Is Trump Still Tweeting From His Unsecured Android Phone?

President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

There are two personalities on display in Donald Trump’s Twitter feed. One Trump generally spells things correctly, tweets flattering news stories and politely thanks visitors for meeting with him. The other Trump is easily provoked, capitalizes random words and lashes out in real time at things that annoy him.

These two genres of tweets generally come from two different devices—an Android phone and an iPhone—and thus presumably from different people. Last year, David Robinson, a data scientist at Stack Overflow, poked through months of Trump’s timeline and found tweets from the Android phone were far more negative than the bland iPhone tweets. Trump uses an Android phone as his personal device, suggesting he was behind the angrier tweets; the iPhone tweets probably came from staff.

To help The Atlantic’s journalists guess whether any given tweet comes from an aide or straight from Trump’s own two thumbs, my colleague Andrew McGill created a new channel called #trumptweets in Slack, the chat platform our newsroom uses to communicate. Every time the president of the United States sends a 140-character missive to the world, it lands in our Slack channel, with an extra piece of information: whether the tweet was sent from an iPhone or an Android device. (Tweets always include hidden metadata that indicate what device or software they were sent from.)

The trend Robinson discovered held up for many months. Angry tweets like these would arrive in the wee hours from the presidential Samsung Galaxy. In the afternoon, staid iPhone tweets respectfully thanked crowds at rallies for Making America Great Again.

Then, suddenly, the flow of Android tweets dried up. After an uncharacteristically dry tweet on March 8 about a workforce report from LinkedIn (the tweet did not have a link, however, true to form), two and a half weeks passed without another from the Android.

The presidential tweets kept coming, of course—and coming and coming and coming—but they were all posted from an iPhone. Oddly, though, the feed’s split personality didn’t fade. Tweets like this gem from Thursday, March 23, which decried the “totally biased and fake news reports of the so-called Russia story on NBC and ABC,” came from an iPhone. (That message was punctuated with a particularly Trumpian coda: “Such dishonesty!”) But so too did tweets like this one from just two days prior, which included images and the phrase “ingrained in our nation’s fabric,” two dead giveaways the tweet came from staff.

What happened? Some reporters speculated Trump may have finally gotten an iPhone. Perhaps that old, unsecured Samsung—so old, in fact, it can’t run the newest, safest version of the Android operating system—had been wrested from Trump’s fingers by a brave, security-conscious aide.

That would’ve been a relief to security experts who had warned for months about the dangers of Trump’s attachment to that phone. The device, likely a Samsung Galaxy S3, has such serious security problems it’s probably “compromised by at least one—probably multiple—hostile foreign intelligence services and is actively being exploited,” according to Nicholas Weaver, a security researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. That would mean foreign agents could be listening on his private conversations, monitoring him as he moves around the country and potentially seeing the world through the eyes of his smartphone camera.

But lo, the Android tweets are back. The spectacular collapse of the American Health Care Act, Trump’s response to Obamacare, was enough to bring the old device out from retirement this weekend. Here’s what the president tweeted from an Android on Saturday:

It’s not certain Trump picked up the old Android phone he’d been carrying around throughout the campaign to send off that tweet and another just minutes later. It could be that Trump got a newer, more secure Android phone, or—ideally—a specially secured smartphone issued by the intelligence community.

But given the White House’s disinterest in policing Trump’s Android during the early months of his presidency, it’s unclear what would have prompted a sudden technology upgrade. (One potential hint: WikiLeaks released details about classified CIA hacking tools the day before Trump’s Android tweets went dark for a couple weeks.)

The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comment. At press time, Trump had only fired off two tweets from the Android before the iPhone tweets took over again, including one that include a shorthand for “Obamacare” the president has used before:

So what’s going on when Trump-like tweets come from the iPhone?

There are a few possibilities. Maybe Trump really did get an iPhone, which he now uses as his primary tweeting tool. Perhaps he’s taken to dictating his tweets, idiosyncrasies and all, to an iPhone-toting staffer. Or maybe his aides have gotten really good at tweeting in Trumpian English, and have been given permission to get a little edgy with the @realDonaldTrump account. At a time when members of his own party have called on Trump to stop tweeting so much, sending spicier iPhone tweets may be the kind of concession that could keep the president off Twitter.

Trump also has control of the official @POTUS account, which he took over from Barack Obama on inauguration day, but that one is run by Dan Scavino, the White House social-media director. Tweets on that account from the president are signed “DJT,” but he’s only put his name on a handful of them, none of which really sound like they came from him.

It could be argued that Trump’s tweets are themselves a threat to national security. But if at least they came from a secure device, the president may be safer from surveillance than he is now. Until it’s clear he’s turned in his old Samsung Galaxy—an unlikely prospect after this weekend’s tweets—it’s still possible that hacker with access to basic exploits could gain access to Trump’s every movement and word.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.