Kill Switch for Smart Phone

In this instructable I will show how to create a smart phone microphone kill switch, power kill switch, and camera covers

*** Warning: this will likely void all of your warrantees and may ruin or render your phone inoperable, consider using an old throw away phone***

Specifically I will be hacking an android device, a Pixel 2, applying dip switches to kill the power to the microphone and main power ribbon, but concepts should remain the same and generally universal across all smart phones, although I welcome any feedback and improvements.

Let's face it, every second of every day humanity is being hacked by the device that they carry around with them on a daily basis, their smartphone. AI is collecting data on us, so why can't we have more control over that. For less than $20, (if you already have some tools: solder gun, volt meter) I have developed a kill switch for the microphone, which should go without saying, it is to avoid being listened to all hours of the day when I am not actually using my phone. Most users may find this to be the most useful and easiest high yield hack. Ever find yourself seeing an ad about something on the internet after just having a conversation about said thing, this is no coincidence, your phone is listening to you. Seriously how does this not bother people, and why has there not been implemented any such switch on smart phones universally? Two phone companies in particular have taken this on, librem and pinephone, but this has largely gone unnoticed in smart phone companies. I have included a link for both the dip switches and the thin coated wire, which needs to be soldered to the dip switch microphone, for which I will show pictures.

I was also able to implement a method to add a kill switch to turn off my phone completely for dire circumstances, instead of the old method, which I still use. The method we are all used to is where we press the power button and we have to slide a "virtual power switch" to turn it off. Some might ask why I need a power kill switch, the concern is that any phone could be taken over at any time and could be used against us, so I need a way to immediately turn it off and bypass the hackable "soft" power switch. A good example of dangerous smart phones was comically portrayed in the movie, Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), where phones produced a frequency that would kill the user.

Also equally important are camera covers. It is well known that laptop cameras can be hacked, why wouldn't they do the same with cell phone cameras? This can be as simple as a piece of electrical tape, but you can get generic slider ones off the internet, and even ones incorporated into the case. I have provided a link for such.

Unfortunately, we all have different smartphones but they all do the same thing, they collect our data, this general hack should be applicable for every phone, and of course, I welcome discussions to help improve my techniques and possibly others will develop techniques for other phones. There are phones on the market right now, namely the PinePhone, is a smartphone that you can buy that use dip switches similar to my hack, though they are not directly connected to the main power but a rather electronic switches communicating with the main power system, which according to some reviewers can be faulty. Another phone which has has a hard kill switch much like my design and is more sleek is the Librem 5, but the cost is what held me back from buying it, running about $2,000 USD.

2 position dip switch: $9, Amazon market place, https://a.co/d/fR2tlQU

Enameled Copper Wire: $3, Amazon market place, https://a.co/d/7XS43yw

Camera cover slide: $7, Amazon market place, https://a.co/d/grBVsHw

Backup microphone (if you decide to add a switch to it and happen to ruin it): ebay, $8, https://www.ebay.com/itm/333056615626

OR Generic electric tape to just cut your own camera cover: $4, Amazon market place, https://a.co/d/gTznldY

OR Model specific phone case with integrated camera cover: $3 AliExpress (shipping takes 3 months): https://a.aliexpress.com/_mLbHyCi

OR rubber case for mounting switch without camera cover: $5, ebay, https://www.ebay.com/itm/304432320753?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=KuWY-zr9Rb2&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=QPoQuwBBSmO&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

~The rest of these things you may already have

Soldering skills: priceless

Electric solder gun: $50-200 USD

Specific smart phone tool kit (specific screw drivers needed for your smart phone): $15 eBay

Most phones open from the front with a suction cup, a heat gun or hair dryer or heat mat helps loosen the glue, and a guitar pick is sometimes needed to pry it open (similar device comes with battery kits). I strongly suggest watching a youtube video of how to replace a battery on your specific smart phone model to do it right. Specific star shaped screw driver is often needed and are available if you order a replacement battery on Ebay, often times these phones batteries go bad through planned obsolescence, so you might as well replace it while you are in there.

3-ish De-spyifying microphone kill methods.

1. The microphone chip is the sneaky thing that is hard to find but they all look generally the same with mild variations, as in (photo 1 and photo 2). Sometimes the piece as in my case is soldered to the bread board that pops out, which you will have to de-solder. It is probably best to buy a new microphone and wait for it to come in the mail before doing this because you may ruin your only microphone (see above parts link). Follow the microphone hole as seen in (photo 3), and it will lead you to the microphone chip, (photo 4). Pop it out (photo 5). De-solder the chip with a heat plate, then this is the tricky part: solder each plate (photo 6) to enameled wire (prepare your wire tip by burning off the enamel and pre-soldering it). Then connect the wires to their respective plates on the circuit board, leaving the positive lead long and soldered to the dip switch, out the side of your phone (photo 8) can remove the sim card jack permanently (I have a virtual sim card, so it is not needed), or find another hole to exit. You may not find the positive lead on the microphone (diagram, photo 9), so just pick one of the wires and connect it to the dip switch, any of them will dead short the circuit. The problem with this method is your microphone is now flopping around in the phone and makes for a bad microphone, so tape it down with electric tape, being careful to cover up the exposed leads. If any one knows a better way of doing this let me know, see number 2 method for possible easier method.
2. You could potentially just connect 2 pads together with long wires attaching externally to a switch outside the phone, forming a short that way, but it might be a hot short, so not recommended, unless you understand circuits better than I.
3. If the top 2 methods are too complex for you, you could just do (photo 5), and pop out the microphone with circuit board and leave it out, and in that case you must plug in external headphones anytime you wish to use a microphone, you could always replace it later if you do not like relying on external headphones.

This step is easier than method 1 or 2 of the microphone kill switch. First you must locate the battery, at this time you may wish to buy a new battery off of eBay to replace the old one if your battery is dying as they all do eventually. Unplug the battery ribbon (photo 1) and cut a section out of the ribbon being careful not to cut through the next wire (Photo 2). Check to make sure there is not continuity, you must scratch of the ribbon gently with a blade so as to expose the metal underneath for which to place your tester (photo 3) and to solder your wires (photo 4). thread your 2 wires through the exit port of the phone and solder to the switch (photo 5). Tape your wires down to the battery with electric tape and close your phone up with all of the screws. Create a small square shaped hole in a phone case (photo 6) that you could buy, see ebay link above, and fit the switch into that (photo 7). These switches are surprisingly sturdy and due to being embedded in my case have not accidently gotten flipped by accident. Add your camera covers, may just go the cheap route and put electrical tape over your cameras or buy a camera cover (photo 8), or a phone case with a cover (link above). Your phone is now De-spyifyed.