--- description: Find out why Cape Obscura is on TIME's list of 2025's best inventions. title: Cape Obscura: The Best Inventions of 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a88fb67399b39c/6998ca6b1500fb25a3aa6a73/cape-obscura-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 09, 2025 # Cape Obscura A privacy-focused phone by [Carly Page](/author/carly-page/) ## Carly Page Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Courtesy Cape Launched in late 2024, Cape Obscura is the first phone with a cellular service that changes your phone’s network identity every day, making privacy the default while keeping you connected. It pairs a secure SIM with a hardened Android device profile that rotates identifiers like your IMSI and IMEI daily, adds SIM-swap protection, encrypted voicemail, and signaling defenses against SS7 tracking attacks. This setup scrambles the breadcrumbs that carriers and data brokers use to follow you. “Your IMSI is the license plate of your digital life,” says Cape CEO John Doyle. Obscura does not make you invisible to lawful interception, but it offers one of the strongest consumer options yet for vanishing from the cellular network. These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318477/cape-obscura/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318477/cape-obscura/"},"headline":"Cape Obscura","datePublished":"2025-10-09T11:00:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:56.450Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318477/cape-obscura/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades","Best Inventions 2025"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a88fb67399b39c/6998ca6b1500fb25a3aa6a73/cape-obscura-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Carly Page","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/carly-page/"}],"creator":"Carly Page","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a88fb67399b39c/6998ca6b1500fb25a3aa6a73/cape-obscura-TIME-best-inventions-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318477/cape-obscura/","name":"Cape Obscura"}}]}] ```