If your phone was taken and given back

For anyone whose phone or laptop was in the hands of police, FSB, KGB or border guards: seized, taken away 'for a minute', unlocked on demand, or left in a locker during a 'talk'.

The 5-minute minimum

• Treat the device as infected. Spyware has been found on phones returned by the security services in Russia (2024) and Belarus (ResidentBat, 2025, installed after officers watched the passcode being typed).
• Don't talk about anything important near it and don't sign in to new accounts on it. Keep it switched off until it has been checked.
• Warn family and colleagues that someone else may be using your accounts.
• Note when and by whom it was taken, whether there was a written record, whether you gave your passcode. A lawyer can help get seized items back.
• Contact the Access Now helpline: free, in Russian, around the clock.

If you are at risk

• From another, trusted device change passwords and end unknown sessions. If the phone was seized in a case, talk to a lawyer first.
• Android: check for developer options, USB debugging, unknown apps or accessibility services, and whether Google Play Protect was turned off. iPhone: check Settings → General → VPN & Device Management for unknown profiles.
• If you want it checked for spyware, show it to specialists before any reset (Access Now; for journalists also RSF's Digital Security Lab, designated undesirable in Russia). Citizen Lab advises not trusting such a device without detailed expert analysis.

What not to do

• Don't factory-reset right away if you want the phone checked: a reset erases the traces specialists look for.
• Don't remotely wipe a seized phone or laptop (Find My, Find Hub) without talking to a lawyer first: it can be treated as destroying evidence.
• If a case has been opened, a report drawn up or your phone seized, don't delete anything without a lawyer: deletion can be used against you and won't remove what the authorities have already copied.

What traces remain

• If the phone was unlocked, assume everything on it was copied.
• The copy stays in the case file even after the phone is returned.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: Access Now Digital Security Helpline (24/7, Russian spoken); OVD-Info: police took my phone, how to get it back (updated 25.08.2026) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); OVD-Info: my home is being searched (updated 25.08.2026) (foreign agent, extremist, on Rosfinmonitoring list); Citizen Lab and First Department: phone returned by the FSB with spyware installed (05.12.2024); First Department: what the FSB's phone spyware can do (04.12.2024) (foreign agent); First Department: when someone tries to get into your smartphone (07.05.2024) (foreign agent); RSF: ResidentBat spyware installed by the Belarusian KGB (December 2025, Russian PDF) (undesirable (in Russia)); RESIDENT.NGO: ResidentBat technical advisory (16.12.2025); Digital First Aid Kit: my device is acting suspiciously (Russian); Digital First Aid Kit: my device was lost or seized (Russian)