It should be possible to protect oneself. It is extremely difficult only because there are basically only two options if you want to have a smartphone: either i

It should be possible to protect oneself. It is extremely difficult only because there are basically only two options if you want to have a smartphone: either iOS or Android. The immense power of nation-state adversaries is focused on just two targets. And there are are no commercial off-the-shelf security solutions that can “protect” you. You have to do your own security. This is why Snowden had to painstakingly teach the journalists on how to use GPG to receive his cache. No other way would be trustful enough.