Phone Security Reset in Cambridge
Scam call, remote access, or a phone that feels like someone else is on it. A full erase and clean reinstall, about an hour, £24.
Cambridge has no shortage of repair counters, but a security reset after a scam is a different job from a screen or a battery.
People come out to us from the city having been told by their bank to get the phone reset, usually after a call from someone claiming to be the fraud team and a screen-sharing app such as AnyDesk put on the phone because a stranger asked. What they want is the thing a quick wipe at a counter does not give them: a check of the device first, an erase with independently certified software, a clean reinstall of the operating system and a report with the identifiers, the date and the result, to show the bank or an employer. Bring it to 3 Queen Street in Haverhill, about 30 minutes from Cambridge, with no appointment, and take it home in about an hour. If the trip out does not suit, ask for a free tracked mail-in label. Bring your Apple Account or Google Account password either way.
How does a security reset work from Cambridge?
The reset itself is the easy part. The passwords and the backup are what people forget, and without them the phone comes back clean but empty.
Save your passwords, then back up
Your Apple Account or Google Account password first, because it is what gets you back in after the erase, then every other login you use. Check iCloud Backup or Google backup and photo sync are on before you set off: everything on the device is erased, and what comes back is what was synced.
Bring it or send it
Walk into 3 Queen Street from Cambridge or ask us for a free tracked label. No appointment needed for a walk-in.
Full erase and clean install
We wipe the device completely and reinstall the operating system fresh, so nothing a scammer installed or changed survives. About an hour.
Back to you, set up as new
You get it back running a clean install, ready to sign in with your own account. Set it up as new rather than restoring a backup from before the scam. Want us to do that part and move your data back? That is our separate Data Transfer service, £24.
What does the reset clear?
Anything that lives on the device. Remote-access apps a caller talked you into installing, apps you do not recognise, management profiles, changed settings, and whatever else was put there. The storage is erased and the operating system goes back on clean, so there is nothing for it to hide in. That includes anything you would call a virus: on a modern phone the erase destroys the encryption keys, so what was on the storage is unreadable afterwards, named or not, and the NCSC's advice for a phone that may be infected is exactly this, a factory reset rather than a scan.
What will a security reset not fix?
It does not change your passwords or secure your bank account. If someone had your phone, treat your email and banking logins as seen: change them from another device, turn on two-step verification, and speak to your bank on 159. Our guide on what to do if your phone is hacked walks through the order.
Laptop or desktop involved as well? See our Mac repair and laptop repair pages.
How much is a security reset in Cambridge?
The price is read live from our repair pages. Pick your exact model on any of them and the Security Reset row is listed with the other repairs.
More in Cambridge
The same shop handles the rest of the phone too: screens and batteries, buying your old handset, and console repairs, all for Cambridge.
Why do people in Cambridge come to us for this?
An hour, a fixed price, certified erasure software and a report to show the bank, from a shop close enough to walk into.
Walk in, about an hour
Bring it to 3 Queen Street, Haverhill, about 30 minutes from our Haverhill workshop. About an hour start to finish.
Free tracked mail-in
Prefer to post it? Ask us for a free tracked label to print, or packaging with the label already on it, and the phone comes back the same way.
Everything erased, nothing left behind
A full erase and a clean reinstall of the operating system, not a settings reset.
One fixed price, £24
The same price on any phone or tablet, agreed before we start.
4.9 out of 5
across 767 reviews on Trustpilot, Google and Facebook
Scam calls in Cambridge
A lot of people in Cambridge carry more than their own life on one phone. Students and academics at the University, staff at Addenbrooke's and across the Biomedical Campus, and people at the Science Park or in the life-sciences and tech firms of Silicon Fen keep work email, authenticator apps and institutional logins alongside their banking. A phone someone else has been inside is a problem for all of those, not only the bank account, and the first call after the bank is often to an IT department that wants evidence of what was done. Cambridgeshire County Council lists remote access among the tactics phone scammers use, almost always starting with an unsolicited call, and the county's constabulary was fourth in the country for courier-fraud losses in one City of London Police quarterly bulletin, at over £1.1 million.
Sources: Cambridgeshire County Council: scams and remote access ; City of London Police, January 2024: courier fraud losses by force
Find our Haverhill shop
| Monday | 9am - 5pm |
| Tuesday | 9am - 5pm |
| Wednesday | 9am - 5pm |
| Thursday | 9am - 5pm |
| Friday | 9am - 5pm |
| Saturday | 10am - 1pm |
| Sunday | Closed |
Security reset from other towns
Same shop, same hour, same price. Each town has its own page with what to bring and how people get it to us from there.
Cambridge security reset questions
My college or employer IT team wants proof the phone was wiped. Is that what the report is?
Yes. The report records the device identifiers, the date and the result of the erase, and the erasure software it comes from holds an ADISA certificate, which is the independent check IT departments recognise. Tell your IT team before the reset as well, because they may want to revoke the phone's access to institutional accounts themselves, and they will want to re-enrol it afterwards.
Is it worth coming out to Haverhill when Cambridge has shops on every corner?
For a cracked screen, probably not, and we would say so. For this, people decide it is: the check before the erase, the certified software, the report, and an hour with no appointment at 3 Queen Street, about 30 minutes from the city. If you would rather not travel, the free tracked mail-in label does the same job with a few days in the post.
I have research data on the phone that is not backed up anywhere. What are my options?
Get it off before the erase, from a device you trust, or talk to us first. We can look at copying specific files out before the wipe, but anything copied from a compromised phone should be treated with the same suspicion as the phone, so plain documents and photos are one thing and executables or app data another. Your IT team may have a view on this too. Nothing is erased until you say so.
Can you do a Pixel or a Samsung, not just iPhones?
Yes. Any phone or tablet, iPhone, iPad, Samsung, Pixel and the rest, at one fixed price. The method differs slightly by platform, but on every modern phone the erase destroys the encryption keys and the operating system goes back on clean. For an Android phone you will need the Google Account password after the wipe, in the same way an iPhone needs the Apple Account one.
I am a student with no car. How do I get the phone to you?
Ask for the free tracked mail-in label. We set it up for you to print, or if the college printer is not an option, we post you packaging with the label already on it. The phone goes in the post, we reset it the day it arrives, and it comes back tracked. Use a friend's device to change your passwords and speak to your bank on 159 while it is away.
Book a security reset from Cambridge
Walk into 3 Queen Street with your account password to hand, or ask us for a free tracked label. About an hour, £24, any phone or tablet.