Protect your privacy and turn geotagging off your smartphone photos

Did you know that when you take a photo with your smartphone and send it to someone, you are also sharing your exact location, too — all without your knowledge?

Yes, it’s true, and it’s called “geotagging.” By default, every photo you take with your iPhone or Android tags your GPS location and stores that data with your photo.

If you’re not interested in giving out your location when sharing photos, we suggest you turn this feature off to protect your privacy. Here’s how.

What is geotagging?

The photos you take with your smartphone store little bits of hidden information right inside the photo itself, called EXIF data or metadata. This information includes your phone’s make and model, the camera settings, the date and time that the photo was taken, and your GPS location. 

This data can be very useful to help you organize your photos. Photo storage apps and online photo services can use this data to organize your photos, and help you better search your entire photo collection, say for that trip you took to Yosemite or your cousin’s birthday three towns away.

To look at the metadata data in your photos:

  • On an iPhone, choose a photo in your Photos app > Tap the information button (the circle with an “i”).  
  • On Android, open a photo in the Google Photos app > Swipe up or tap the three dots in the top right corner.

 

So why would you want to disable geotagging?

In a word: privacy. 

When you post a photo online or text one to a friend (or stranger), the image’s EXIF data, including your GPS location, may be sent along with the image. 

There are a whole host of reasons why you may not feel comfortable sharing your location. Maybe you just met someone on a dating app and are trading photos. Do you want a near-total stranger to know your location just yet? Or, you’re posting photos from a protest and worried about making your location public in live-time. Or you just want to keep some privacy in an over-sharing online world.

Luckily, most social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram scrub this information when you post, but many other websites or services won’t — and your location data is accessible to anyone who can see your photo.

How to disable geotagging on your smartphone photos

Disabling geotagging is very easy, and you can always re-enable the feature whenever you want to preserve your location on your photos.

  • On your iPhone, open Settings > tap Privacy > tap Location Services > tap Camera. Click “Never” to disable geotagging.

  • On your Android device, open your Camera app > tap Settings (it may also be three horizontal lines or a gear image) > tap GPS (it also may be geo tag, location tag, location info) > and turn it off.

 

Every day is Earth Day, thanks to CREDO members

Every year on Earth Day, companies like to use the old line “Every day is Earth Day.” But here at CREDO, it’s not a cliche; it’s our reality.

Thanks to CREDO members like you who help power millions in donations to dozens of frontline climate justice organizations, we are fighting every single day to combat the climate crisis, protect our air, water and land, and ensure a cleaner, healthier planet for generations to come.

We’ve donated more than $20 million to climate justice and environmental nonprofits. Since 1985, thanks to CREDO members like you who use our products and services every day, we’ve donated $20,275,199 to groups like Earthjustice, Sunrise Movement, Friends of the Earth, Center for Biological Diversity and Rainforest Action Network. 

Nearly every month, we include a climate justice nonprofit on our donations ballot. This April, you can vote to help us distribute a portion of our monthly donation to Amazon Watch, just by casting your vote at CREDODonations.com.

Fighting for the environment and climate is baked into our DNA. Since we were founded more than 35 years ago, environmental protection and climate justice have been a core mission of CREDO. Whether we’re raising concerns about plastic pollution in the ocean, protesting oil pipelines on indigenous lands, or advocating for renewable energy, we don’t just talk the talk about the environment — it’s part of our lived experience.

We’ve planted four million trees. We print our bills on 100% post-consumer recycled paper, and we’ve planted 100 trees for every ton of paper we use (enough trees to make another ton). To date, we’ve planted close to 4 million trees worldwide through our donations to tree-planting organizations.

Phone recycling. Got an old phone you don’t use any more? We have tips on how you can reuse it — but we also make it free and easy for our members to recycle their phones through our partnership with Eco-Cell. Recycling your old device is not only good for the environment, but it’s also good for the progressive nonprofits CREDO Mobile supports.

Enable this hidden phone setting to alert loved ones during an emergency

We never know when there will be an emergency — a car accident, an unexpected fall, a sudden illness — so it’s always good to be prepared ahead of time.

Luckily, our smartphones can be programmed to alert loved ones in the event of an emergency.

In this week’s tip, we’ll walk through a few simple steps to show you how to create emergency contacts and use Emergency SOS from your phone.

