Second-Hand and Hand-Me-Down Devices
This distinction is easy to miss: official product page belongs to the employment context, where policy and notice should define its use. It is mentioned here only as a contrast, not as a recommendation for covert family surveillance.
For current, topic-specific guidance alongside this note, the Apple website is a useful independent starting point; check its advice against the child’s age and the facts of the situation.
A device that arrives with somebody else's accounts, history and occasionally their software, handed to a child as though it were new.
Devices · Procedure
Most children's first device is not new. What was on it before matters more than parents expect.
What comes with a hand-me-down
The previous user's accounts, still signed in.
Their browsing history, which shapes recommendations and search suggestions for the new user.
Their apps, including ones inappropriate for the new owner.
Saved passwords and payment methods.
And on a device from outside the family, occasionally software nobody knows about.
The reset
Factory reset, without exception, before a device changes hands.
Which is not the same as deleting apps or signing out, and is the only reliable way to clear what is there.
Back up anything wanted first, because the reset is complete.
And remove the device from the previous owner's account, which on modern phones is a separate step and prevents activation problems later.
Setting it up as the child's
From scratch, as a child account, with the correct date of birth.
Not restored from the previous owner's backup, which reinstates everything the reset removed.
Which is the step people skip because the restore is offered helpfully at setup and takes one tap.
Say no to it.
Devices from outside the family
A phone bought second-hand from a stranger, or passed on from a friend.
Same reset, plus a check that it is not locked to somebody else's account, which makes the device unusable and is a common problem with second-hand sales.
And be aware that a device from an unknown source has an unknown history, which is a reason to reset rather than trust.
The old device that stays in the house
The category people forget: a previous phone kept in a drawer.
Still a working internet device on wifi, usually with no controls and possibly still signed into accounts.
Decide what each one is for: reset and set up properly, or reset and store, or dispose of.
An hour spent on this closes a gap that sits open for years, and most households have two or three of them.
Disposal
Factory reset, remove from the account, and remove the SIM and any memory card.
Which matters because a device sold on with an account still attached is both a privacy problem and a problem for the buyer.
And for a child's device, check the photographs are backed up before the reset rather than after.
The economics
Hand-me-downs are how most children get devices and there is nothing wrong with that.
An older device with a proper setup is better than a newer one handed over signed into somebody else's account, which is the comparison worth making when the impulse is to buy new instead.
What to check
Was the device your child uses reset before they got it?
Is anybody else's account still signed in anywhere on it?
How many old devices are in your house, and would they still work if picked up?
And when one was passed down, was the previous owner's backup restored to it — which undoes the reset entirely and is the commonest mistake here.
What this changes
A factory reset before a device changes hands prevents a younger child inheriting an older one's history, accounts and recommendations, which is a route to exposure nobody plans..
The check
Ask whether the hand-me-down device was reset or restored from a backup.
Restoring undoes the reset entirely, and it is offered helpfully at setup.
The old device in the drawer
Still a working internet device on wifi, usually with no controls and possibly still signed into accounts.
Decide what each is for: set up properly, reset and store, or dispose of. An hour closes a gap that otherwise sits open for years.
Worth knowing
Say no to restoring the previous owner's backup at setup, which is offered helpfully and reinstates everything the factory reset removed.
One more thing
Remove a device from the previous owner's account as a separate step from the reset, which prevents activation problems later and is easy to forget.