How to perform a security wipe of a Smartphone BlackBerry Z10

Some useful information every BlackBerry smartphone owner should know how is how to perform a security wipe. This process is designed to permanently delete your personal data so it can’t be recovered from the smartphone. With that being said, here a few important things you should know when performing a security wipe followed by instructions on how to perform a security wipe on a BlackBerry Z10 smartphone.

• If you are using an encrypted microSD card, you will need to turn off media card encryption before starting the security wipe, otherwise you will not be able to access files stored on your microSD card. To review your encryption settings, while viewing the Home screen, tap Settings followed by Security and Privacy. Within this menu, set the Media Card Encryption switch to Off and wait for the decryption process to finish before initiating a security wipe.
• A security wipe can take up to 15 minutes or longer, and it’s important that the security wipe operation is left to complete on its own. In other words, after starting a security wipe, do not remove the battery or attempt to restart the smartphone, otherwise you may run into unexpected issues. If the security wipe operation was interrupted and the smartphone is encountering issues, please review the section below titled ‘Help! I performed a security wipe and now my smartphone won’t turn on!’
• A security wipe will erase all data and any downloaded apps, games and multimedia content, such any photos taken from the smartphone (data saved to your microsd will not be removed). If you would like to save this information, consider backing up the smartphone using BlackBerry Link for Windows or Mac before proceeding further. For information on how to do this, review KB33526 that can be found in the BlackBerry Knowledge Base.
• Apps and games purchased from BlackBerry World will need to be reinstalled after performing a security wipe. To do this, open BlackBerry World, tap All followed by My World. Tap My Apps & Games followed by Available and you will be able to re-install any purchased apps or games by opening the item and tapping Reinstall.
• Settings and configuration settings will be reset to default after performing a security wipe, which means you will need to pair with Bluetooth devices again, for example.
• Ensure that the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone is plugged into the power outlet to prevent power loss during the security wipe.

Now that you are familiar with the important facts about performing a security wipe, here’s how to perform a security wipe.

1. While viewing the Home screen, swipe down from the top of the screen and tap Settings
2. Tap Security and Privacy followed by tapping Security Wipe
3. Enter the word blackberry to confirm the security wipe process
4. Tap Delete Data
5. The security wipe process can take up to 15 minutes to complete, do not attempt to restart the BlackBerry 10 smartphone or pull the battery until the BlackBerry 10 has completed the Security Wipe.

When the security wipe has been completed, the initial setup process will need to be completed before the BlackBerry 10 smartphone can be used.

Help! I performed a security wipe and now my smartphone won’t turn on!
As mentioned earlier, if the battery is removed or you attempted to restart the smartphone during a security wipe operation, you may run into trouble on your smartphone. In the event that this has occurred, please review KB33480 – Reloaded a BlackBerry 10 smartphone after an interrupted security wipe for information on how to recover your BlackBerry Z10 smartphone.
To learn about a feature on your BlackBerry 10 smartphone or troubleshoot an issue, there are several great options available to help. Visit http://www.blackberry.com/support for access to product manuals, how-to demos, tips and tricks, YouTube videos, support forums, knowledge base articles, Twitter support, and contact information for your region.

Buy me a Coffee