The Emergency SOS feature on both iPhone and Android devices allow you to quickly and easily contact 911 or your local emergency number. After setting up one or more emergency contacts, your phone will also send a text message to your loved ones with your current location and updates if your location changes.

How to make an Emergency SOS call from an iPhone

Here’s how to make an Emergency SOS call from an iPhone 8 or later:

  1. Press and hold your power button and one of the side volume buttons until the Emergency SOS slider appears.
  2. Drag the slide to begin your call.
  3. If you continue holding the buttons, a countdown begins, an alarm will sound and your phone will automatically call emergency services.

To begin an Emergency SOS call from an iPhone 7, quickly press the power button five times in a row until the slider appears.

Setting up emergency contacts on an iPhone

Here are the steps to set up emergency contacts who will be notified when you make an Emergency SOS call on an iPhone 8 or later:

  1. Open the Health app and tap your profile picture
  2. Tap Medical ID.
  3. Tap Edit (or Setup), then scroll to Emergency Contacts.
  4. Tap the Add button to add an emergency contact.
  5. Tap a contact, then add their relationship.
  6. Tap Done to save your changes.

How to set up emergency contacts and make an Emergency SOS call from Android

On an Android device, you will need to first enable Emergency SOS. In these settings, you will also be able to set up how your emergency contacts will be notified. (Note that these instructions may vary depending on your Android version and your phone’s manufacturer)

  1. Open your phone’s Settings app.
  2. Tap Safety & emergency > Emergency SOS.
    1. If this is the first time setting up Emergency SOS, you may be presented with a setup wizard.
  3. Choose your settings.
  4. Choose your emergency SOS action: From here, you have a number of Emergency SOS settings you can customize, like changing your emergency number, playing an alarm, and setting up emergency actions, including notifying your emergency contacts.

To make your emergency SOS call, press the power button 5 or more times quickly. Here is additional information about using your Android device in an emergency from Google.

 

With CREDO funding, Mercy Corps is empowering people to survive through crisis

Working alongside local communities, our grantees at Mercy Corps respond to the world’s toughest challenges, providing immediate life-saving support to meet the urgent needs of today as well as opportunities and community well-being for a stronger tomorrow.

In August 2021, CREDO members voted to distribute $40,440 to help Mercy Corps empower people to survive through crisis and transform their communities for good, respond quickly to urgent humanitarian needs and pivot to recovery building. Since 1999, CREDO has donated a total of $387,172 to the organization thanks to our members.

Here are a few of the organization’s accomplishments thanks to CREDO’s financial support:

From providing clean water to distributing small business grants, Mercy Corps has prioritized helping people recover and build resilience in the second year of a global health crisis. Many of the communities the organization supports have been facing challenges like climate change, natural disasters, hunger, and conflict. COVID‑19 made it more difficult to rebuild lives and livelihoods—but it isn’t impossible. 

In 2021, Mercy Corps teams reached over 50 million people in more than 40 countries to meet urgent needs, support sustainable livelihoods, and build stronger communities. Working alongside communities, the group provided critical support for people hardest hit by the pandemic, economic turmoil, conflict, and disasters, like the August 2021 earthquake in Haiti. 

As the group confronted unequal COVID‑19 vaccine distribution across the world, Mercy Corps continued to advocate for more equitable vaccine allocation while delivering prevention campaigns, which included distributing hygiene kits and raising awareness.

Here are some more projects that CREDO funding helped make possible:

Responding to the crisis in Ukraine

Mercy Corps is on the ground in Ukraine, Romania, and Poland, providing funding and support to local organizations in their relief efforts and delivery of humanitarian aid. They are working with partners to provide emergency cash assistance, allowing those affected to meet their most pressing needs as well as providing up-to-date information in multiple languages to families on the move.

Mercy Corps provided humanitarian assistance in Ukraine following the 2014 conflict, helping over 200,000 people with emergency cash, food, water, and sanitation supplies.

Hear Mercy Corps’ CEO Tjada D’Oyen McKenna on the Masters of Scale podcast discussing Mercy Corps’ response in Ukraine, as well as their continued response to conflicts in Nigeria, the Sahel, Afghanistan, Syria, and elsewhere. 

