Protect your phone from searches

2025 May 25

Based on some concerning incidents that have happened lately with border patrol, police, and TSA allegedly forcing individuals to unlock their phones and go through their texts, photos, etc., here are the things you should do to help keep yourself and your device safe, for both iPhone and Android (and other).

First: learn your rights

Educate yourself on your digital rights.

• FAQ from the Electronic Frontier Foundation: Digital Rights Bytes
• ACLU: "Can border agents search your electronic devices? It's complicated."
  • Other info - "Compelling to unlock phone violated Fifth Amendment"
• As a U.S. citizen, you are not legally required to provide your pass-code or password, but that doesn't mean someone won't try to force you.
• It is possible that if you refuse as a citizen, they will take your phone and keep it for an undetermined amount of time.

Second: for all devices

• Disable biometric unlock (Face ID, fingerprint, etc.) since that can be abused.
• Turn off all notifications.
• Log out of your accounts and ensure your password manager cannot be opened with biometrics.
• Turn off your device completely.
• Consider logging into some social media apps under a dummy account that has innocuous activity so that if they do gain access, they see something benign.

iPhone

Sadly there isn't a lot you can do on the iPhone, since in my opinion it is one of the least private options you can use for a cell phone, but here are the only things that you can try to do:

1️⃣ Disable USB access when your phone is locked.

If they just grab your phone and try to use a tool that hacks it or forces it unlocked, this will prevent that. Go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode > USB Accessories > Off.

2️⃣ Turn off notification previews.

• You don't want something coming through when your phone is locked in case they try to force a pin text message or something else.
• Settings > Notifications > Show Previews > When Unlocked

3️⃣ Use mobile sites - not apps - and wipe history.

Instead of apps, use the mobile sites in the browser and set the browser to wipe history after exiting. People can't open your apps and go through your data if there are no apps, vous savez?

4️⃣ Disappearing messages

• Whether in Signal or another encrypted app, set them for yourself to increase to a shorter time period temporarily.
• Do not send ANYTHING that is "problematic" through normal text messages.

5️⃣ Walk through this hardening method for the modern iPhone.

Warning: you have to do a LOT given that the iPhone makes it difficult. Seriously just get an Android, you'll probably make some money back from selling your iPhone and then you don't have to worry anymore. There are Android phones that feel exactly like iPhone now and it's as easy as plugging in a cable and transferring your entire set-up across. The Google Pixel ¹ is one of these. Anecdotally, my spouse switched from iPhone to the Pixel 9 Pro and keeps gushing about how much better it is and how easy it was to switch. Hardening modern iPhone against forensic tools

6️⃣ Consider lockdown mode.

iPhone has a lockdown mode that might be helpful for you if your threat profile is very high. You can try this: Apple - About Lockdown Mode

Android and other users

Your life is much easier for this situation:

1️⃣ Set a second profile using an app like Insular or Shelter.

• Android has a built in multiple users feature that allows a separate profile. Take advantage of this feature by using something like Insular or Shelter.
• Insular or Shelter can clone your existing apps and then freeze/hide them from view entirely so that unless someone went into your settings and KNEW what to look for, they wouldn't find your phone.
• Set up a "Main" profile for daily use and a "Guest" or "Secure" profile with minimal apps and data.
• When you are concerned about your/your device's security, switch to the other profile.
• If you are forced to unlock the phone, it will only show the empty profile.
• A good habit to get into if you are using profiles is to close and end your session on your sensitive profile immediately after you're done using it; this ensures that if your phone is seized and scanned, they'll be more likely to see your main but less likely to see the contents of your sensitive profile.
• Here's a walkthrough
• Using a home launcher like Nova launcher lets you change app icons and names to whatever you'd like, both on your home screen AND in your app tray. You can also hide the fact that you have a work profile and a personal profile installed at all. How can you use this?
  • Low threat profile: if you think you're not in much danger of having your device confiscated, you could follow all of the above steps under "all devices" and change the icons + names for your messaging apps/social media apps/etc. on your home screen and app menu to something that looks completely different. For example, you could change your SimpleX app to look like a text editor app and call it "To-do list."
  • Higher threat profile: set up Insular (this uses your work profile), clone all of your encrypted apps over to that profile, and then use Nova launcher to hide the work profile's existence and change the icon/name for Insular to something completely blasé.

2️⃣ AppLockers

• Use secure folders to hide apps, photos, and messages. Otherwise, use Insular or Shelter as mentioned above.
• If you're on Samsung (not recommended), you can set up Secure Folder, which requires a separate pin or biometrics even if your phone is unlocked and don't show notifications.

3️⃣ Panic/lockdown mode

• Set this to disable biometrics and hide notifications.
• You can make it trigger instantly to prevent forced face ID unlocks.
• Use "Show lockdown option" in settings.

4️⃣ Disable USB access and notifications

• Hide notifications on the lock screen.
• Disable usb debugging to prevent data extraction through cable hacking tools.

5️⃣ Disappearing messages

Increase the timeout on your Signal messages as an added step or use Molly.im (an even more secure version of Signal) for extra lockdown security.