How do I remove a device I no longer have from my account?

A device you sold, lost or sent for repair usually remains listed and often remains signed in. Removing it remotely takes minutes and prevents both a stranger reaching your accounts and a buyer being stuck with a locked device.

Step by step

1. Start with the manufacturer account.The account that ties the phone, tablet or computer to you. Its website has a devices or security section listing everything signed in, with the option to remove.
2. Remove the device rather than only signing it out.Signing out ends the session; removing it releases the activation or anti-theft lock. A device still listed as yours cannot be set up by anyone else.
3. Erase it remotely first if it might come back online.Find-my-device services queue an erase that runs the next time the device connects. Do the erase before removing it, because removing it first cancels the ability to erase.
4. Work through streaming and media accounts.Televisions and streaming sticks stay signed in indefinitely. Most services have a manage-devices page and a sign-out-everywhere option, which is quicker than removing one by one.
5. Check banking and payment apps.Card tokens in a wallet on a lost device should be suspended through the find-my-device service. Banking apps usually have a registered-devices list too.
6. Sign out of all sessions on email and social accounts.The security page of every major account offers this. It ejects any session that survived, which a password change alone does not always do.
7. Deauthorise software licences.Design software, music software and some games limit how many machines can be activated. Deauthorising the old one frees the slot before you need it.
8. Change passwords if the device was lost rather than sold.Start with email, then anything financial. A lost device that was not locked is a different situation from one you wiped yourself.

Tips

• Do this on the day the device leaves, not later. The list becomes impossible to interpret once you cannot remember which entry is which.
• If a device was sent for repair, remove it after it comes back rather than before — some repairs require the account to be signed out, but you need the erase option until it is returned.
• Rename devices meaningfully when you set them up. A list of six entries all called 'iPhone' is useless in exactly this situation.

Common mistakes

• Removing the device before erasing it — Removal usually ends your ability to send a remote erase. Erase first, confirm, then remove.
• Selling a device without removing it from the account — It stays activation-locked and the buyer cannot use it. This is the commonest reason second-hand phone sales fall through, and it is fixed by removing it from your account.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask