BorderPrep
A pre-trip phone lockdown generator that walks international travelers through a checklist tailored to their destination country's known search practices — what to back up, what to cloud-wipe, what to leave at home, and how to restore on return.
international business travelers, journalists, and NGO workers crossing borders where device searches are common
- Destination risk profile per country (US border, China, Russia, UAE, Israel, etc.) with plain-English expectations
- 'Clean phone' provisioning — temporary device profile that strips personal data while keeping work reachable
- Travel-window auto-restore that brings everything back when you rejoin your home network
- Receipt log so you can prove what was and wasn't on the device at entry
GrapheneOS exposing forensic-extraction realities aligns with growing public awareness that border agents can and do copy locked phone contents.
CBP device searches hit a record 47,000+ in FY2024 with 17% YoY growth, and multiple 2025 guides (PCMag, CIRA, webnames.ca) covering this topic show sustained interest; however the addressable audience (business travelers, journalists, NGO staff crossing contentious borders) is narrow.CBP Searched a Record Number of Phones at the US Border Over the Past Year ↗CBP device searches top 47,000 in FY2024, Amicus releases border data minimization checklist ↗
No dedicated app dominates the space, but the EFF (a respected authority) hands out a free Border Search Pocket Guide and recent news mentions a competing 'Amicus border data minimization checklist' from another new entrant, plus abundant free editorial guides from PCMag, WIRED, CIRA, and consciousdigital.org.EFF Border Search Pocket Guide ↗Border Searches | Electronic Frontier Foundation ↗CBP device searches top 47,000 in FY2024, Amicus releases border data minimization checklist ↗
No pricing evidence found; the market is saturated with free authoritative guides (EFF, PCMag, CIRA, government portals), and travelers rarely budget for one-time-trip security tools — willingness-to-pay is unproven for this narrow B2C niche.Privacy at the Border: The Ultimate Technical Guide to Securing Your Data ↗How to protect your phone and data when crossing the U.S. border ↗
Border-search activity is structurally trending up (CBP record highs, 17% YoY growth), and the GrapheneOS/extraction awareness cycle plus ongoing journalism (CJR, RSF) shows the concern is durable rather than a flash trend.CBP Searched a Record Number of Phones at the US Border Over the Past Year ↗Entry: Denied - Columbia Journalism Review ↗
Conceptually a checklist/country-rules engine with scripts the user executes themselves — no deep technical moat, but country-by-country legal rules change frequently (CBP policies, journalism exceptions, China/EU specifics), requiring ongoing content maintenance.Examining personal digital devices at the Canadian border ↗Smartphone while Traveling and Crossing Borders: How to Protect Your Privacy ↗