The Underrated UP Phone Feature That Lets You Decide Where Your Data Lives
Most big tech devices quietly funnel user data into cloud ecosystems, UP Phone does something different: it gives you a choice. One of the most practical ways we do that is by offering a feature most smartphones abandoned years ago—a physical SD card slot.
Your Storage, Your Rules
UP Phone already protects customers with privacy defaults that don’t exist on other smartphones—including third-party tracker-blocking, a de-Googled OS, a built-in VPN, and a battery-disconnect switch. But we also know that privacy isn’t one-size-fits-all. Some people want the convenience of cloud sync; others want the peace of mind that comes with keeping data offline and fully under their control.
That’s why UP Phone has retained a SD card slot: to give you the option to store up to an additional 1 TB of data—from photos and documents to personal files and notes. No accounts, no automatic uploads—just local storage whenever you want it.
The Choice is Yours
Whether you’re capturing family photos, saving sensitive work files, journaling private notes, or traveling in places where you don’t want to rely on connectivity, UP Phone’s SD card storage gives you a simple, secure way to keep your data entirely in your possession.
A Simple, Smart Backup Option
The SD card supports two modes: a standard mode that lets you remove the card and use it in another device, and an encrypted mode that uses UP Phone’s built-in storage encryption. In encrypted mode, the card only works inside your phone — if someone removes it, the data stays locked and unreadable.
More Than Storage—It’s Digital Sovereignty
The SD card slot is just one of the ways Unplugged delivers digital freedom in a way no other phone can—putting people in charge of their technology instead of the other way around. It’s a small feature with a big impact: a reminder that sometimes the most powerful innovation is keeping your data where it belongs—literally in your hands.