English (UK) 
Nederlands (Dutch) 
Deutsch (German) 
Français (French) 
Preparing your MacBook for sale is an important step to ensure your personal data stays protected and the new owner can start fresh. In 4 simple steps, we’ll show you how to do this easily.
Resetting your MacBook for sale: 4 steps
Follow these 4 steps to reset your MacBook for sale.
- Create a backup
Make sure you don’t lose any important data when resetting your MacBook. Always create a backup beforehand, for example, using Time Machine, macOS’s built-in backup tool.
Connect an external drive to your MacBook. Go to (Apple Logo) > System Preferences > Time Machine. Click on “Select Backup Disk” and choose your drive. Turn on Time Machine and start the backup process. - Disable “Find My Mac” and iCloud
Before resetting your MacBook to factory settings, disable the “Find My Mac” feature. Here’s how: Go to (Apple Logo) > System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud and uncheck “Find My Mac”. Then, you can remove iCloud by going to (Apple Logo) > System Preferences > Apple ID and clicking “Sign Out”. - Sign out of Apple services
iTunes: Open iTunes, go to Account > Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.
iMessage: Open Messages, go to Messages > Preferences > iMessage and click “Sign Out”. - Erase the hard drive and reinstall macOS
The final step is erasing the hard drive and reinstalling macOS. This ensures the new owner gets a clean installation. Boot your MacBook into Recovery Mode by restarting and holding Command R until the Apple logo appears. In the macOS Utilities window, select “Disk Utility” and click “Continue”. Select your startup disk (usually “Macintosh HD”), go to the “Erase” tab, choose a format (APFS is recommended for SSDs), and click “Erase”. After erasing, close Disk Utility and select “Reinstall macOS” from the macOS Utilities window.
Follow the instructions to perform a fresh installation of macOS. Turn off the MacBook when the installation process asks you to select your country. This allows the new owner to complete the setup.
Your MacBook is ready for sale.
By following these steps, you’ll remove all personal data from your MacBook and restore it to its original state, making it safe to sell! Don’t forget to include the charger when shipping your MacBook.
