President Donald Trump is finally using an Apple iPhone, despite once calling for a boycott of the company’s products, after concerns that the Android handset he was reportedly using was unsecured.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Dan Scavino Jr., the director of social media for the White House, said Trump had been using his new iPhone for the past couple of weeks, including to tweet.
Past Trump tweets have been sent from an iPhone but it was likely to have been from his staff members. Despite Scavino Jr. saying that Trump has been using his iPhone for the past two weeks, tweets as recent as March 25 have been marked as coming from an Android phone. Tweets shown via software called Tweetdeck show the source of a tweet. The following tweet was sent from an Android device.
It doesn’t necessarily mean the president is still using his old device, it could be a newer Android handset or even one of his staff. But it would still raise concerns about security. CNBC has reached out to Scavino Jr. via Twitter to clarify but is yet to receive a response. Most tweets in the past few days however have been from an iPhone.
A number of reports have suggested Trump was using a SamsungGalaxy S3 running Google’s Android operating system, a point which has never officially been confirmed. The New York Times reported in January that the phone was unsecured. This means that it is vulnerable to hackers, something of great concern because the president of the U.S. would be a key hacking target.
Lawmakers have called for Trump’s phone to be looked into. Congressman Ted Lieu sent a letter in February to the House Oversight Committee asking it to investigate the president’s phone over concerns that it can be easily hacked.
“This behavior is more than bad operational security—it is an egregious affront to national security,” the letter said.
By accepting an iPhone, Trump’s icy relationship with Apple appears to have thawed. During a campaign rally last year, Trump called for people to boycott Apple products because the technology giant refused to unlock the iPhone involved in the San Bernardino shootings. In this case, the FBI asked Apple to unlock a phone belonging to the San Bernardino shooter. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook called the order “chilling” and did not assist.
“First of all, Apple ought to give the security for that phone,” Trump said during his rally.
“What I think you ought to do is boycott Apple until such time as they give that security number.”
