If you plan to give away, sell, or trade in your Mac, for safety and convenience, you should first erase the data on it and perform a factory reset. This article shows how. If yours is an Apple Silicon Mac with macOS Monterey or later or an Intel Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip (2017-2020 models), follow the steps todelete all content and settingsinstead of following the steps in this article.
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Back up your data first
Before you do anything, make sure to backup the files on your Mac. You can do this manually by copying files to an external drive. If you useiCloudYour photos, email, contacts, documents, etc. should be automatically backed up to the cloud storage.
However, we highly recommend that you take the time to perform a Time Machine backup of your system using an external drive. For example, the same backup volume can be used by Apple's Migration Assistant during a macOS installation to quickly transfer your programs, files, and settings from the old Mac to a new one.
Check out our special guide athow to back up your mac with time machine.
Disconnect your apps
There are certain apps that need to be manually removed from your Mac before you say goodbye to it. Some third-party apps require licenses that will only work on a limited number of computers, so be aware of any licenses you may have purchased.
Likewise, you will need to deauthorize your iTunes account on Mac as this will revoke access to content you purchased from the iTunes Store.iBooksShop, orApp Store, including things like music, movies, TV shows, apps, and books.
For more information on how to deauthorize your iTunes account:check out our special guide.
Sign out of iCloud
It is also important to switch offSearch minMac and sign out of iCloud in macOS. This way you can be sure that nothing on your Mac is making your connectionApple-idfor this machine. The following steps show you how.
- Click the Apple icon () in the top left corner of your Mac screen and chooseSystem preferences....
- ClickiCloudin the preference pane.
- Uncheck all the boxes in the list to delete copies of the related data on this Mac.
- Clicklog out.
How to Erase and Reset Your Mac
Now that you've taken the precautions above and unlinked your purchases and accounts, it's time to wipe your Mac's drive and reset the system to factory settings.
- Click the Apple icon () in the top left corner of your Mac screen and chooseRestarting....
- ClickRestarting.
- Press and holdCommandoInRonce you hear the Mac tone indicating a restart.
- Wait for the macOS Utilities screen to appear and then clickDisk Utility.
- Select your Mac's system drive, usually calledMacintoshHDand then clickTo delete.
- Select the Format optionMac Extended (journalized)ofAPFS.
- ClickTo delete, confirm the action when prompted and wait for the formatting to complete.
- Then close Disk Utility and clickReinstall macOS.
- Follow the installation instructions and let the procedure continue until you see the Setup Assistant appear.
- Press the keysCommand+Vto shut down your Mac.
And that's it. You're now ready to sell, give away, set up as new, or restore your Mac from a backup.
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