Donald Trump seems to have finally traded in his old and unsecured Android phone — for a new iPhone. White House director of social media Dan Scavino Jr. tweeted tonight that Trump had switched to the Apple device, saying that he had been using it for “the past couple of weeks,” and confirming that Twitter messages marked as coming from an iPhone were indeed from the president himself.
Twitter users noticed that some of Trump’s tweets appeared to be sent from an iPhone over the last few weeks, but it wasn’t clear whether they were written by his own hand, or by staff members on secondary devices.
.@POTUS @realDonaldTrump has been using his new iPhone for the past couple of weeks here on Twitter. Yes, it is #POTUS45 reading & tweeting!
— Dan Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino) March 29, 2017
Trump has been criticized in the past for using an old, unsecured, off-the-shelf Android smartphone while operating in the highest office. The president was originally believed to have handed in his Android phone — thought to be a Samsung device — ahead of his inauguration on January 20th, but five days later, it was reported that he was still using it to send tweets.
The president’s phone habits worried members of Congress, and even senators, two of whom wrote a letter in February of this year to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis. Their complaints were twofold: first, that the device didn’t leave a presidential paper trail; and second, that the unsecured phone was an open invitation to hackers. That concern was renewed later in the month when Trump was pictured using his phone flashlight to illuminate security briefings detailing North Korean missile launches, while visiting his Mar-a-lago resort.