Google and Apple accounts: cloud, location, Find My

For iPhone and Android users whose Apple or Google account holds photos, chats, phone backups and location history.

The 5-minute minimum

• The cloud keeps a copy of your phone. Data deleted on the phone often survives in the backup and comes back when you restore it. See what is being saved: iPhone: Settings → [your name] → iCloud. Android: Settings → Google → All services → Backup.
• iPhone keeps deleted photos for 30 days in Recently Deleted, and Google Photos keeps them in the trash for up to 60 days. If you are removing photos, empty these folders too.
• Protect your account with a second factor and check where it is signed in. Apple: Settings → [your name] → Devices. Google: myaccount.google.com/security-checkup. Remove unknown devices.
• Location history. iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → System Services → Significant Locations & Routes. Android: Google Maps → profile icon → Timeline; you can also turn it off and delete it there.
• Check who you share your location with: the Find My app → People on iPhone, Location sharing in Google Maps. This matters especially if the danger comes from people close to you.

If you are at risk

• iPhone: Advanced Data Protection (Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Advanced Data Protection) encrypts backups, photos and notes so that Apple cannot read them. You need a second factor and a recovery key or recovery contact.
• iPhone: Safety Check (Settings → Privacy & Security → Safety Check) shows who has access to your location and data and lets you revoke it all at once.
• Google: on myactivity.google.com you can delete your search, YouTube and Chrome history and turn on auto-delete. If you are signed in to Chrome with your account, the history is also stored in the account.
• Find My iPhone and Google's Find Hub help find or erase a lost phone. But if the security services have seized the phone, erase it remotely only after talking to a lawyer.
• For a trip to Russia or Belarus create new Apple and Google accounts on a separate phone and don't sign in to your main ones.

What not to do

• Don't sign in to your main Apple ID or Google account on a travel phone: signing in brings back photos, contacts and history.
• Don't remotely wipe a seized phone or laptop (Find My, Find Hub) without talking to a lawyer first: it can be treated as destroying evidence.
• Don't keep your account password in notes or photos on the same phone.
• If a case has been opened, a report drawn up or your phone seized, don't delete anything without a lawyer: deletion can be used against you and won't remove what the authorities have already copied.

What traces remain

• Anyone holding your unlocked phone can see your cloud too: photos, message backups, location history.
• Companies hand over data on lawful requests from authorities. What exactly they give Russian authorities is not publicly known.
• Data deleted from the cloud does not disappear instantly: photos sit in the trash for 30 to 60 days, and backups have their own retention period.

current as of 26 September 2026. More: Apple: Advanced Data Protection for iCloud; Apple: Personal Safety User Guide (iOS 26, Russian PDF); Google: managing your Maps Timeline; Security in-a-Box: protecting iPhone (Russian); Security in-a-Box: protecting Android (Russian); First Line: preparing your devices for the border (updated 03.05.2026)