How to Set Up and Use a Burner Phone

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 unlike