Have you decided to sell your MacBook Pro device or give it to someone? Then, you need to perform a factory reset of your MacBook Pro. Further, you need to keep a backup of your important information. Apart from this, you must unpair the Bluetooth device as well as erase the hard drive. 

Don’t know how to do these? Here, we have discussed each and everything aspect in detail. But, before that, you must know why it is essential to factory reset your MacBook Pro device before you hand it to someone else.

Importance of Factory Reset Before Selling

Obviously, the first reason is that factory reset will protect every vital information. Also, it will be harder for the buyer to use certain Mac’s features if your digital printers are still connected with the device. Besides that, if you leave any application that is already logged in, then it can be difficult for the buyer to use that program.

Steps to Factory Reset your MacBook Pro Device

Hope, now you understand the importance of the factory reset of your device before selling it. Let’s check the factory reset procedure in detail.

Step 1: Keep a BackUp

In case, you have decided to sell your device or give it to someone, the first thing you need to do is to keep a backup of your device. With Time Machine, you can easily keep a backup of your MacBook Pro. To do so, at first, you should connect an external device directly to your Mac device. 

Do you want to use the external driver for a backup, using the Time Machine? Choose the Encrypt Backup Disk option. In case, the Time Machine doesn’t ask to use the external driver, follow the given directions.

• First, go to the Time Machine menu and from there open the application. Else, proceed to the Apple menu, and then tap on the System Preferences button. Next, hit on the Time Machine option.
• Furthermore, choose the Backup Disk option. Instantly, all the available disks will appear on the screen, from there, choose your external drive. In addition, you should hit the Encrypted backups button. Thereafter, choose the Use Disk button.

In case, your selected disk is not formatted as required by Time Machine, tap on the ‘Erase to Proceed’ option. This will delete all the stored information. Now, again start the backup process.

2. Log out from Everything

Remember that, before selling your device, you should sign out from all the programs and accounts.

Log out from iTunes (macOS Mojave and Older)

First, on your Mac open iTunes. Navigate to the top left side of the menu bar and tap on the Account option. Hit in the Sign Out option.

Log Out from iMessage

On your MacBook Pro, first, open Messages. Proceed to the left column of the screen and tap on the Messages option. This will open a new window. Here, drop-down, and click on the Preferences button. Choose your iMessage account. Finally, tap on the Log Out.

Sign Out from iCloud

First, go to the upper left corner of your device and tap on the Apple icon. Again, from the drop-down menu, choose the System Preferences button. Un-mark the box beside the Find My Mac option.

If required, type the system password. Hit on the Sign Out button. When prompted, tick on the Remove data from this Mac option.

3. Unpair the Bluetooth Device

To unpair your MacBook Pro device from the Bluetooth device, at first, tap on the Apple icon. From there, navigate to the System Preferences. Within the System Preference, you should scroll below and tap on the Bluetooth option. Next, click on the device that you wish to unpair. Once done, tick on the ‘X’ beside that device. 

4. Erase the Hard Drive

Once you have a successful backup of your data and log out from all the applications, you should reformat the hard drive. For that, first, reboot your MacBook Pro and then, press and hold the Command and R keys together on the keyboard.

Now, the system will boot into the macOS Recover. Choose the Disk Utility option. Tap on Continue.  Next, pick the View button. Furthermore, hit the Show all Devices option. Within the sidebar, locate your Startup disk.

Under the Startup disk, click on the Data Disk option. Furthermore, click on the Edit option. Go to the menu bar and select the Delete APFS Volume button. Else, in the Disk Utility bar, tap on the Remove Button option.

If you see the Erase Group Volume option, tap on it to erase all the associated volumes of the drive. Now, when you have successfully deleted each data disk, it’s time to erase the startup disk.

For that, choose Startup Disk from the sidebar. Go to the top of the Disk Utility window and tap on the Erase button. In case, your Mac device is using HFS, choose MacOS Extend. Furthermore, if you use APFS, choose APFS from the format list. Once done, simply reinstall your macOS and the factory reset procedure will be completed.