My teenage daughter is heading off to China for a 10-day Girl Scouts trip this summer. As her parent, a lot of prep work has fallen to me, from helping her secure a travel visa to going through her packing list.
But perhaps just as important, we need to make sure her phone is ready for the trip, too.
These days, you’d no more leave home for an overseas trip without your phone than without your passport. Your phone can serve as a travel guide, language translator, payment method, and itinerary manager. It’s also the device that keeps you connected with home.
When traveling domestically, it’s easy just to grab your phone and go. Overseas trips require a little more planning.
As a long-time tech journalist who has covered phones extensively for years, this is the checklist I follow before international trips and the one I’m using to make sure my daughter is safe on her travels. If you’re also heading overseas this summer, here’s what you need to do before, during, and after your trip to make sure your phone is both usable and useful.
Check your current phone plan’s travel perks
To make sure your phone is fully functional while you travel, you need an international data plan. Depending on what kind of phone plan you have, you may not have to do a thing before your trip.
T-Mobile in particular has long included strong travel perks for its unlimited data plans. Wirecutter senior editor Caitlin McGarry has found that 5 GB of data lasts about 10 days with heavy use while traveling internationally on a T-Mobile Experience More plan.
In contrast, Verizon subscribers can opt for a $10 monthly add-on to their unlimited plan that includes three TravelPass days for using unlimited talk, text, and data overseas. AT&T’s new Elite 2.0 and Premium 2.0 plans come with unlimited talk, text, and data in 20 Latin American countries, while the Elite 2.0 plan also adds another 20 GB of data for other parts of the world. Check your plan to see what’s included and what add-ons your carrier offers for extra data or coverage during cruises.
Outside of the major carriers, travel perks can be harder to come by, though there are some notable exceptions. Google Fi Wireless offers overseas coverage for both its Unlimited Premium and by-the-gig plans. The Unlimited Premium plan at US Mobile includes 20 GB of international data for more than 110 destinations. Both Mint Mobile and Visible offer travel passes as add-ons for your monthly bill.
The bottom line: Before any trip, check with your phone carrier to see what’s included with your plan and what costs extra. And if you routinely travel overseas, it pays to consider international travel perks when searching for the best cell phone plan.
Buy an eSIM
Relying on your current carrier when you travel overseas is convenient, but it’s rarely the cheapest way to stay connected. A local SIM card usually costs a fraction of what your wireless provider would charge you, and it’s easier than ever to buy one — modern phones support embedded SIM cards, or eSIMs, which means you don’t have to swap physical SIM cards.
Many newer phones don’t even support physical SIMs anymore. Starting with the iPhone 14, every iPhone sold in the US supports only eSIMs, and Google’s current Pixel phones have followed suit (though Samsung’s Galaxy S flagships also have a physical SIM card tray). That means you can install an eSIM before your trip even starts so that you’ll be connected from the moment you touch down. A physical SIM card needs to be manually installed, either by you or whoever sells you the card.
For my daughter’s trip to China, I plan to buy an eSIM from Nomad eSIM, which offers travel eSIMs for more than 200 destinations. The eSIM I’m buying gives her 3 GB of data for less than $10. That should easily last her the duration of her trip. Even better, since I’m purchasing and activating a SIM that routes data via carrier partners outside of China, I won’t need to equip her phone with a separate VPN for accessing things like WhatsApp and Google apps once she’s behind China’s firewall (which blocks access to some overseas websites).
Nomad isn’t the only eSIM provider out there. Airalo and Holafly also came highly recommended when I was researching eSIM options for my daughter’s trip. The key is to confirm that your device supports eSIMs — iPhone users can check by tapping through Settings > Cellular and looking for an Add eSIM option, while Android users should go to Settings > Network & Internet > Mobile Network to see if they can add a mobile plan. Reputable eSIM companies clearly list their eSIM offerings by country or region.
An additional note about eSIMs: They typically provide only data, so if you want to make phone calls and send texts, you need to use Wi-Fi–capable calling apps like FaceTime and WhatsApp; data-based messaging apps, like iMessage on the iPhone, also work with eSIMs.
Prep your phone’s software
You’ll now want to make sure that the software and services on your phone are up to date.
Install the apps you need. Before you leave on your trip, take advantage of your home Wi-Fi connection to download any apps you need specific to your destination, whether for hotels, flights, or local guidebooks. It’s also a good idea to enter any login credentials at home rather than doing so when you’re jet-lagged and in an unfamiliar city.
