Your phone can contain years of messages, photographs, locations, searches, financial information, and personal communications. The law increasingly recognizes that searching it is different from searching an ordinary physical object.

A Phone Is Not Just Another Object in Your Pocket

A modern smartphone is not like a wallet or a pocket notebook. It can hold an extraordinarily detailed picture of a person's private life.

• Text messages and emails
• Photographs and videos
• Internet searches and browsing history
• Notes and contacts
• Banking and financial information
• Health information
• Location history
• Social-media and app activity
• Calendar information
• Cloud files and backups
• Years of communications

Courts increasingly recognize that fact, and it is the reason phone searches are treated differently from ordinary searches of physical objects.

Riley v. California — June 25, 2014

Carpenter v. United States — June 22, 2018

In plain English: your phone constantly creates information that can reveal where you have been.

• Where you live
• Where you work
• Where you worship
• Medical visits
• Political activity
• Personal relationships
• Travel patterns

New Supreme Court Decision: Chatrie v. United States

A geofence warrant works backwards from an ordinary investigation. Instead of beginning with a known suspect, police identify a location and a time window, then seek information identifying phones located within that virtual geographic area.

In Chatrie, law enforcement used Google's Location History information during the investigation of a robbery.

Why This Matters in Texas

Geofence warrants have already generated significant litigation in Texas and in the Fifth Circuit, which covers Texas federal courts.

• United States v. Smith, 110 F.4th 817 (5th Cir. 2024) — the Fifth Circuit concluded that the geofence warrant before it raised serious Fourth Amendment problems and characterized geofence warrants of that type as unconstitutional general warrants, although the evidence was ultimately admitted under the good-faith exception.
• Wells v. State, No. PD-0669-23 (Tex. Crim. App. Apr. 2, 2025) — Texas courts have also confronted geofence evidence, demonstrating that digital-location searches are already part of Texas criminal litigation.

The Supreme Court's 2026 decision in Chatrie now supplies important national guidance that cell-phone location history itself is constitutionally protected from unrestricted government access. How the remaining questions are resolved will be worked out case by case.

What Should You Do If Police Ask to Search Your Phone?

• Do not voluntarily consent. You may say: "I do not consent to a search of my phone." Being cooperative does not require giving up constitutional rights.
• Do not argue and do not become confrontational. Simply make the lack of consent clear.
• Do not voluntarily give them your passcode. You generally do not have to voluntarily tell an officer your passcode simply because the officer asks.
• If officers demand the passcode or claim legal authority to require it, do not argue the law on the side of the road or in an interrogation room. Say: "I do not consent. I want to speak with a lawyer."
• Ask for a lawyer, and then stop talking about the phone or the case.

What About Face ID or a Fingerprint?

The law governing compelled biometric unlocking remains unsettled. Courts have disagreed about whether forcing someone to unlock a device using a fingerprint, thumbprint, facial recognition, or another biometric identifier implicates the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

"We Have a Warrant."

A search warrant may authorize police to seize and search specified digital evidence. But a warrant does not mean a person should volunteer additional information beyond what the law requires.

Do Not Start Deleting Things

• Delete messages, photographs, videos, or emails
• Delete social-media messages
• Factory reset the device
• Remotely wipe the phone
• Destroy or throw away the phone
• Hide the device or move information to conceal it
• Ask a friend or family member to delete data
• Ask another person to destroy a device

Texas Penal Code §37.09 addresses tampering with physical evidence and can apply when a person alters, destroys, or conceals a record, document, or thing with the required knowledge and intent.

Your Phone Isn't the Only Source of Evidence — So Are Your Statements

When police ask questions about a phone, the answers themselves may become evidence.

• "Whose phone is this?"
• "What's your password?"
• "Which apps do you use?"
• "Who were you texting?"
• "Why did you delete that message?"
• "Where were you last night?"
• "Can you explain this photograph?"

"Sure, You Can Look" Can Change the Legal Question

A person may sometimes voluntarily consent to a search even when police would otherwise need a warrant. That consent can significantly affect later Fourth Amendment arguments.

• Avoid long explanations
• Avoid arguments
• Avoid agreeing to conditions you do not understand
• Avoid trying to negotiate what police may inspect

The Evidence May Not Be Only on the Phone

Investigators may also seek information from Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, cellular providers, social-media companies, email providers, and cloud-storage providers.

• Messages and backups
• Account records and subscriber information
• Location information
• Photos and cloud documents
• Login records and IP addresses

Taking the physical phone does not necessarily give police access to every piece of digital evidence — and not having the phone does not necessarily prevent police from obtaining information from service providers.

A Warrant Is Not a Blank Check

Digital search warrants ordinarily must satisfy Fourth Amendment requirements including probable cause, particularity, and reasonable scope.

• Which device may be searched
• Which accounts may be searched
• What categories of evidence are authorized
• Relevant date ranges
• Whether the warrant is overly broad
• Whether officers exceeded its scope
• Whether information outside the warrant was examined or retained
• Whether another exception applies

Police May Keep the Device While Seeking Authority to Search It

The fact that police cannot immediately search digital contents does not necessarily mean they must immediately return the phone. Depending on the circumstances, police may lawfully seize or preserve a device while seeking a warrant or while litigation concerning access occurs.

Are There Exceptions to the Warrant Rule?

Yes. Fourth Amendment law recognizes exceptions in certain circumstances, potentially including true emergencies or exigent circumstances.

Police Want Your Phone?