Smartphones are essential tools for sex workers. Yet after 20 years of widespread use—and limited education from Apple and Google on how these devices actually work—many have no idea key features that can reduce privacy and safety risks exist. Here's a list of five smart features sex workers should know about:
Advanced Data Protection
By default, Apple encrypts your iCloud backups to keep them safe from random hackers. Sounds good, right? Well, the catch is that Apple holds the decryption keys on their end. If law enforcement serves them a subpoena, Apple can hand over your unencrypted data, as demonstrated in Apple’s annual transparency reports. When you enable Advanced Data Protection on your iCloud account, the encryption keys are stored on your trusted devices. Apple should no longer have the key.
If the cops demand your data, you want Apple to give them as much scrambled nonsense as possible. Advanced Data Protection can add that extra layer of protection by limiting Apple's access to your data. Remember, this is never a full safety solution, so take care with your account data and communication. A detailed list of what Advanced Data Protection encrypts and how data is stored and sent by Apple, is on their website.
As part of enabling Advanced Data Protection, you'll need to set up a recovery key. If you forget your iCloud password, Apple is unlikely to help you recover your data. You are solely responsible for it, so make sure to keep that recovery key somewhere safe!
Apple Support Document: https://support.apple.com/en-au/108756
Lockdown Mode
Apple originally designed Lockdown Mode for politicians and journalists facing highly sophisticated, state-sponsored cyberattacks like the infamous Pegasus spyware kit. Sex workers frequently face targeted digital harassment, stalking, and doxing attempts, so enabling Lockdown Mode on your iPhone can come in handy.
Turning on Lockdown Mode blocks incoming messages with file attachments from unknown contacts, disables complex web technologies that hackers take advantage of (so some websites will look weird or not work at all), and stops your iPhone from being able to plug in to a computer when your phone is in a locked state, so law enforcement can't easily "brute-force" your device using a tool like Cellebrite if it is confiscated from you.
Apple Support Document: https://support.apple.com/en-au/105120
Safety Check
Originally introduced to help victims of domestic abuse, Safety Check can also be useful for sex workers wanting an overview of which apps have what access to data or sensors on your iPhone. Safety Check lets you do a “Manage Sharing & Access” review, showing you exactly who and what can see your data. It also allows you to cut off access instantly.
More importantly, it features a giant “Emergency Reset” button. If you end up in a crisis situation, Emergency Reset immediately stops sharing location data with everyone, revokes all app privacy permissions, and protects your Apple ID. It's a fast, clean break from anyone trying to digitally track you.
Apple Support Document: https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/personal-safety/ips2aad835e1
Check In via iMessage
It's common for sex workers to share their locations with trusted friends so everyone can keep each other safe. But forgetting to update the group, falling asleep, or your battery dying freaks everyone out! With the Check In feature in iMessage this process can be automated.
You tell the Messages app where you are going and estimate how long you'll be there, and it keeps an eye on your journey. When you arrive safely or check in as you are prompted, it quietly notifies your nominated friend. If you are delayed and it cannot register your arrival and you don't respond to a prompt on your screen, it automatically sends an alert to your friend with your live location, battery percentage, and cell signal status.
No more manually sharing locations or dealing with buggy third-party safety apps that can leak your location. Apple claims that “Apple doesn’t have access to the Check In key and can’t access the uploaded data” and “the encrypted data and iMessage containing the Check In encryption key are securely deleted from the server”.
Apple Support Document: https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/security/secea59d7b70/web
Guided Access
Guided Access was intended for parents giving their phone to kids to play with, but it turns out it's also handy for avoiding people snooping around if you let them borrow your phone. With Guided Access, you can quickly lock the phone to that specific app and you can't leave it unless you enter your device's PIN or passphrase.
Once you turn on Guided Access in Settings, a quick triple-click of the side button locks your phone to the app currently in use. You won’t be able to exit the app or pull down notifications, and you can even disable specific areas of the touchscreen to prevent certain buttons from being tapped. To exit, double-click the side button and use Face ID, or enter a PIN. It's a simple way to maintain boundaries when your phone briefly leaves your hands.
Apple Support Document: https://support.apple.com/en-au/111795
Most of the iPhone’s best safety features are buried three menus deep with no explanation, so it's unsurprising that most of us don't know they exist. These features cost you nothing to set up and could really save you a lot of grief should things ever go sideways.
Sex work has always run on community knowledge—people looking out for each other and passing on what works. If any of these features were new to you, chances are they'll be new to someone else in your network too, so share a link to this article and spread the knowledge!
For more articles on phone security, see Ask Ada: How Do I Encrypt My Phone? and What To Do if You Lose Your Phone.
Got a tech question for Ada? She wants to hear from you!
Ada answers all your questions about tech, the online world, and staying safe in it. No question is too silly, no hypothetical is too far-fetched! Learn to leverage devices, systems, and platforms to your benefit.