Download key maps. Apple Maps and Google Maps have offline features allowing you to download maps onto your phone in the event that connectivity proves spotty. Take advantage by downloading maps of the places you know you’re visiting ahead of time.
Install languages. Your phone also has built-in translation tools. You can use the preinstalled translation app or download and install a third-party option beforehand. My daughter’s older iPhone doesn’t support Apple Intelligence and its AI-powered live translation feature, but it does have the built-in iOS Translation app with support for simplified and traditional Chinese languages. We’ll download both before she leaves.
Turn on device-tracking features. Apple and Android devices have location-tracking features so that you can find your phone if it goes missing.
To enable Apple’s Find My, go to your iPhone’s Settings app, tap your name on the top of the screen, and select Find My on the subsequent screen to enable the feature. For Android devices, you can turn on Google’s Find Hub under Settings > Security > Find Hub. From there, it’s just a matter of turning on Allow device to be located.
Then you can use another device — like your laptop or someone else’s phone — to pinpoint your phone’s whereabouts.
Back up your data
Instead of keeping flight, lodging, and other information stored solely on your phone, make a paper copy you can refer to in the event you lose your phone. You can also store a backup of your itinerary in the cloud via Google Docs, iCloud Notes on an iPhone, or a cross-platform service like Dropbox.
Even before the smartphone era, it made sense to carry along a photocopy of your passport on overseas trips so you had that information handy in the event your passport was lost or stolen; having a copy can also speed up getting an emergency passport.
In the digital era, keeping a photo stored on your phone can serve the same purpose. Additionally, Android and iOS devices can now store digital versions of your passport in their respective wallet apps, and you can present that to verify your identity at places like select TSA checkpoints. You’ll still need a physical passport for border crossings, though.
Buy a travel plug adapter
Even on short trips, you’re going to need a way to keep your phone charged. And since that charging device has to plug in somewhere, making sure you have a compatible plug for the country you’re traveling to is a must.
The Anker Nano Travel Adapter is our top pick for the best travel plug adapter, as it can fit most AC outlets around the world.
If you’re heading to parts of the world where Anker’s adapter doesn’t work — parts of Africa and India, for example — the 12-piece Ceptics International Travel Adapter Plug Set may be a better choice.
Protect your privacy
In addition to preparing ahead of your trip, you should get your phone ready for the return home. US Customs and Border Protection agents have always been able to ask to search your phone upon your return, but those searches are on the rise. Whether you choose to unlock your phone is your own decision (more on that below), but if you would prefer to keep some things private, you can take a few steps to secure your phone before you return to the US.
Turn off biometric unlocking. The easiest step you can take is to make it a bit more difficult to unlock your phone by disabling features like Face ID on the iPhone or fingerprint unlocking on other devices.
“Disabling biometric unlock is advised in scenarios like the border where you’d like to retain your privacy despite increased scrutiny, and generally biometrics have lowered legal protection than passwords do,” said Bill Budington, senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “The best protection for your data is to turn off the phone entirely until you cross the border safely.”
US citizens can’t be denied entry into the US for refusing to unlock their phone, Budington added, but be aware that you may be detained and your phone may be confiscated.
Delete or hide social media apps. Social media posts are the primary source of scrutiny when you enter the US. Android and iOS let you stash apps in a private folder or space away from prying eyes. Similarly, both Google Photos and Apple’s Photos app include features that hide photos from view. I’m helping my daughter set up such privacy filters on her iPhone so that her return home goes as smoothly as the rest of her trip.
But Budington said those features offer “pretty rudimentary protection.” If you’re concerned that your device will be confiscated, it’s best to delete any files, apps, or messages you want to keep safe, then restore them when you return home.
Consider a burner phone. When New York Times technology columnist Brian X. Chen went on a trip to Asia last year, he brought along a burner phone, a cheap device equipped with a local SIM card that wasn’t logged in to any of his accounts or loaded up with social media apps. That’s an extreme solution for most people, but if you do store a lot of sensitive info on your phone, it may be best to travel with another device.
While my daughter doesn’t need a burner phone, following the rest of this checklist will ensure that her trip goes smoothly — and give me a little peace of mind while she’s there.
This article was edited by Caitlin McGarry and Signe Brewster.
- Credits: The New York Times
- Author: Philip Michaels
- Illustration: Dana Davis
