Technologies

Get a Burner Phone for Travel and Keep Border Agents Away from Your Private Info

As you gear up for summer travel, think about how to protect your information using a basic phone if you’re crossing into the US. Here’s what you need to know.

Agents of US Customs and Border Protection are reportedly becoming more aggressive about scanning people’s personal electronic devices when they arrive in the US — even for US citizens returning from traveling abroad. Some businesses are even recommending that their employees use simple «burner» phones to keep sensitive information safe. If your plans involve a border crossing, it’s time to look into getting a burner.

But a basic phone isn’t just for travel. A phone that doesn’t include all of your personal information or has a simpler interface can be quite handy, such as cutting down on unsolicited calls or even avoiding distractions. Comedian Conan O’Brien recently praised his burner as a way to not get bogged down in instant messages and notifications.

Read more: Best Prepaid Phone of 2025

Although carriers have offered prepaid phones since the ’90s, the term «burner phones» or «burners» essentially became popular in the 2000s because of its use in the celebrated HBO series The Wire, in which characters use burner phones to avoid getting caught by the police. Although often portrayed as such, burners are not only popular among criminals. With privacy concerns rising, you might consider using a burner phone yourself.

So, what exactly is a burner phone and how does it work? Below, we explain everything you need to know about burners and how to get one.

What is a burner phone?

Simply put, a burner phone is a cheap prepaid phone with no commitments. It comes with a set number of prepaid call minutes, text messages or data and is designed to be disposed of after use.

Burners are contract-free, and you can grab them off the counter. They’re called burner phones because you can «burn» them, i.e., trash them after use, and the phone cannot be traced back to you, which makes them appealing to criminals. Burner phones are typically used when you need a phone quickly, without intentions of long-term usage.

Burners are different from getting a regular, contract-bound cellphone plans that require a lot of your information to be on file.

Why should you use a burner phone?

Burner phones are an easy way to avoid pesky cellphone contracts or spam that you may be getting on your primary phone number. Burners are not linked to your identity so you can avoid getting tracked down or contacted if that’s what you need.

However, you don’t have to dispose of it after use — you can just add more minutes and continue using it. Burner phones can still function as regular phones, minus the hassle of getting a phone with a contract.

You can also get a burner phone as a secondary phone for a specific purpose, like having a spare phone number for two-factor authentication texts, for business purposes or to avoid roaming charges while traveling. You can get a burner phone for any privacy reasons you may have.

Read more: The Data Privacy Tips Digital Security Experts Wish You Knew

Burner phones, prepaid phones, smartphones and burner SIMs: What’s the difference?

Burner phones are typically cheap feature phones and usually don’t come with the bells and whistles of a smartphone. Because these are designed to be cheap and disposable, you only get the essentials and very simple designs. The flip phone is a common sight in the burner phone market.

All burner phones are prepaid phones but not all prepaid phones are burners. What sets a burner apart is that you will not have to give away any personal information to get one and it won’t be traceable back to you. Also, it will be cheap enough to be trashed after use.

Prepaid smartphones are generally low-end models to begin with and burners are the cheapest prepaid phones you can get. However, you can use any unlocked smartphone with prepaid SIM cards if you want to, essentially making it a prepaid phone.

If you want to get a burner, you don’t necessarily have to buy a new phone. You can get a burner SIM and use it with an existing phone as well. Burner SIMs are prepaid SIMs you can get without a contract or giving away personal information.

Where can you buy a burner phone?

Burner phones are available at all major retail outlets. You can pick them up from Best Buy, Target, Walmart and other big retailers. They’re also often available at convenience stores like 7-Eleven and Rite Aid, local supermarkets, gas stations and retail phone outlets like Cricket, Metro and others.

You can get a burner phone with cash; a typical burner should cost between $10 and $50. It may cost more if you get more minutes and data with the phone. If you’re getting a burner phone specifically to avoid having the phone traced back to you, it makes sense to pay with cash instead of a credit card.

If you just want a prepaid secondary phone, you can pay for one with a credit card. Credit cards will leave a paper trail that leads back to you but that shouldn’t be an issue unless you really don’t want the burner phone linked back to you.

There are also many apps that let you get secondary phone numbers, including Google Fi and the Burner app. However, these cannot quite be called burners in the ideal sense because these providers will typically have at least some of your personal information.

