OSOM

OSOM’s ‘Privacy Cable’ now comes in a much more useful USB-A version

Ben Schoon | Jan 22 2024 - 10:48 am PT

OSOM, the company that was previously reviving the Essential Phone, has just released an updated version of its neat “Privacy Cable” that should prove a lot more useful as it now connects over USB-A.

The OSOM Privacy Cable was first meant to come with the OSOM OV1, a privacy-focused smartphone that was built off of the bones of the beloved Essential PH-1. That device ended up pivoting to become the Solana Saga, a smartphone focused on crypto and Web3 and, apparently, isn’t great.

But amid the “juice jacking” scare, OSOM launched the Privacy Cable separately. The idea of the cable is that a physical switch allows users to quickly disable data transfer on the cable if they plug into a public charging port, or if they just want to prevent the possibility of data transfer. It’s a great concept, but the big downside of the product was that it was USB-C on both ends, where most public charging ports are still using USB-A.

Now, OSOM is launching an updated version of the Privacy Cable that supports USB-A on one end, and USB-C on the other.

The updated cable still retails for $29.99 on Amazon and has the switch for data transfer on the USB-C end, which makes sense, given that’s where you’ll have the easiest access. The cable measures 4.9ft in length and also brings another change. Where the Privacy Cable originally had an LED to indicate if data transfer is on or off, the new design has written markers to make that much clearer. Knowing whether transfer was on or off was a big complaint of mine when I spent some hands-on time with the original version, so this is certainly an improvement.

The USB-C to USB-C version of the Privacy Cable also remains for sale, now with the new marker for data transfer replacing the LED as well.