The reformatted Android device can still recover data easily

Usually before selling an Android device, we need to format it to erase all the data in it and think that it will be safe. However, a recent test by Avast proved Android's "Factory Reset" mechanism is not as safe as you think.

The company bought 20 old Android phones on eBay and of course all were formatted by the old owner, but when using a software to recover data, more than 40,000 different photos were recovered, including There are no less sensitive photos and private data.

Specifically, from these 20 phones, Avast has regained:

1. More than 40,000 photos.
2. 1,500 children photos.
3. 750 photos of women in " nude " poses .
4. 250 male " nude " selfies .
5. More than 1,000 search keywords on Google.
6. 750 emails and SMS.
7. 250 contacts and email address.
8. 1 application for a loan.

Avast also said they have identified the identities of four former owners through recoverable data. To thoroughly remove this information, users need to perform data overwriting, then the old data actually disappears. Here, Avast does not forget " advertising " that avast! Their Anti-Theft has the information override function to erase data thoroughly on Android.

Avast's research also shows that iOS's machine format mechanism is safer than on Android. On the new models, when reformatting the device, the iOS operating system will delete the key used to decode the data in case when someone can recover the data, there is no way to decrypt it. On older iPhones and iPods, iOS also automatically implements a data override to ensure the safety of personal information.