Donald Trump appears to have ditched his infamous Android phone – at least when it comes to tweeting.
The President of the US has not tweeted from an Android device for almost two weeks, since he noted a survey that showed positive employment news. Instead, every tweet sent since 8 March from his Twitter account has been sent using Twitter for iPhone.
Where previously, observers tended to assume that tweets sent from an iPhone were written by more cautious aides, as opposed to the impulsive tweets posted from the president’s personal device, now both types seem to be sent from the same app.
That includes extremely Trump-styled posts:
James Clapper and others stated that there is no evidence Potus colluded with Russia. This story is FAKE NEWS and everyone knows it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 20, 2017
North Korea is behaving very badly. They have been "playing" the United States for years. China has done little to help!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2017
As well as the more conventional political tweets most assume are sent by Trump’s aides:
Great meeting with the @RepublicanStudy Committee this morning at the @WhiteHouse! pic.twitter.com/8Y2UoHoYaY
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2017
Happy Lá Fheile Phadraig to all of my great Irish friends!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2017
It isn’t clear yet whether the president has decided to switch his personal phone from an Android device to an iPhone, or if he is simply dictating his tweets to an underling.
If the former, it would represent a stark climbdown for the President. Once an avid iPhone user, he called for a boycott of Apple and himself switched to Android (barring a brief relapse) in the wake of Apple’s battle with the FBI over whether it could be forced to unlock an iPhone belonging to a dead terrorist.
Trump’s continued use of an Android phone since his inauguration as President has prompted widespread concern among information security experts.
The device he carries on him has been identified as a Samsung Galaxy S3, first released in 2012. That phone is so old that it can no longer run the latest, and most secure, versions of Android, and there are known unfixed vulnerabilities in the operating system that can be used to take complete control of the device.
The distinction between tweets posted from Android and iPhone had been a goldmine for observers trying to get a glimpse into the mind of the president. One data analyst observered that “Trump’s Android account uses about 40%-80% more words related to disgust, sadness, fear, anger, and other “negative” sentiments than the iPhone account does. (The positive emotions weren’t different to a statistically significant extent).”
