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
- Secure Erase with iShredder 6 (4.4@4,585) Ǥ 13
2
/ iShredder 3 PRO (4.4@15; ~EUR 5.50) 5 2
/ iShredder™ 6 Enterprise Eraser (4.1@103; ~EUR 9.50) Ǥ 12
free version sanitizes free space only
- Phone Factory Reset (4.4@1,320) 2
1
LastUpdate: 2018-08-26
- Data Sanitizer (4.4@31) 4
1
free space only
- Shreddit - Data Eraser (4.2@4,761) 8
1
- Data Eraser cb (4.1@798) Ǥ 9
demo limited to 10MB/day; unlock key required (cost unknown)
- Secure delete (3.9@3,926) 5
1
/ Secure delete Pro (4.4@206; ~EUR 2.25) Ǥ 6
1
files + folders
- Secure Bulldozer (Wipe Remove) (3.9@187) 3
LastUpdate: 2014-09-05
- Fastwipe (3.9@85) 1 LastUpdate: 2014-03-18 sanitizes free space only
- Andro Shredder (3.8@1,755) 6
1
LastUpdate: 2018-03-20 files + free space
- FShred - Wipe Free Space (3.7@165) 2
LastUpdate: 2017-03-26 sanitizes free space
- Safe Delete (3.6@322) 5
3
LastUpdate: 2018-04-02 safely deletes files (not wiping free space)
- Wipe files (3.6@15) 2
LastUpdate: 2016-02-22 Github; securely wipes files (but not free space)
- Secure Wipe (3.5@2,462) 2
LastUpdate: 2014-06-13 sanitizes free space only
- SDelete - File Shredder (3.5@857) 4
1
LastUpdate: 2017-09-15 / SDelete Pro - File Shredder (3.6@12; ~EUR 2.00) 2
LastUpdate: 2017-09-17
- Safe Delete (3.5@196) Ǥ 16
2
safely deletes files (not wiping free space)
- Super Erase (3.3@555) Ǥ 6
3
files + folders; free space requires in-app payment (go pro)
- Remo File Eraser (3.3@229) 2
LastUpdate: 2015-09-13
- Complete Wipe (3.3@116) 3
LastUpdate: 2016-06-21
- Secure File Deletion (3.3@73) 4
1
LastUpdate: 2014-11-13
- Permanent Delete Files – Data Eraser (3.2@1,369) Ǥ 9
4
- SHREDDER : Permanent Delete - Safe & Secure Erase (3.2@727) Ǥ 11
6
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@157) 0
LastUpdate: 2019-09-25 Github; trigger panic actions in supporting apps
De-Deletion (Recovering)
- Recover My Files (4.2@8,977) 10 3
LastUpdate: 2018-06-21
- Dumpster - Recover Deleted Photos & Video Recovery (4.1@402,951) Ǥ 24
15
Intro 7/2014; a recycle bin
- DigDeep Image Recovery (4.1@340,209) Ǥ 14
8
- Restore Deleted Photos & Image (4.1@5,350) 4 1
LastUpdate: 2017-05-12
- Deleted Photo Recovery Workshop (4@70,921) Ǥ 7
- GT Recovery - Undelete,Restore (4@39,218) Ǥ 17
LastUpdate: 2019-02-08
- File Recovery - Photo & Video (4@14,292) Ǥ 5
1
LastUpdate: 2016-05-19
- Recover Deleted Pictures (4@4,337) 5 3
LastUpdate: 2017-12-30
- RECYCLING BIN (3.9@178) 8 1 LastUpdate: 2017-08-11
- Data Recovery : Recover Deleted Photos (3.9@170) 10 3
LastUpdate: 2018-01-08
- DiskDigger photo recovery (3.8@397,735) 5
/ DiskDigger Pro file recovery (2.9@3,431; ~EUR 3.25) 5
Intro 7/2019
- Recover Deleted All Files, Photos, Videos &Contact (3.8@953) 12
4
- GT SMS Recovery (3.3@2,471) Ǥ 10
LastUpdate: 2016-06-30
- Undeleter Recover Files & Data (3.1@456) Ǥ 20
26
- dr.fone - Recovery & Transfer wirelessly & Backup (2.7@32,561) Ǥ 6
4
- Recycle Bin (2.7@48) Ǥ 9
3
Further Readings:
- Best Apps To Delete Unwanted Photos from Android Phones Parmanently (8/2018)
- Handy verkaufen? Daten richtig löschen (12/2017 - 12/2019)
- Handydaten sicher und endgültig löschen (9/2017 - 1/2018)
- Gelöschte Bilder wiederherstellen (3/2015 - 1/2019)
- Android bereinigen: So löscht Ihr überflüssige Dateien für mehr freien Speicherplatz (9/2014 - 12/2018)
- Private Daten sicher löschen – so wird’s gemacht (7/2014)
- Android zurücksetzen: So macht ihr euer Smartphone komplett platt (10/2013 - 1/2018)
- Handy-Daten sicher löschen (10/2013 - 1/2018)