Travel privacy: how to protect your phone and your data

Before you travel

• Keep your screen locked with a passcode, PIN or password. Theft protection on iPhone and Android depends on it.
• iPhone: turn on Stolen Device Protection in Settings, Face ID & Passcode. It's available on iOS 17.3 or later and must be on before the phone is stolen. Away from familiar locations, it requires Face ID or Touch ID with no passcode fallback, and actions such as changing your Apple Account password require waiting an hour.
• Android: open Settings, Google, All services, Theft protection. It can lock the screen when someone grabs the phone and runs, when the phone goes offline and after repeated failed unlock attempts. Some features depend on your Android version and phone model.
• Check that device finding is on. On Android, Find Hub turns on when you add a Google Account; to secure or erase a device remotely, it needs power and a connection.
• Keep your 2-step verification backup codes somewhere other than your phone. If the phone is gone, they may be your way back into your accounts.
• If you have a Brazilian SIM, register the line with Celular Seguro, the Brazilian government service, before you leave. You need a gov.br account, and the line must be registered to the account holder's CPF with the carrier.

At the US border: what CBP publishes

• Every traveller entering or leaving the United States is subject to inspection by CBP, US Customs and Border Protection, and that includes phones, computers and cameras.
• It's rare: in US fiscal year 2025, CBP searched the devices of 55,318 travellers out of more than 419 million processed at ports of entry, less than 0.01%. 92% of those were basic searches.
• In a basic search, the officer reviews the device by hand, without connecting equipment. In an advanced search, equipment is connected to copy or analyse the contents; under CBP policy, that requires reasonable suspicion and a senior manager's approval.
• According to CBP, travellers must present devices in a condition that allows them to be examined. If a device can't be inspected because of a passcode or encryption, it may be detained, and processing may take longer.
• For foreign nationals, CBP may consider this when deciding on admission. Someone being admitted as a US citizen won't be denied entry for this reason, but the device may be detained.
• A passcode provided is used only for the examination and deleted afterwards. According to CBP, it may not be used to access information stored only remotely, in the cloud.
• This section summarises what CBP publishes. It isn't legal advice.

If your phone is stolen or lost

• iPhone: mark the device as lost on iCloud.com.
• Android: on another device, open the Find Hub app, or go to Find Hub in a browser, and choose the device to find, secure or erase it. If you erase it and then find it, you'll need your Google Account password to use it again.
• Brazilian SIM: send an alert through Celular Seguro, in the app, on gov.br or at celularseguro.mj.gov.br. Recovery mode blocks the line and the accounts at partner banks and institutions; full block also blocks the handset by its IMEI. The choice can't be undone in the app.
• Only the Brazilian carriers listed in the app block the line and IMEI, and Brazil's Ministry of Justice notes that the alert doesn't replace a police report.

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