How To Protect Your Phone at the Border: 7 Steps To Take Before You Travel

You have an exciting trip abroad coming up, but you've seen headlines about phones getting searched at the border. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says fewer than 0.01% of arriving international travelers had a device searched in fiscal year 2025.^[1]

But the reality is that CBP agents don't actually need "individualized suspicion" to search your devices. 

Smartphones hold a lot of our personal information, from contacts and location history to account logins and sensitive financial data. You want to make sure your information stays safe — and private. In this article, I'll cover how to protect your phone at the border if it gets searched.

Can border agents search your phone?

Yes, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are allowed to search your phone. The CBP has two search methods.

The first is a basic search. A CBP agent will scroll through your device and conduct a manual review. Border agents don't need any individualized suspicion to run a basic search on your phone. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed that manual searches qualify as "routine" border searches requiring no warrant or suspicion.^[2]

Another option is an advanced, forensic search. It connects your phone to specialized equipment to copy its data. This method requires a reasonable suspicion or a national security concern. It also requires supervisory approval.

How to prepare your phone before you cross the border

It can feel intimidating to have your phone searched by a border agent even if you don't have anything illegal or incriminating on your device. After all, 60% of internet users have something online they don't want others to find.

Here are some actions you can take to prepare your phone before you cross the border.

1. Back up your device

If your phone is detained or delayed, a backup means nothing on it is lost. You can sync photos, messages, and app data to the cloud or a separate drive.

2. Move unnecessary files off the device

Shift anything you don't need for the trip into cloud storage. When you delete a file, it actually moves to a folder like "Recently Deleted." You could empty that folder to ensure permanent deletion.

3. Swap biometric logins for a passcode.

Turn off passwordless authentication like Face ID and Touch ID, which rely on biometric data, and switch to passcodes. This makes it harder to access your device.

Turn off biometrics on Android

1. Go to Settings.

2. Tap Security & Privacy.

3. Select Device Unlock or Biometrics.

4. Choose Fingerprint, select the saved fingerprint, and delete it.

5. Tap Face, and delete the saved face data.

6. Once deleted, your phone will default to your PIN, pattern, or password.

Turn off biometrics on iPhone

1. Go to Settings.

2. Select Face ID & Passcode.

3. Enter your passcode.

4. Tap to turn off iPhone Unlock, which will stop using Face ID to unlock your iPhone.

5. If you want to completely disable Face ID, select Reset Face ID instead of iPhone Unlock.

4. Power off your phone

Shutting down the phone can engage full-disk encryption. It scrambles the data on your phone into unreadable code, and the only way back in is your actual passcode.

5. Sign out of accounts

Log out of sensitive apps and accounts. You can also use a password manager with a travel vault feature, so credentials aren't left out in the open.

6. Turn off location sharing

62% of Americans share their location with someone, and the practice is even more common among younger travelers. Disable anything that isn't relevant to your trip to limit who and what still has access.

7. Consider a dedicated travel phone

Loading a secondary or "burner" device with only trip-essential apps and data limits what's exposed, but be realistic about the tradeoffs: the extra cost, the hassle of managing two devices, and the fact that a phone that's suspiciously bare of any personal history can itself draw more scrutiny rather than less.

What to do if an agent asks to see your phone

Stay calm and factual. Answer questions truthfully, but you don't have to volunteer information nobody asked for. If you decide to unlock the device, ask to type the passcode in yourself instead of saying it out loud, and later change that passcode because it could end up in a government database. If your phone is taken, ask for a custody receipt (Form 6051D), which should include contact information for a supervising officer.

What happens if you refuse depends on your immigration status:

• U.S. citizens can't be denied entry for refusing to unlock a device. But you may be held longer for questioning, and your phone can be seized and kept for weeks or even months.
• Green card holders who have maintained lawful permanent resident status generally can't be turned away either, since a green card can't be revoked without a hearing before an immigration judge.
• Visa holders and visa waiver travelers risk being denied entry outright if they refuse.

Border enforcement is shifting quickly. If you aren't a U.S. citizen, talk to an immigration attorney about your specific situation before you travel.

U.S. citizens may want to consult resources like the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Border Searches page.

What to do after you cross

Once you've passed border control, you can return your phone to the settings you prefer. You could also take steps like:

• Restore your phone from backup and check that everything transferred correctly.
• Change the PIN, pattern, or password for the device.
• Change passwords on any account that was open or logged in during a search.
• Turn biometrics back on.
• Re-enable location sharing.

Protecting your data goes beyond just border crossings. 69% of Americans are concerned about how much data the government can access about them.

You may feel like there's little to do about it, but you can shrink your broader digital footprint by removing your data from brokers.

Bottom line

Your device getting searched at the border is an unlikely event. But it can ease your mind to prepare for a border crossing. It costs nothing to have a plan and lets you control how much a search can actually reveal.

Back up your data, switch off biometrics, and clear anything you don't need from your device. To lessen your overall digital footprint and enhance your privacy, consider an automated data removal service to wipe your personal information from the web.

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