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. There are known cases of spyware being installed on returned phones: in Russia in 2024, the FSB returned a phone after its owner had served 15 days of arrest (the case was reported by First Department, 'foreign agent', and Citizen Lab), and in Belarus in 2025 (ResidentBat, installed after officers watched the unlock code being entered). Both programs were found on Android.
• Don't talk about anything important near it and don't sign in to new accounts on it. Until it has been checked, keep it switched off and away from conversations.
• Warn family and colleagues that someone else may be using your accounts. Ask them not to trust messages in your name asking for money, codes or meetings.
• Note when and by whom it was taken, whether there was a written record, whether you gave your passcode. Ask for a copy of the record. A lawyer can help get seized items back.
• Write to the Access Now helpline: they help check the device and work out what to do next, free of charge and in Russian.

If you are at risk

• From another, trusted device change the passwords to your email, Telegram, cloud and social media and end other sessions. If the phone was seized in a case, discuss this with a lawyer first.
• Telegram: Settings → Devices → Terminate All Other Sessions. Check your cloud password and login email.
• Android: check whether developer options and USB debugging are on, whether there are unknown apps or unknown services under Accessibility, and whether Google Play Protect has been turned off. This is exactly how ResidentBat was installed.
• iPhone: Settings → General → VPN & Device Management. An unknown management profile here is a reason to contact specialists. Also check the list of devices in your Apple Account: Settings → [your name] → Devices.
• If you want the phone checked for spyware, show it to specialists before any reset: Access Now; for journalists also RSF's Digital Security Lab (RSF is 'undesirable' in Russia). If you found unknown apps after a seizure in Russia, First Department ('foreign agent') works with such cases. Citizen Lab advises not trusting such a device without detailed expert analysis. After the check it is safer to move to another device.
• If your SIM card was taken along with the phone, it can be used to receive login codes. You can restore the number at an operator's shop with your passport, and the old card will stop working. If there is a case, discuss this with a lawyer first.

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.
• Don't keep the returned phone nearby during important conversations and don't take it to meetings.
• Don't enter passwords to new or main accounts on it.
• 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, everything on it could have been copied: chats, photos, contacts, your channel list, browser history. Assume the security services already have this data.
• The copy stays in the files of the check or the case even after the phone is returned.
• People in your phone book and chats also come to the authorities' attention. Warn those who could be harmed by this.

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)