Hundreds of thousands of known third-party data-harvesting trackers extract hundreds of billions of packets of data across worldwide smartphone users every single day.

Data brokers and advertisers pay premium rates to enhance the targeting of their messages and to track you. For example, you may be shown an offer for a product when you are in the proximity of a particular store or business.

The pervasive nature of the data extraction economy is staggering in scale. Surveillance capitalism targets everyone and is exponentially more common than other forms of collection or interception. There are an estimated 7.2 billion smartphones in use globally, and a single user can be targeted for over a million packets of device-specific information in a given day.

This isn't just about advertisers; Governments, private investigators, hackers and any motivated actors can easily and cheaply purchase access to this same data. It has become a major threat to personal privacy and security.

Firewall: Blocks third-party app infiltration and collection from opening connections with over 225K known data-harvesting servers.  

De-Googled Android: UnpluggedOS is our own customized operating system based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). This means UP Phone runs most Android-compatible apps, but it is completely de-Googled and divorced from Google Mobile Services and all the surveillance and data capture in their ecosystem.  

No logs VPN: Obscures IP address from website and apps.  

Global Sensor Controls: Prevents apps from accessing the microphone, camera, bluetooth and other sensors at the operating system level.   

Brave Browser: Browse and perform AI-assisted research privately with the default Brave browser on device. 

From hundreds of thousands to over a million times per year.

Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies can obtain court-issued warrants and serve cellular providers to obtain location data, call logs, SMS and MMS content and other meta data. Whatever is written in SMS is readable by authorities. Sadly, anecdotal reports confirm that some people have gone to prison for incorrectly interpreted cell carrier records.

Under some circumstances, law enforcement and intelligence agencies such as the FBI, NSA and CIA are authorized under a lower standard to conduct warrantless surveillance and request cellular carrier information. This happens under court orders made by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). Customers are often not made aware of this activity.

The most controversial legal instrument is the National Security Letter (NSL). Using an NSL, the U.S. Government, most commonly the FBI, simply orders a business, ISP, telecom company or financial institution to disclose transactional information (non-content information) for a national security investigation. They can do this without court oversight and on their own certification. Also, the NSL is usually governed by mandatory non-disclosure. The recipient is prevented from informing their customer they received the letter.

PAIRED WITH E2EE MESSAGING: Using the UP Phone with end-to-end encrypted messaging apps such as Signal, Threema, Session, Element and Briar instead of SMS texting prevents cell carrier databasing of the contents of your messages.   

IoT DATA PLAN WITH POND MOBILE: Unplugged designed a custom data-only plan with Pond Mobile. This is available as a privacy-first cellular plan. With this mobile service plan, location updates are purged daily and Call Detail Records (CDR) are purged within one-week after the billing cycle, so the data is constantly scrubbed and does not exceed 37 days aging within the system. 

BATTERY DISCONNECT: The physical Battery Disconnect switch disengages UP Phone from all its electronics. Communication with carrier infrastructure is terminated. Big Tech competitor devices continue to connect with cell towers even when the phone is not in use or is turned "off". UP Phone does not. Off truly means off.  

Hundreds of thousands of times per year in connection with criminal investigations and arrests.

At border: Tens of thousands of basic searches. Less than 15K enhanced searches per year.

Law enforcement may physically seize a smartphone during an investigation if there's probable cause to believe it contains evidence.

While the device can be seized as part of an arrest, a warrant is almost always required to search its digital contents, Following seizure, forensic experts create a bit-for-bit copy of the data to analyze evidence while preserving the original, ensuring the process is legally sound and admissible in court. This process reveals unencrypted communications, can expose passwords, all local files, and potentially access to online accounts.

The United States border and international airports run under a different set of operating procedures. The Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) can seize a cell phone and ask you to unlock it for a basic search or confiscate it for longer. Know your rights. The rules are different for U.S. citizens versus Green Card Holders or visa holders or travelers from visa waiver countries.

LOST MODE: Timed security feature for when you've been away for a while. Reword to make clearer

SCHEDULED REBOOT: Set the times you want your device to reboot and clear the cache.

EMERGENCY RESET: False pin to wipe phone in the event of its seizure.

FINGERPRINT LOCK: You can set up your device to unlock with your fingerprint to prevent unauthorized access. Fingerprint versus facial recognition

Unknown, but the equipment used for remote penetration is highly technical and expensive. There is a market with multiple players offering hardware designed for authorized law enforcement, intelligence and military applications.  

Although rare, highly-financed cybersecurity operators, usually working for national governments, can use software like Pegasus to remotely penetrate and control the software (and even hardware sensors) of a device.

Other sophisticated tools for remote penetration include pen registers, trap-and-trace devices such as IMSI catchers/StingRays and KingFish phone trackers. Active IMSI catchers are illegal for "unauthorized" individuals to possess. However, motivated actors in intelligence agencies, foreign governments and even rogue criminal organizations still use these technologies. A passive IMSI catcher does not transmit any signals itself. Instead, it works by silently monitoring and capturing cellular transmissions broadcast by mobile phones as they communicate with legitimate cell towers, similar to how an FM radio receives signals.

Even remote keyloggers placed by malware or third-party app infiltration can give motivated actors the ability to penetrate your device.

BATTERY DISCONNECT: Prevents the phone from being tracked electronically or for remote software to enable sensors.

USB DATA BLOCKER: Blocks your charging port from moving data if the charging station you are using has been compromised.

UNPLUGGED ANTIVIRUS: Blocks and scrubs tens of thousands of known malware and virus attackers and keylogger embedders. Constantly updated as new exploits become known.

2G NETWORK SHUTOFF: Older cellular network technologies are particularly vulnerable to interception. All smartphones are designed to jump between older and newer network technologies to route data efficiently. UP Phone includes a 2G Network blocker which is the most vulnerable wireless band.