How to wipe a Mac so it's ready to give away, sell or recycle

Before you part ways with an old Mac or MacBook, you need to remove your personal information. Without doing so, another user could potentially gain access to your data and online accounts.

Thankfully, wiping your Mac and restoring its factory settings isn't too tricky – it's simply a case of backing up data you don't want to lose and then initiating a reset via system settings. With help from our Tech Support team, you can be sure that your personal data is fully cleared.

Keep scrolling for step-by-step instructions on how to factory reset your Apple computer.

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Question of the month: How do I wipe my old Mac?

'I’ve just purchased a new Apple MacBook Air M3. I’m very happy with it and would now like to give my old MacBook to a friend – how do I remove all of my data?'

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Step 1: Back up to Time Machine

If you have data on the old Mac that you need to carry over, then it’s a good idea to do a full Time Machine backup. This creates a snapshot of the entire system so you can always retrieve any data you need on your new computer.

Just follow these instructions:

1. Connect an external hard drive to your Mac.
2. Press the Apple Logo (top left) and go to System Preferences/Settings > Time Machine.
3. Click Select Backup Disk, choose your external drive and then click Use Disk.

Now, Time Machine will automatically begin backing up your files.

Step 2: Check your macOS version

The process you need to work through to wipe your Mac varies, depending on which OS version you're running.

To find out which macOS version you're using, try this:

1. Click the Apple Logo in the top-left corner.
2. Select About This Mac.

In the dialog box, you should see the Mac OS version (High Sierra, Monterey or Ventura, for example).

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Step 3: Reset your Mac

Follow the instructions below based on the Mac OS version you confirmed in the previous step.

MacOS Ventura and Newer

1. Press the Apple Logo (top left) and go to System Settings.
2. Select General in the sidebar.
3. Select Transfer or Reset on the right.
4. Click Erase All Content and Settings.
5. You’ll then be prompted for your Admin password.

Follow the on-screen steps to wipe your Mac completely. This process signs you out of your Apple ID and deletes all data, returning your Mac to factory settings.

MacOS Monterey

1. Press the Apple Logo (top left) and go to System Preferences.
2. Click System Preferences at the top of the menu bar.
3. Select Erase All Content and Settings.
4. You’ll then be prompted for your Admin password.

Follow the on-screen steps to wipe your Mac completely. This process signs you out of your Apple ID and deletes all data, returning your Mac to factory settings.

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MacOS Big Sur and older

The reset process for Big Sur and earlier requires you to boot into recovery mode, wipe the hard drive and then reinstall the operating system.

1. Restart your Mac and hold down the Command (⌘) + R keys as soon as it starts to reboot. Keep holding until the macOS Utilities window appears.
2. In the macOS Utilities window, select Disk Utility and click Continue.
3. In Disk Utility, select your startup disk (usually named Macintosh HD) from the left sidebar.
4. Click Erase at the top of the window. In the dialog that appears: Choose APFS if your Mac has macOS High Sierra or newer. Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) if you’re on macOS Sierra or an older version.
5. Leave the Scheme option as GUID Partition Map and click Erase to confirm.
6. Once the disk is erased, close Disk Utility to return to the macOS Utilities window.
7. In the macOS Utilities window, select Reinstall macOS and click Continue.
8. Select the Hard drive you’ve just erased (Macintosh HD) and click Continue.

The installation will now begin. Once finished, your Mac will restart and show the setup screen. It can then be powered down as it is ready for giving away, selling or recycling.

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Additional reporting by Tom Morgan.