If you’re just looking to get a solid prepaid phone without anonymity, you can check out our full guide for the best prepaid phone plans available currently. We also have a guide for the best cheap phone plans you can get.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Jan. 23, #487

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Jan. 23, No. 487.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition reminds players that people’s names can look like regular words. Also, did you spot the SpongeBob SquarePants reference when the grid showed both SANDY and CHEEKS? If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: What’s your role?

Green group hint: Where teams shoot hoops.

Blue group hint: Iconic baseball players.

Purple group hint: Philadelphia.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Members of a staff.

Green group: Words used in NBA venue names.

Blue group: Hall of Fame pitchers, familiarly.

Purple group: 76ers head coaches.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is members of a staff. The four answers are coach, manager, scout and trainer.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is words used in NBA venue names. The four answers are arena, dome, forum and garden.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Hall of Fame pitchers, familiarly. The four answers are Catfish, Rollie, Sandy and Satchel.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is 76ers head coaches. The four answers are Brown, Cheeks, Nurse and Rivers.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Netflix Goes Vertical: More Phone-First Shows Coming in 2026

The streamer will add vertical video podcast clips and unveil a new mobile experience this year.

More vertical video features are coming to Netflix. Co-CEO Greg Peters revealed plans to expand the streamer’s mobile vertical video feed during Tuesday’s earnings call.

Testing is already underway to expand the mobile experience, which currently features vertical clips of Netflix TV shows and movies. New vertical video content, including snippets from video podcasts, will be available on Netflix this year.

«You can imagine us bringing more clips based on new content types, like video podcasts, which Ted [Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO] mentioned that we’re adding to the general service,» Peters said. «We’ll bring the sort of appropriate components of that into that vertical video feed.»

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Netflix’s move to expand its vertical video offerings comes after Sarandos acknowledged during the earnings call that social media apps like Instagram are now seen as competitors.

«TV is not what we grew up on. TV is now just about everything,» Sarandos said. «The Oscars and the NFL are on YouTube. Networks are simulcasting the Super Bowl on linear TV and streaming. Amazon owns MGM, Apple is competing for Emmys and Oscars, and Instagram is coming next.»

Competing with the likes of Instagram and TikTok means evolving the content the platform offers. And if it wants to attract Gen Z viewers, leaning into bite-sized vertical clips of live programming like WWE Raw, competition series Star Search and significant moments from Netflix hits like Stranger Things and KPop Demon Hunters is a good place to start.

«Vertical» is the hot buzzword in Hollywood right now. New production studios are dedicated to the mobile-first content, and with the massive popularity of vertical micro-dramas — which Variety calls «a multi-billion dollar global phenomenon» — more streamers will likely follow suit in the near future.

Peters also revealed Netflix’s plan to overhaul its mobile interface to «better serve the expansion of our business over the decade to come.»

«We’re going to roll this out later in 2026, and just like our TV UI, it then becomes a starting point, it becomes a platform for us to continue to iterate, test, evolve and improve our offering,» he said.

Technologies

I Want to Know What Pokemon Things Nintendo and Universal Are Cooking Up for Their Theme Parks

Is it a game? A show? No idea yet, but it’s been announced for Japan, and it’s coming to Orlando next.

I spent time inside living Mario and Donkey Kong attractions at Super Nintendo World in Orlando’s Epic Universe theme park last year, wondering when Pokemon might appear in the parks too. News from Universal Studios now confirms that Pokemon are also on their way, starting in Japan. Orlando will get them next, but we don’t yet know what the Pokemon experiences will be.

Nintendo’s been exploring real-life overlaps with its games in toys and theme parks for a while, going all the way back to Pokemon Go. But in a theme park, the ideas could go a lot further. The latest Pokemon game on the Switch even made me wonder how it could cross over into something location-based in a park.

According to the announcement from Universal Studios Japan released today, the details are still vague. The immersive Pokemon experiences don’t sound exactly like a ride, but they’re also unlikely to be a parade or show, since the press release already mentions shows that featured Pokemon in the past.

Expectations for some sort of Pokemon theme park experience have been high for a while, ever since Nintendo unveiled Super Nintendo World with Universal in 2020.

Since Pokemon Go still exists and Universal already has interactive toys in-park like tappable Power-Up bands and wizard wands, it also makes me wonder if some sort of interactive toy will be part of what’s in store. After all, Nintendo’s been getting into making more immersive home products, too. More details are coming in the future, so I’m curious.