In South Dakota, police generally cannot search a phone during a routine traffic stop without a warrant due to protections under the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures. The U.S. Supreme Court case Riley v. California (2014) established that law enforcement must obtain a warrant before accessing the contents of a cell phone, even if the phone is seized during an arrest. During a traffic stop, officers may ask for consent to search your phone, but you have the right to refuse. Without a warrant or your consent, a search of your phone is illegal.
However, exceptions exist under exigent circumstances where officers believe immediate action is necessary to prevent harm, loss of evidence, or other urgent scenarios, but these are limited and must be justifiable. If the police arrest you based on probable cause or find evidence of a crime on your phone, they may seize the phone but still generally require a warrant to search it fully.
During a traffic stop, police may ask to see your phone for documents such as proof of insurance stored digitally, but you are not obligated to hand over your phone. Officers can record or note information they see without accessing further data, and taking your phone away without cause is typically not permissible.
South Dakota law and federal court rulings protect you from warrantless phone searches at traffic stops. It is advisable to clearly state that you do not consent to any searches of your phone without a warrant if asked by police.
Sources
(https://scholarship.law.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1137&context=scholar)
(https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/can-police-search-your-phone-during-a-traffic-stop)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWWbfdH1w2c)
(https://www.justcriminallaw.com/blog/2025/july/what-to-do-if-police-want-to-search-your-phone/)
(https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/32-33)
