OnePlus has seen massive success with its self-proclaimed flagship killers over the last few years, and the next iteration is just around the corner. Not only have we seen leaked photos of the OnePlus 6, but the company itself has already confirmed various characteristics of its upcoming release, including some polarizing changes like a glass back and the inclusion of a display notch.
If you’re on a OnePlus 5 or 5T and itching to upgrade, there are a few things you might want to do ahead of the OnePlus 6’s debut on May 16.
Back up your info
There’s nothing worse than starting over without any of your old information. Before switching to a new phone, you should always back up your data! There are a few ways to do this, and I always recommend storing important information in more than one place as a failsafe.
Back up your important data to more than one place.
One of the most straightforward ways to back up your information is to plug in a USB-C cable and copy files directly to your computer. Your phone will appear in your computer’s file manager as an external drive, and while you won’t be able to move over certain information like contacts or app data, you can at least make copies of all of your photos, videos, and any files you might’ve downloaded on your phone. Put it all somewhere you won’t forget about or accidentally delete, and maybe consider throwing everything onto an external hard drive while you’re at it.
For a more remote method that you can manage directly from your phone, I always prefer cloud backups. Things won’t be quite as centralized — your information will likely be scattered across a few different cloud services — but it’s all still easy to keep track of, and most of it is handled automatically, so your job may be done before you even start. Your contacts should already be stored in your Gmail account, and if you’ve been using Google Photos rather than OnePlus’s default gallery, your photos and videos are likely already backed up, as well. For all else, you can save important files in Google Drive (or any other cloud service, for that matter).
Wipe your data
Once all of your data is backed up, you may want to make some money back on your phone to chip away at the cost of the OnePlus 6. Of course, before you send it off to a total stranger, you’ll want to wipe it clean of your personal information. That’s just as easy on the OnePlus 5 and 5T as on any other Android phone.
Open the Settings app.
Scroll to the bottom and tap Backup & reset.
Tap Factory data reset.
Tap the switch next to Erase internal storage to ensure your photos and videos are deleted from the phone.
Once you’re ready, tap Reset phone.
As is always the case, you’ll want to make absolutely sure you have everything safely backed up elsewhere before you do a factory data reset on your phone. Once you’ve completed the reset process, there’s no going back to recover older data — at least, not without some serious knowledge.
Sell your phone
Unless you have a spare phone handy, you should probably hold off on this step (and the last one, really) until you’ve already received your OnePlus 6. But OnePlus phones retain their aftermarket value surprisingly well, so you might be able to cover most of the cost of the upgrade by selling your old phone online.
There are plenty of outlets to help sell your phone online. If you prefer the local route, you can try your hand at Craigslist, but it might be safer to list the phone somewhere like Facebook Marketplace. If, instead, you’d like to just receive the money on PayPal and drop your older OnePlus off at the post office, you might fare better with sites like eBay, Swappa, or Gazelle. Swappa has long been my site of choice, since it verifies IMEIs to ensure that no phones listed are on financing plans or have been reported lost or stolen.
What’s your plan?
Are you rocking the OnePlus 5 or 5T right now? Do you plan on upgrading to the OnePlus 6 once it’s available? Let us know in the comments below!
OnePlus 5T and OnePlus 5
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