Safe Devices for Abuse Survivors

Why You Need a Separate Device

Approximately 97% of domestic violence survivors experience technology-facilitated abuse — monitoring, tracking, or surveillance through shared devices, accounts, or home networks. If your spouse controls your phone plan, has access to your iCloud or Google account, or installed monitoring software on your devices, then every search you run, every call you make, and every text you send is potentially visible to them.

Researching divorce attorneys, texting a DV advocate, or reading this article on a monitored device can escalate danger. A second device can provide a safer channel — a secure phone or tablet that your spouse doesn't know exists, purchased and used in ways that reduce traces in shared accounts or financial statements.

This isn't about being deceptive. It's about staying alive while you plan your exit.

What to Buy and How to Buy It

A prepaid phone purchased with cash can reduce links to shared billing, but it is not automatically anonymous: activation and carrier records may still create identifying information. Prices vary by device and location; prepaid phones are sold at retail stores like Walmart, Target, or convenience stores.

• Pay cash — never use a debit card, credit card, or mobile payment connected to a shared account
• Buy prepaid airtime cards with cash as well
• Don't activate the phone on your home Wi-Fi network — router logs record every device that connects
• Activate at a public location using a new email address created on a library computer or a trusted friend's device

A prepaid tablet serves the same purpose if you need a larger screen for document review or email. Used tablets may be available at secondhand stores, but prices vary.

If purchasing a device is too risky (your spouse monitors all spending or accompanies you on errands), a trusted friend, family member, or DV advocate may be able to provide one. Many DV shelters keep donated devices available for survivors who need them.

How to Configure It Safely

Once you have the device, set it up to be invisible:

Create new accounts. Set up a new email address (Gmail or ProtonMail) that uses no identifying information — not your name, not your birthday, not a username similar to your existing accounts. Use this email exclusively for communications related to leaving.

Disable location services for all apps. Go into settings and turn off location access globally, then verify it's off for the camera app specifically — photos taken with location enabled embed GPS coordinates in the image metadata.

Use a PIN or biometric lock that's different from any code your spouse knows. Don't use a pattern lock — they're easy to guess from screen smudges.

Don't connect to home Wi-Fi. Use the phone's cellular data or connect to Wi-Fi at public locations (libraries, coffee shops). Your home router logs every device that connects, and many routers allow the account holder to see browsing history.

Don't sync with existing cloud accounts. If you've ever signed into iCloud, Google, or Samsung Cloud on your monitored phone, those same accounts on a new device will share contacts, photos, location data, and browsing history.

Where to Keep It

The device needs a physical hiding place your spouse won't find:

• At a trusted friend or family member's home
• In a locker at work, a gym, or a storage facility
• With your DV advocate
• In your car, but only if your spouse doesn't have access to or search your vehicle

Don't keep it in the house if your spouse searches your belongings. If you must keep it at home, power it off completely (not just screen-locked) and store it somewhere that isn't part of routine access — behind removable panels, inside unused equipment, or inside sealed storage containers.

Using It Strategically

The secure device is for sensitive communications only — attorney calls, DV hotline conversations, safety planning research, and coordination with advocates. Keep using your regular phone for normal daily activity. Sudden changes in phone usage (fewer texts, shorter call logs, a phone that's always face-down) can alert an abusive spouse that something has changed.

This dual-device strategy maintains the appearance of normal behavior on monitored devices while keeping your escape plan invisible on the secure one. The research calls this the "staged dual-device strategy" — the compromised device feeds your spouse "normal" data while the burner device handles the real work.

The Leaving an Abusive Marriage Safely Guide includes a full technology safety checklist and device audit template that walks through every step of this process — from purchasing and configuring the safe device to auditing your existing phone for spyware and tracking apps.