Responded to the Haiti earthquake

On August 14, 2021, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit Haiti. Days later, Tropical Storm Grace caused mudslides, cutting off roads. But Mercy Corps team members worked nonstop to help even the most remote communities. Today, Mercy Corps has delivered urgent supplies to 15,000+ Haitians, while paving the way to long-term recovery.

Published research about the effect of COVID-19 on global conflict

While there have been medical, economic, and cultural shifts due to the impact of the COVID‑19 crises, limited research remains as to the effect of the pandemic on conflict—especially from the perspectives of communities who directly experience its repercussions. To fill this gap, Mercy Corps research and crisis analytics teams jointly led a year of in-depth research for its “Clash of Contagions” report, published in August 2022. The group spoke to over 600 men and women in Colombia, Nigeria, and Afghanistan—representing a cross section of communities in the more than 40 countries where its teams work. What its interviewees told them is that COVID‑19 has exacerbated existing tensions and challenges in ways that are not obvious or expected.

Merged with Energy 4 Impact

In September 2022, Mercy Corps and Energy 4 Impact announced a merger to join forces to increase access to climate-smart, sustainable energy, improving the lives of millions of people around the world. Today, more than 800 million people lack access to energy globally, 8 in 10 of whom live in “fragile” states where communities also face a myriad of complex challenges related to conflict, weak governance, and insecurity, as well as the growing impacts of climate change. Mercy Corps and Energy 4 Impact will together create opportunities to increase energy access and use for the communities that need them most, and to integrate energy into sectors such as agricultural development, economic growth, youth employment, humanitarian recovery, and climate resilience. ​​

Responded to a volcanic eruption in Indonesia

Mount Semeru, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, erupted on December 4, killing more than 30 people and forcing thousands to flee from their homes. The group’s Indonesian Response Team was able to quickly respond, constructing clean water access points for displaced families; distributing emergency relief supplies; and partnering with community members and local leaders to build a long-term recovery plan.

Advocated for urgently needed climate adaption funding

At The New York Times’ October 2021 “Netting Zero” virtual event series leading up to #COP26 in Glasgow, Tjada conveyed the urgency of climate adaptation to help the communities already facing the impacts of the climate crisis today: 

If you’d like to learn more or get involved with Mercy Corps’ important work, please visit their website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Thanks to CREDO members, Slow Food USA is fighting to create a radically better food system

As a network of over 115 chapters and 5000 members in the US, our grantee partners at Slow Food USA are centering food as a delicious solution to climate justice and helping to mobilize a dynamic network to push for radical change in our food systems.

In May 2021, CREDO members voted to distribute $40,965  to Slow Food USA to defend cultural and biological diversity, educate and mobilize citizens, and influence food policies in public and private sectors.

Here are a few of the organization’s accomplishments thanks to CREDO’s financial support:

Slow Food USA accomplishments

  • In the fifth year of SFUSA’s Plant a Seed, Share a Seed campaign, 250 growing kits containing Ark of Taste-honored seeds were sent to school gardens, and 325 individual gardeners purchased kits for home use. Share a Seed piloted in Washington, D.C. and hosted community seed exchanges.
  • SFUSA deepened relationships with Slow Food Turtle Island Association (the Indigenous-led entity) through winning a grant to support Native American / American Indian farmers, and through an ongoing partnership with SFTIA and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) that culminated in a vibrant virtual event, Co-Producers Unite!.
  • SFUSA convened Slow Fish 2021, a virtual gathering of fishers and friends of our waters and foodways that featured 45 speakers across six days for 354 attendees.
  • SFUSA’s Slow Food Live series featured 19 panel discussions and workshops that engaged thousands of attendees and revealed the many facets of our movement toward good, clean and fair food for all.

New Initiatives by Slow Food USA

  • The Snail of Approval program in the US expanded from 16 individual chapter initiatives into a national network of 345 businesses, all displayed in an interactive map and governed by a unified set of criteria centered on sourcing, environmental impact, cultural connection, community involvement, staff support, and business values.
  • SFUSA hosted its first Slow Seed Summit in March 2021. This six-day virtual symposium featured 55 speakers addressing the intersections of histories and meanings of seeds. 340 people attended the summit, which will be reprised in spring 2022.
  • The 2022 Slow Food Summit will take place May 13-15, and tickets will go on sale Thursday, April 14.

