Safe Data-Wipe
The day will come: your good-old Android shall get replaced by a newer model. If you no longer need the "old one", you probably want to give it away. But you certainly don't want the new owner accessing your sensible data which might have been stored on it. So what to do?
There's of course the Factory-Reset. But does it really sanitize your data in a way they cannot be (easily) restored? Unfortunately, that's not the case: though they are deleted, they are not wiped – so with the right tools, they could be restored. Admitted, that takes some little knowledge and work – but it's possible. A good counter-measure is to really "nuke" or "wipe" the storage – i.e. overwrite it with "random patterns". Corresponding guidelines are described by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in a PDF Dokument.
Secure Wipe
- Complete Wipe (5@120) 3
LastUpdate: 2016-06-21
- Data Sanitizer (4.4@38) 3
1
LastUpdate: 2020-10-04 free space only
- SDelete - File Shredder (4.1@14) 5
1
/ SDelete Pro - File Shredder (5@13; ~EUR 2.00) 2
- Shreddit - Data Eraser (4@7,201) Ǥ 9
1
- Secure delete (3.9@3,994) 5
/ Secure delete Pro (4.4@228; ~EUR 2.25) Ǥ 6
1
LastUpdate: 2021-09-01 files + folders
- Andro Shredder (3.7@1,869) 6
1
LastUpdate: 2018-03-20 files + free space
- Wipe files (3.6@15) 2
LastUpdate: 2016-02-22 Github; securely wipes files (but not free space)
- Secure Erase iShredder (3.3@7,205) Ǥ 13
free version sanitizes free space only
- Data Eraser App - Wipe Data (3.3@2,765) Ǥ 9
LastUpdate: 2020-10-30 demo limited to 10MB/day; unlock key required (cost unknown)
- Phone Factory Reset (3.3@1,971) 2
1
LastUpdate: 2018-08-26
- Photo Recovery - Data Recovery (3.1@2,596) Ǥ 12
6
- Safe Delete (3@449) 5
3
LastUpdate: 2021-07-13 safely deletes files (not wiping free space)
- Safe Delete (3@241) Ǥ 16
2
LastUpdate: 2020-02-05 safely deletes files (not wiping free space)
- Secure Wipe (2.7@2,542) 1
LastUpdate: 2014-06-13 sanitizes free space only
- Remo File Eraser (2.6@249) 2
LastUpdate: 2015-09-13
- Secure File Deletion (2@73) 4
1
LastUpdate: 2014-11-13
- Extirpater (0@0) 0
GitLab
Automated Deletion
Not quite a safe wipe as described above – but still a welcome helper: automatically do a factory-reset / delete all files, if the number of unsuccessful unlock-trials exceeds a certain threshold. That at least makes it more difficult for the attacker to access your data. Unfortunately, none of the few apps in this group is available anymore.
- Ripple: respond when panicking (4.1@14) 0
LastUpdate: 2019-09-25 Github; trigger panic actions in supporting apps
- Wasted (0@0) 4
Github; wipes device when receiving broadcast message with authentication code
De-Deletion (Recovering)
- File Recovery - Restore Files (4.3@91,104) Ǥ 10
6
- File Recovery software | Recov (4.2@3,583) 8
1
LastUpdate: 2020-12-24
- Dumpster: Photo/Video Recovery (4@587,738) Ǥ 17
11
a recycle bin
- All delete file recovery app (4@69) 10
2
- Deleted all files recovery app (3.8@668) Ǥ 8 5
- DigDeep Image Recovery (3.7@366,897) Ǥ 16
8
- DiskDigger photo recovery (3.6@484,737) 6
1
/ DiskDigger Pro file recovery (3@3,969; ~EUR 3.25) 6
1
Intro 7/2019
- All Data Recovery - Restorer (3.6@3,607) Ǥ 8
4
- Recover Deleted All Files, Photos, Videos &Contact (3.5@1,137) 11
4
LastUpdate: 2021-03-04
- File Recovery - Recover Delete (3.3@19,103) Ǥ 8
3
LastUpdate: 2021-02-19
- RestoreMate File Recovery (3.3@10,596) Ǥ 16
11
- Deleted Photo Recovery Worksho (3.2@78,373) Ǥ 8
LastUpdate: 2021-07-29
- Deleted File Recovery (3.2@53,468) 7
2
- Recover Deleted All Files & Do (3.1@8,083) Ǥ 11
2
- Undeleter Recover Files & Data (2.9@42,446) Ǥ 20
21
- Recycle Bin (2.6@17,753) Ǥ 13
2
- Photo Video Data Recovery App (2.5@457) Ǥ 7
2
- File Recovery - Photo & Video (1.7@14,775) Ǥ 4
1
LastUpdate: 2016-05-19
- Restore Data Recovery Software (1.5@420) Ǥ 11
10
- Deleted photo Recovery Tool (0@0) Ǥ 8
9
Further Readings:
- 5 Best Ways to Permanently Delete Android Data (7/2022)
- 5 Android Apps That Recover Deleted Files for You (5/2021)
- Best Apps To Delete Unwanted Photos from Android Phones Parmanently (8/2018)
- Handy verkaufen? Daten richtig löschen (12/2017 - 5/2022)
- Gelöschte Bilder wiederherstellen (3/2015 - 1/2019)
- Handy-Speicher voll? So könnt Ihr Euer Smartphone aufräumen (9/2014 - 4/2022)
- Android zurücksetzen: So macht ihr euer Smartphone komplett platt (10/2013 - 1/2018)
- Handy-Daten sicher löschen (10/2013 - 1/2018)