The US is searching the phones of more travelers than ever right now

No one has any business seeing what’s on your phone — not without a judge signing off on a legitimate warrant, anyway. Yet every year at the US border, Customs agents go through tens of thousands of devices, taking advantage of the weakened legal protections afforded to travelers. If that sounds bad to you, we’ve got some even more upsetting news, as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) device searches are increasing at a disturbing rate.

The CBP just shared its latest figures, revealing a pronounced uptick in searches over the last quarter — and an upwards trend across the whole year (via Wired).

In Q4 of FY 2025, CBP conducted “basic” searches of 14,876 devices — that means just looking through someone’s phone by hand. Over the same period, it conducted 1,297 “advanced” searches — these are when it hooks your phone up to a computer and tries to dump all its data.

Compared to Q4 of FY 2024, those figures are up 29.3% and 12.4%, respectively. Across the whole year, total searches are up 18.1%.

While that’s undeniably a major increase, it’s also still just a drop in the ocean, and CBP reports that fewer than 0.01% of all travelers entering the country are subjected to such searches. Still, that’s a non-zero number, so what can you do if you’d like to keep your information private?

Locking your device is always good advice, but it may not sufficient to prevent CBP from having a look, especially if you use biometrics. And while US citizens can always refuse to turn over PINs or passwords, don’t be surprised if that delays your entry or gets your devices temporarily seized.

Something like a duress PIN is just a problematic idea when you’re dealing with law enforcement — you don’t want to be accused of destroying evidence on the spot. Instead, consider wiping any sensitive devices prior to starting your travel, and not setting them back up until after you’ve reached your destination. With Android backups, you can restore your apps and data easily — and just as important, securely — after you’re well past Customs’ watchful eyes.

That’s annoying, absolutely, but it’s also by far your best, safest bet here. In the long term, feel free to support less aggressively paranoid border policies, but for now — cover your ass.