If You’re Attending a Protest, Here’s How to Be Smart With Your Phone

Your mobile phone is one of the most powerful tools you can bring to a protest, but it can also be one of your biggest vulnerabilities. This year has seen mass demonstrations across the US, particularly against aggressive immigration enforcement and the use of force by federal and local authorities — including the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis — where protesters have used their phones to record video, document abuses and communicate with one another.

Phone data and use are increasingly being targeted by police and government agencies. Phones are also tracking devices that can be intercepted to monitor locations, match identities and surveil text messages (the FBI has threatened to investigate encrypted Signal chats, too). While the safest move is to leave your phone at home, that’s not always practical. 

If you want to secure your phone’s data, limit your digital footprint and protect your privacy while exercising your constitutional rights, here are some steps you can take. 

If you plan to protest or serve as a legal observer, here’s some advice from the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International.

Make sure strong encryption is enabled

Your phone contains all sorts of information about you: your contacts, work address, photos, social media accounts, emails, stored financial information, etc. If your phone is confiscated, lost or stolen, you don’t want to make it easy for someone to grab that data. 

As a first step, make sure your device is securely encrypted. Most iPhones and Android phones encrypt data automatically when you set a passcode. Make sure it’s a strong passcode (8-12 random characters).

On Android, go to Settings > Security & Privacy > Device Unlock > Screen lock (or similar, depending on which device you own).

On iOS, go to Settings > Face ID (or Touch ID) & Passcode and tap Turn Passcode On.

You can double-check that encryption is enabled after you’ve set a passcode. In iOS, go to Settings > Face ID & Passcode, then scroll to the bottom, where you should see the phrase “Data protection is enabled.”

In Android, head to Settings > Security & Privacy > More Security & Privacy (or similar, depending on your device), and look for an “Encryption & Credentials” line or similar that should confirm data is encrypted.

Turn off location settings

Location services allows apps and services to grab the phone’s location through GPS. Switching this off blocks that data from being accessed. You’ll find it in the Privacy & Security settings on the iPhone and in the Location settings on Android.

Turning off location services also prevents location data from being saved to any photos you take. You can also manually prevent photos you shot from including location information in their metadata, typically located in the camera app or within your phone’s settings. 

In iOS, head to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera to toggle location metadata on or off.

On most Android phones, you can disable location data for photos right in the camera app. Open the camera, tap the settings icon, and look for Save Location (or a variation of that: Store Location Data, Location Tags), and turn it off.

Turn off scan-to-unlock and touch-to-unlock features

Biometrics make it easier to unlock your phone and provide security during everyday use, but if your phone is confiscated by law enforcement, they might try to compel you to unlock it using facial recognition or fingerprint readers. 

This is a legal area that’s still being worked out, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which states in its guide for attending protests, “using a memorized passcode generally provides a stronger legal footing to push back against a court order of compelled device unlocking/decryption.”

On an iPhone, go to Settings > Face ID (or Touch ID) & Passcode and turn off iPhone Unlock.

On Android, look for fingerprint or face unlock options in Settings >Security & Privacy or Lock Screen settings.

Quickly disable biometrics in the moment

What if you forgot to disable biometrics and you’re confronted with someone who tries to compel you to use them? There’s a quick workaround that forces you to use the passcode, even without resetting your phone (all phones require you to reenter your passcode upon reboot).

On an Android device, hold the power button and either the volume-up or volume-down button (depending on your device) and select Lockdown. You may need to specify that the Lockdown option appears. On a Samsung Galaxy phone, for instance, in the Lock screen and AOD > Secure lock settings, turn on the Show Lockdown mode option.

On an iPhone, hold the Sleep/Wake and Volume Up buttons for a second until you see the power, medical ID and Emergency SOS options. Then tap Cancel. The next unlock will require your passcode.

Remember that if you use this option, the biometrics are disabled only until the phone is next unlocked with the passcode. In a protest environment, it’s better to disable the biometrics as described above.

Turn off Bluetooth

Bluetooth, the short-range networking feature, is more commonly used to send music and podcasts to wireless headphones or communicate with smart devices like watches and fitness trackers. But it also reaches out to locators like Apple AirTags and checks for other nearby items. 

Turn off cellular data when you’re not using it

Your phone sends and receives a lot of data in the background — such as checking for updates, sending and receiving text messages, and receiving app notifications — which requires it to maintain constant chatter with nearby cellular towers. That traffic can identify your approximate location or show that you (or at least your phone) were present at a protest later. (Note that turning off cellular data will interfere with any encrypted communications you may be using.)

While you’re disabling cellular data, you should also disable Wi-Fi. Not only can connecting to Wi-Fi networks reveal your location, but it’s also a battery drain, especially in high-density areas where there are a lot of networks.

Leave your phone at home, or get a burner phone

If you leave your phone at home, you won’t need to worry about all these settings. Another option is to get a prepaid burner phone to use only at the protest and then turn it off before you go home (so it cannot be traced back to you).

Don’t forget about other devices

Your phone might not be the only thing tracking you. Your smartwatch may connect to cellular networks or store location data, and portable trackers such as Apple AirTags are designed to relay their locations via Bluetooth. Consider putting your watch into Airplane mode and leaving the trackers at home.

Take photos and videos while your phone is locked

You’re likely to be using your camera a lot during a protest event, and in addition to disabling Location Services so the GPS data is not saved to the images, it’s a good idea to use the camera without unlocking the phone. That way, someone who snatches the phone from you while you’re recording can’t access your data.

iPhones and Android phones include this feature as a convenience to take pictures quickly. The camera is active, but the other phone features remain unavailable. From the iOS lock screen, press and hold the Camera icon or swipe from the right edge of the screen. Your model may also include a Camera Control button or an option to activate the camera using the Action button.

On an Android phone, look for a Camera icon on the lock screen. There may also be options for quick launching, such as double-pressing the power button.

And one last note about recording: Be mindful of taking photos of protesters’ faces and of sharing your images later, since law enforcement uses facial recognition technology to identify people in publicly uploaded or posted photos.