As the global secondary smartphone market continues to grow, Google is streamlining how Android users prepare their phones for resale or trade-in. With Android 16, the tech giant has matured its built-in trade-in feature, making it easier and more secure for users and resellers to transition devices into the circular economy. A big step for the market as it will streamline trade-in process quite a bit. Great news for trade-in enablers, refurbishers and consumers alike.
How it works
Introduced in Android 14 and gradually improved in Android 15 and now 16, the feature is natively embedded under Settings > System > Reset options > Prepare for Trade-In. It walks users through data backups, factory resets, account unlocks, and diagnostic checks — all critical steps for a successful handoff to a retailer, recycler, trader or third-party buyer.
Google simplifies device handoff
The process begins by encouraging the user to back up their data and initiate a factory reset. It also ensures the removal of their Google account, helping to avoid tripping Factory Reset Protection (FRP): a common stumbling block in the processing chain of used devices. The tool then checks for common hardware issues, from display defects to battery performance and connectivity problems.
Android OEMs and mobile carriers can now link their own trade-in programmes via API integration. This makes it possible for consumers to receive real-time trade-in quotes or even generate prepaid shipping labels directly from the settings menu on select devices like Pixel, Samsung, or Motorola.
Circular economy strategy in action
The integration of this feature at OS level underlines Google’s broader sustainability ambitions. The Android trade-in flow not only supports consumer convenience but also helps push industry-wide circularity.
“Every device that comes in factory reset, account-unlocked, and verified for hardware health saves us time and money,” says Kevin de Boer, VP of Operations at The Trade-in Company, a US-based refurbished smartphone distributor. “It brings consistency to a fragmented ecosystem.”
Industry impact beyond consumers
For consumers, this means a stress-free handover with less risk of forgetting critical steps. For businesses, it increases efficiency, reduces processing costs, and boosts the likelihood of receiving immediately gradable devices and speeding up turnaround times.
The feature also helps address lingering privacy concerns, reassuring both users and buyers that personal data and login credentials are wiped securely and properly.
Levelling the field with Apple
Apple iPhones have long led the resale space due to tight hardware-software integration and trade-in services baked into iOS. With Android 16’s new system-wide trade-in feature, Android is catching up by offering a decentralized but effective alternative.
As adoption grows across more Android devices and OEMs tap into Google's APIs, the trade-in journey for Android users will become smoother, helping feed the worlds’s growing appetite for used Android phones.
Market
Trade-in
Repair
Refurbishing
