The Used iPhone Inspection Checklist

This is the practical, pre-listing checklist for a used iPhone — built to be scanned at the bench. Work top to bottom, mark each point pass or fail, and don’t list until the security section is clear. It covers the same ground as Synapse’s 50-point inspection, so you can use it by hand or as a map of what the software measures.

If you want the reasoning behind each step, read how to test a used iPhone before reselling. This page is the checklist itself.

Who this guide is for

Resellers, refurbishers, and repair shops who want a repeatable pre-listing pass. Keep it open at the bench and run the same order every device, every time.

How to use this checklist

Charge the device, have a known-good cable and a Wi-Fi network ready, and record results as you go. Treat every point as pass or fail — a “probably fine” is a fail until verified. Finish with the security section, which decides whether the device is safe to sell at all.

Display and touch

• Screen shows solid colors with no dead or stuck pixels, lines, or burn-in
• No discoloration or pressure marks at full brightness
• Touch responds across the entire panel, including edges
• Rotation responds correctly

Cameras and flash

• Wide camera focuses and captures a clean image
• Ultra-wide camera works (on models that have it)
• Telephoto camera works (on models that have it)
• Front camera focuses and captures cleanly
• Flash fires
• Video records with stabilization and sound

Audio and microphones

• Loud speaker plays clearly with no rattle or distortion
• Ear speaker works on a call
• Microphones capture clearly — test more than one via a video or call

Sensors and biometrics

• Proximity sensor blanks the screen on a call
• Motion sensors respond (auto-rotate, motion)
• Ambient-light sensor drives auto-brightness
• Face ID or Touch ID enrolls and unlocks

Buttons and haptics

• Volume up and volume down work
• Lock button works
• Action button or mute switch works (on models that have it)
• Vibration and haptics fire

Connectivity

• Wi-Fi connects and loads a page
• Bluetooth pairs with a device
• GPS gets a location fix
• Cellular registers on a network (on devices with a SIM)

Battery health

• Maximum-capacity figure read and recorded for the listing

Find My, activation lock, and wipe

Do not list until every point here is clear:

• Find My is off
• Device is not activation-locked
• Device was erased and verified clean — confirmed by its real state, not by a timer

Turn the checklist into proof

A completed checklist helps the sale only if the buyer can trust it. A tamper-evident certificate records the device facts — model, iOS, capacity, pass/fail counts, inspection date, validity, grade — and lets a buyer verify them with no login and no personal data exposed. That is what turns a ticked box into proof a buyer can check.

Common mistakes

• Skipping a lens or a sensor. Cover every camera and every sensor the model has, not just the obvious ones.
• Testing one microphone. Use a video or call to exercise more than one.
• Listing before the security section. The hardware can be perfect and the phone still unsellable.
• Calling a wipe done without verifying it. Confirm the device comes back clean.
• Keeping the checklist private. Without a verifiable certificate, the buyer has only your word.

How Synapse helps

Running this list by hand is thorough but slow, and hard to keep identical across devices and people. Synapse runs every point as one 50-point inspection measured on-device, including the activation-lock and wipe checks, then issues a certificate a buyer can verify. The checklist becomes one consistent check with proof attached.