Mac Inside & Out · Updates, Time Machine & Recovery · Lesson 4 of 5

Erasing a Mac Before Selling It

Wipe a Mac safely and free it from your account before it changes hands.

Erase All Content and Settings

Before you sell or give away a Mac, two things should happen. Your files and accounts should be gone. And the next owner should be able to set it up.

Start with a fresh backup, with Time Machine or another way. Once the Mac is erased, there's no undo.

On most recent Macs, the easiest tool is Erase All Content and Settings. It removes your files, apps, settings and every user account on the Mac. It keeps macOS itself, so the Mac is ready for its next owner.

It works on Macs with Apple silicon, and on Intel Macs with an Apple T2 Security Chip, a security chip found in many later Intel Macs. The Mac needs macOS Monterey or later.

To use it:

1. Open System Settings and click General.
2. Click Transfer or Reset.
3. Click Erase All Content and Settings.
4. Type your admin password and follow the steps on screen.

Along the way, it signs you out of your Apple Account, the account you use for iCloud and the App Store. It also turns off Find My and Activation Lock, which you'll learn about next. You may need your Apple Account password for this.

When it's done, the Mac restarts to a setup screen, like a new Mac. You can leave it there for the new owner.

On Windows, the match is Reset this PC with Remove everything.

Activation Lock and older Macs

Find My is the Apple feature that helps you locate a lost Mac. On a Mac with Apple silicon or a T2 chip, turning on Find My also turns on Activation Lock.

Activation Lock is an anti theft lock. Nobody can turn off Find My, erase the Mac or set it up again without your Apple Account password.

That's great if the Mac is stolen. But if you sell it with the lock still on, the buyer is stuck with a Mac they can't use.

To turn it off yourself, open System Settings and click your name. Click iCloud, find Find My Mac (you may need to click See All), and turn it off. Signing out of your Apple Account works too.

Already handed the Mac over? Sign in at iCloud.com/find, choose the Mac and click Remove.

On an older Mac without Erase All Content and Settings, do it by hand:

1. Back up.
2. Sign out of iCloud. Click your name in System Settings, then Sign Out.
3. In Messages, open Settings, click iMessage and sign out.
4. Unpair Bluetooth devices you're keeping, like headphones.
5. Start in macOS Recovery, erase the disk with Disk Utility, then choose Reinstall macOS.
6. When the setup screen appears, press Command+Q to shut down and leave it for the new owner.

Very old versions of macOS say System Preferences instead of System Settings, but the steps are similar.