When you’re traveling, you use your phone a lot. Maybe you’re checking up on your flight and keeping an eye out for any delays or cancellations. Maybe you’re staying in touch with people back home. Maybe you’re watching your favorite TV show on Disney+ that you downloaded to pass the time at the airport.
Maybe you’re on the My Disney Experience app, checking to see if your hotel room is ready (okay, that’s us). Regardless, if you’re traveling, you’re using your phone a lot. That means you’ll be burning up a lot of your battery power, which means you’ll want to keep your phone charged. However, you do NOT want to charge it at the airport…and we’ll tell you why.
The one thing you should not do, according to the TSA, is charge your phone at the airport at the public USB ports provided for charging. Yes, they’re literally there for you to charge your phone BUT using these now comes with some risk. The TSA has warned that hackers can install malware at USB ports (it’s called “juice/port jacking”).Â
Instead, bring a TSA-compliant power brick or battery pack (aka a mobile charger) and use that for charging your devices. Also, if you do have a mobile charger, you can no longer to pack it in your checked bag — keep it in your carry-on. Finally, some airlines are beginning to ban the use of mobile chargers inflight, so be sure you’re aware of the rules before charging your phone on a plane.
The TSA is also warning you not make any online purchases or enter any sensitive information when you’re using public Wi-Fi.
Check back with AllEars again soon for more.
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Have you ever used the public USB ports at the airport? Let us know in the comments.
It just happens that USB cables have separated internal pins for power and data, so another option could be buying a charging only cable or a USB data blocker, a small device with the data pins removed that connect between your cable and your phone , so the only thing you get is the power (charging) part.