If you’d like to learn more or get involved with Slow Food’s important work, please visit their website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Grantee Fair Fight Action is fighting to protect your freedom to vote

Why We Fight

Georgia, like many Southern states, has a long history of continually suppressing the right of people of color to vote. But let’s be clear: this suppression is not part of some sad and distant past—it continues to happen today.

Right now, voters across the country are facing the worst attacks on our freedom to vote since Reconstruction. After Black, brown, and young voters made history in 2020—turning out in record numbers to make their voices heard—bad actors and conspiracy theorists have doubled down on their efforts to push access to the ballot box as far out of reach as possible. What we’re witnessing is Jim Crow 2.0.

This pattern of systemic, ongoing efforts to suppress communities of color is not new, and efforts from bad actors are growing. Since 2020, these bad actors and their allies have led a vigorous operation to spread disinformation as a precursor to attempt a wholesale invalidation of legal votes––particularly from voters of color. Fair Fight Action is determined to mitigate the harm of these insidious efforts from multiple angles, including filing litigation challenging unconstitutional election policies and engaging in advocacy nationwide to protect and expand the freedom to vote.

Voters are the reason we do this work. They are at the heart of our plans and advocacy efforts. The gravity of our role as a voice for hundreds of thousands of voters in this country does not deter us; rather, it energizes us, and fuels our determination to achieve our ultimate goal––free and fair elections for all. 

Where We Are Now

In 2021, Fair Fight Action and our allies identified over 600 anti-voter bills moving through state legislatures across the country. We worked together to mitigate the harm of these bills and defeating provisions that would have:

  •     Ended no-excuse vote by mail in Georgia and Arizona;
  •     Imposed strict photo ID requirements on vote by mail in Arizona; and
  •     Dramatically restricted student voting in New Hampshire

 

But the fight continues. Anti-voter bills continue to pop up in state legislatures nationwide; these restrictive measures echo the provisions in Georgia’s own anti-voter bill, SB 202––the most egregious anti-voter bill in modern history. Passed by Governor Brian Kemp last Spring, the law restricts vote by mail, linewarming, and provides the State Election Board permissions to take over county Board of Elections. These anti-voter bills undermine voters’ confidence in our elections and impair their ability to exercise their freedom to vote.

However, even in the face of these immense attacks on voters across the country, Fair Fight Action has helped contribute to so many wins in this fight, including:

  This work has expanded to include voters’ stories from across the nation

  •     Alerting the public to the impact of Georgia’s unconstitutional system and its national implications, and;
  •     Educating young Americans about how democracy works and providing resources and tools to advocate for voting rights through our Civics for the Culture programming.

 

You Are Our Greatest Partner in this Fight

While we live and adapt in the midst of an all-out assault on our voting rights and our democracy, it’s in spite of these challenges that, for years to come, Fair Fight Action will continue to advocate, organize, and litigate to protect the freedom to vote and mitigate voter suppression.

While our work to uplift the voices of voters pushes ahead, Fair Fight Action wants to remind you: the power of our democracy lies with you. As the late John Lewis once said, the right to vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument in a democratic society. We must use it.

With your support, we can work together to ensure all eligible Americans are able to register to vote, cast a ballot, and have their ballot counted. We’re committed to fighting for free and fair elections so that all voters can make their voices heard.

Let’s get it done.

Grantee Highlight: Women Defenders of the Amazon

Note from the CREDO team: This March, Amazon Watch is among three amazing groups that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the CREDO community will help Amazon Watch hold accountable the major drivers of Amazon destruction and directly support Indigenous leaders, communities, and organizations in calling for climate justice and permanent protection for the Amazon biome.

Read this important blog post from Caelin Weiss, Amazon Watch’s Development and Partnerships Specialist, below, then click here to visit CREDODonations.com to cast your vote to help determine how we distribute our monthly grant to this organization and our other amazing grantees this April.

Through strategic campaigns, communications, and direct solidarity funding to Indigenous peoples and Women Defenders, Amazon Watch uplifts Indigenous women’s rights, resistance, and solutions to permanently protect the Amazon rainforest. 

