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Is your tech tattling? Here’s how to check
Sometimes, your favorite gadgets betray you. No, I’m not talking about when your phone dies at 3 p.m. I mean like the British guy whose wife found text messages to a prostitute on his iPhone that he thought he’d deleted. Now he’s suing Apple for $6 million.
Sure, that guy had it coming, but even if you’re not doing anything shady, messages, photos and other files you delete often don’t disappear right away. They usually stick around for at least a month in case you want to bring them back.
That’s a problem if you want to sell or lend your phone to someone or if you share devices with your kids or partner. Here’s how to make sure your private pictures and documents don’t come back from the digital grave.
Messages
- On iPhone, tap Filters at the top of your messages list, then Recently Deleted to bring back texts (or erase them forever).
- On Android, the default Google Messages app doesn’t have a recycle bin, so if you delete a text there, it’s gone for good.
Photos and videos
- In Photos on your iPhone, head to Albums and scroll to Recently Deleted. You can recover recently deleted photos and videos or trash them for good.
- In Google Photos, go to Library > Trash to check for and take action on deleted files.
Other files
Your phone has lockers for general files, too.
- On iPhone, open Files > Browse > Recently Deleted.
- On Android, open Files > Menu (the three lines, top left) > Trash.
Stay in sync
If you have sync turned on, your apps and devices sync with the cloud and other gadgets all the time — but there’s a lot to watch out for.
If you want to sell your device, you’ll want to know how to turn it off. And if your syncing gets turned off accidentally, something you delete on one device could stick around on another.
- On your iPhone or iPad, tap your name at the top of Settings, then pick iCloud to see what’s syncing.
- On a Mac, it’s System Settings, followed by your name and iCloud.
If you’re syncing across a mix of Windows, Android and Apple devices, it’s a little more complicated. First things first, check your sync settings in your browser.
For Chrome on Windows and macOS:
- Click the three dots in the top right corner > Settings.
- Open You and Google > Sync and Google services.
- Click Manage what you sync.
- Make sure Sync everything is selected.
If you’re using the Phone Link app on Windows to sync your Android or iPhone and want to stop syncing, make doubly sure you disconnect it from your phone.
- On your PC, click your Start menu > Phone Link.
- Click the Gear icon (top right), then choose My Devices.
- Click the three dots next to a phone and hit Remove to disconnect.
Another popular tool you may have set up if you use an Apple device on Windows is iCloud for Windows. Launch the app from your PC’s Start menu to check what’s being synced, including photos, videos and files.
Oh, and don’t forget to check syncing on any other file-sharing apps you use like OneDrive, Google Drive or Dropbox.
💜 Never trust a website with purple terms and conditions. They clearly violet your privacy.
Tags: Android, Apple, Google, iPhone
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