notes because those are usually not backward compatible.

So to recap, disposing of your old Apple devices safely involves backing up your data, resetting them to factory settings, and ensuring that you have removed all personal data and licenses.

By following these steps, you can upgrade your device with peace of mind, knowing that your sensitive business information is secure.

Conclusion and Next Episode Teaser

If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a fellow solopreneur and DM them on Instagram. My handle is @MacpreneurFM.

So that’s it for today. In the next episode, I will discuss how to protect your online accounts.

So make sure to subscribe or follow this podcast to get it automatically next week.

And until next time, I’m Damien Schreurs, wishing you a great day.

Thank you for listening to the Macpreneur Podcast. If you’ve enjoyed the show, please leave a review and share it with a friend right now.