No matter where you are reading this from, you are connected to the Amazon rainforest. The Amazon is the heart pump of our planet: it stores and sequesters extensive amounts of carbon, regulates the global climate, and drives weather systems. It is home to 10% of the planet’s biodiversity and one-third of the terrestrial plant and animal species on Earth, and 20% of the planet’s freshwater flows through the region. The Amazon is also home to 511 Indigenous nations, including 66 uncontacted groups living in voluntary isolation. 

This vital ecosystem is also at a tipping point — already more than 20% has been deforested, and new fossil fuel extraction, mining, logging, agribusiness, and large-scale hydroelectric dams cause even greater destruction. If the Amazon surpasses this ecological threshold, it will be disastrous not only for the people, plants, and animals who live there but for the entire planet. It is time for the global community to act in solidarity with Indigenous peoples — who protect 80% of biodiversity worldwide — as they resist short-sighted destruction and call for their rights, autonomy, and self-determination to be recognized. 

Image Credit: Alice Aedy

Indigenous women are and have always been at the forefront of protecting their territories, communities, culture, knowledge, and lives. Women Defenders face unique and significant threats of violence, but they continue to protect land, water, and life. In March, in celebration of International Women’s Day, Women Defenders gathered throughout the Amazon Basin to connect and mobilize in their continued struggle to protect the rainforest. Their resistance, movement-building, and hope for a livable future are laying the foundation for moving from the tipping point of the Amazon to a turning point. 

On March 6, Women Defenders from across the Ecuadorian Amazon inaugurated the Casa de Mujeres Amazónicas. Created by and for Indigenous women, this is a safe space where Indigenous women can gather, heal, strategize, rest, and create together, including working on programming to support women’s economic empowerment. It also has a healing space for traditional medicine and treatments. 

Since colonization, Indigenous women have confronted threats against their lives for standing up to governments and extractive industries attempting to expand oil and mining productions on Indigenous lands. They’ve faced increases in gender-based violence, and the complete absence of public health support for Indigenous peoples against diseases, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Women Defenders have supported each other, their families, and communities through these crises, and Casa de Mujeres Amazónicas will continue to be a necessary healing and organizing space for Indigenous women.

Image Credit: The Casa de Mujeres Amazónicas

On International Women’s Day, 400 Indigenous women from nine nationalities (Waorani, Kichwa, Shiwiar, Shuar, Achuar, Andoas, Siona, Secoya, and Cofan) and allies marched through the streets of Puyo, Ecuador to honor women and call for respect for rights and territories threatened by oil and mining. Indigenous women leaders from the nine nations led the march, including chants like “Mujeres Unidas, Jamas Seran Vencidas” (Women United, Will Never Be Defeated). 

Amazon Watch is honored to support these initiatives through its advocacy programs, its growing Women Defenders Program, and Amazon Defenders Fund – which mobilizes direct solidarity funding to Indigenous women throughout the Amazon to support their autonomy and self-determination. These programs recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples to protect their lands, live in territories unharmed by greed-driven destruction for the benefit of a few, and continue to practice their traditional knowledge, cosmovision, and culture free from colonization and violence. 

Now is the time to protect the Amazon by following the leadership and knowledge of Indigenous peoples. In solidarity and partnership with Women Defenders and Indigenous peoples of Amazonia, we can turn this tipping point around and permanently protect Amazonía.

Our March grantees thank you for your support

Each month, CREDO members vote on how we distribute funding to three incredible nonprofits. Those small actions add up – with one click, you can help fund groups working for climate justice, gun violence prevention and voting rights. In March, CREDO members voted to distribute our monthly donation to Earthjustice, Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence and When We All Vote. These donations are made possible by CREDO customers and the revenue they generate by using our services. The distribution depends entirely on the votes of CREDO members like you. And for that, our March grant recipients thank you.

Earthjustice

“Thank you! CREDO members help Earthjustice represent hundreds of clients, free-of-charge, to fight for clean air, clean water, clean energy, and a livable planet. Together, we can protect and restore our planet to make our lives better and secure the future for generations to come.” – Abigail Dillen, President, Earthjustice

To learn more, visit https://earthjustice.org/.

Educational Fund to End Gun Violence

“Thank you for helping to prevent gun violence. Support from CREDO members like you helps the Ed Fund save lives. CREDO grants will give us vital funds to make America safe.” – Josh Horwitz, Executive Director, Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence

To learn more, visit https://efsgv.org/.

