Authorities around the world can use your cell phone to track your location and potentially access other sensitive private information about you. One possible protection from this data collection is a burner phone. As invasive state surveillance ramps up globally—including new initiatives in the United States to monitor travelers, protesters, and vulnerable populations—privacy tools that were formerly the domain of digital hermits and people involved in organized crime are now more and more appealing to everyone.
Burner phones, which are often “dumb” flip phones, can be loaded with prepaid minutes and offer anonymity when rotated frequently, purchased with cash, and siloed from any connections to you or your digital life. The idea is that cops, or other actors, are unlikely to be tracking a fresh burner phone in real time. But the crucial additional layer of protection that properly used burner phones offer is that even if they are—or they later tie communications from a burner phone to activity they are investigating—they can’t use digital ties to establish who was using it.
“Burner phones are used for a very specific, time-limited purpose and then discarded,” says Danacea Vo, founder of Cyberlixir, a cybersecurity provider for nonprofits and vulnerable communities. “They’re mostly used to separate your identity from the identity of the device. Anonymity is the goal.”
Using a burner phone may seem like overkill, and it takes money, time, and some know-how to actually use them effectively. But once you understand the concepts, you can apply them to your specific situation to make more informed choices about how to best protect yourself and your privacy. This guide talks about burner phones that meet the strict definition, as well as “alternative” phones, or altphones, that apply many of the same concepts of burner phones but don’t offer the same degree of anonymity.
Assessing Your Risks
Whether you should be using a burner phone depends on your risk model—the factors and concerns that are specific to you. Every one of us is exposed to a different set of risks that can vary depending on your nationality, citizenship, political views, profession, and much more. For example, lawyers, activists, and journalists may be at higher risk of being targeted by authoritarian governments than, say, an electrician or a stay-at-home mom.
Your risk level and tolerance changes over time—possibly even from one day to the next—and this influences how you communicate with people and the devices you use to do so. When considering using a burner device, think about who you are trying to keep from getting your data or communications.
“Use cases for burners may include: crossing borders, traveling to a risky environment, or participating in or documenting a protest,” says Mohammed Al-Maskati, digital security helpline director at the rights group Access Now. “People should make these decisions based on their risk profile and the threats they feasibly face.”
Even if you conclude that using a true burner phone is right for you in certain situations, keep in mind that you can, and should, still use your regular devices for the vast majority of your digital activity. Unless you are actively hiding your existence or residence, you likely do not need to regularly use burner phones. And that’s a good thing, because taking the precautions required to establish the anonymity needed to maintain a device as a true burner phone—even for just one day—is challenging.