How to protect yourself from phone/device searches at the airport.

There are reports of travelers having their phones taken when they go through immigration.

I have seen some very not helpful tips out there such as saying "no" to the search and risk indefinite holding.

Maybe this will help:

1. Consider a throw away phone used only for travel. This would be a very basic phone.  Send your real device(s) via mail to your location.

A.This is more for those doing a long stay at their destination

2. Make a back up of all devices to a storage that is not with you - this could be to the cloud or external device. Then wipe your devices. When you get to your final location, restore the backup onto your devices.

A.The backup should be encrypted if possible.

3. If you don't want to wipe the device, consider removing apps that might have information you don't want searched and clearing your internet history and stored passwords.

A. You can deny having social media accounts.