When We All Vote

“Thank you for being in this fight with us. Your support makes it possible for When We All Vote to reach and empower millions of people to take action through voting, advocating for their rights, and holding their elected officials accountable.” – Stephanie L. Young, Executive Director, When We All Vote

To learn more, visit https://whenweallvote.org/.

Now check out the three groups we are funding in March, and cast your vote to help distribute our donations.

CREDO members who use our products are the reason why we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.

Vote for Amazon Watch, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières and Fair Fight Action this April

Every month, CREDO members vote to distribute our monthly donation to three incredible progressive causes – and every vote makes a difference. This April, you can support climate justice, international medical relief and voting rights by voting to fund Amazon Watch, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières and Fair Fight Action.

 Amazon Watch

MSF is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, natural disasters, and exclusion from health care in over 70 countries, including Ukraine.

Support from the CREDO community will enable MSF to respond quickly to emergencies and provide free, quality, life-saving medical care to those who need it most in places like Ukraine, Haiti, Afghanistan, and beyond.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, natural disasters, and exclusion from health care.

Support from the CREDO community will enable Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to provide free, quality, life-saving medical care to those who need it most in over 70 countries.

Fair Fight Action

Founded by Stacey Abrams, Fair Fight Action brings high-impact, politically sophisticated strategies to the fight for free and fair elections. The organization advocates, organizes, and litigates to protect the freedom to vote for all eligible American voters.

These funds will support Fair Fight Action’s efforts to engage voters and combat the growing disinformation network, which targets communities of color and erodes the integrity of our democracy. The group will expand its efforts to divert voters from these corrupt spaces.

Your vote this month will determine how we divide our monthly donation among these three progressive groups. Be sure to cast your vote to support one, two or all three by March 31.

CREDO members who use our products and services everyday are the reason we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile and join our movement.

3G networks are shutting down. What does that mean for you?

It’s the end of an era: Over the course of this year, all of the major cellular providers will be shutting down their 3G networks to make room for faster, more reliable 5G networks.

So what does this mean for you? If you have an older phone or an everyday device that relies on a 3G mobile network, you may need to upgrade or replace those devices before they lose their connections.

In this week’s tip, we’ll help you identify whether or not you’re affected and what steps you can take before it’s too late.

 

What is 3G? 

Launched in the early 2000s and hailed as the “next big thing” in wireless phone technology, 3G was a big upgrade to older 2G wireless technology. It substantially sped up data transfers, allowing phone users to access the internet, browse websites, transfer documents, and even stream video, albeit quite grainy.

When and why is 3G going away?

Today, cellular providers are phasing out 3G networks to make room for substantially faster 5G networks. But this also means that older phones and devices that use 3G will no longer connect to the cellular network or even use emergency services like 911 without upgrades or replacement.

Over the course of 2022, all major cellular providers will begin phasing out 3G connections. The network that CREDO customers utilize will phase out 3G by the end of the year.

How do I know if I have a 3G phone?

According to CTIA, a wireless trade association, fewer than 9 percent of wireless connections in the United States are made on 2G and 3G networks, and most newer phones today do not rely solely on 3G networks. 

Take a look at the top corner of your phone right now. Does it read 4G, 4G LTE, 5G or something similar? You are most likely in the clear and should not need to take action to prevent a loss in service.

However, if you own an iPhone older than iPhone 6, a Samsung Galaxy S4 or older, other smartphones launched prior to 2014, or a feature/flip phone made prior to 2017, you may lose connection to your cellular network. You will no longer be able to make phone calls, send and receive text messages or access your data plans. If enabled, you should still be able to use a WiFi connection from your device.

If you are a current CREDO customer and have a 3G-only device, please give us a call at 866-306-2900 to speak with our customer support team to learn about the options available to you.

What other devices will be affected?

As noted above, many devices continue to connect to 3G networks. These include some home security systems, vehicle SOS technologies, some medical devices, wearables, certain monitoring devices, and other “internet-of-things” devices. 

Some automobile manufacturers and home security companies have been reaching out to customers long before networks begin to be decommissioned this year, but some have not. If you suspect that you have a device that connects to a 3G cellular network, you should reach out to the manufacturer for assistance.