Question regarding cell phone photos and the cloud

Understanding Data Management: What Happens When You Reset a Smartphone and Its Cloud Photos

In today’s digital age, managing our personal photos across devices and cloud services can sometimes be complex. Recently, a common question has emerged among smartphone users: When transferring data and preparing a device for a new user, what exactly happens to the stored photos—and how can we ensure they’re fully erased?

Scenario Overview

Imagine a user who recently upgraded their mobile device. They successfully transferred all photos and data from their old phone to a new one, also saving copies of important images onto a physical storage device, such as a flash drive. Now, with plans to repurpose the old device, the owner wants to perform a factory reset to clear all personal data and start fresh.

Key Questions

1. Does performing a factory reset on the old phone automatically delete all remaining photos stored locally on the device?
2. Is manual deletion of photos necessary before performing a reset?
3. How does deleting photos affect cloud-based storage? Specifically:
4. Will deleting photos from the device remove them from cloud services like Google Photos or iCloud?
5. Will this action also remove the transferred photos from the new device?

Understanding Factory Reset Functions

A factory reset, also known as a master reset, restores a device’s software settings to its original state. Typically, this process erases all data stored locally on the device’s storage, including apps, personal settings, and media files such as photos. In most cases, performing a factory reset will delete all local data—assuming no external factors interfere.

Important Considerations:

• Local vs. Cloud Storage: Photos stored solely on the device will generally be erased following a factory reset. However, if the photos are synced or backed up to a cloud service (Google Photos, iCloud, OneDrive, etc.), their fate depends on the settings:
• If the cloud storage sync is enabled, deleting photos from the device may not remove the cloud copies immediately—especially if synchronization is not set to delete files across devices.

• Conversely, deleting photos through the cloud interface or from the cloud apps themselves will remove them from all devices connected to that cloud account, including the new device.

• Manual Deletion Before Reset: To ensure that all personal photos are erased from the device, it’s advisable to delete them manually before performing a factory reset. This is particularly important if the device is synchronized with cloud services that might not automatically