Best Faraday Bags for EMPs & Signal Blocking
Electronics are everywhere. You are probably reading this guide on an electronic device. There are processors, chips, and circuit boards surrounding us every day of our lives, and we have grown to heavily rely on them.
Electronics have two very different vulnerabilities. The first vulnerability is security. The second vulnerability is loss. We trust electronics to handle data securely and function properly. When either of those is taken away, it can spell trouble quickly.
Electronics can be fickle and fragile. Both hardware and software are vulnerable to attacks and accidents.
One of the best ways to protect from these vulnerabilities is with a Faraday bag.
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In this latest update of the best Faraday bags, additional pictures have been added, and new selections have been made. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Disclosure»
Best Faraday Bag
Mission Darkness
Anti-Hacking, Anti-Tracking, EMP Protection
A top-rated bag for the best signal-secure laptop storage at home and on the move.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
Mission Darkness has been putting out EMP-shielded, signal-dampening accessories for a long time, and they have built a reputation for themselves. The military, law enforcement officers, and executives with a need for digital security prefer this laptop bag.
Specifications
- Shielding: Double-layer TitanRF fabric
- Closure: Double roll hook and loop
- Certifications: MIL-STD-188-125, IEEE 299-2006
- Outer Fabric: Water-resistant Nylon
- Size: 18″ x 14.5″ (reduces to 17″ x 14″ for inner pouch size)
- Weight: 10.4 ounces
The bag completely blocks wireless signals, which is how it performs so well for security and EMP protection. The bag itself has an outer layer constructed of ballistic nylon to make it extremely durable.
If you want the best EMP and signal protection, the Mission Darkness Laptop Faraday bag will get the job done better than the rest.
EDC Faraday Bag
SLNT Faraday Sleeve
Stylish, Quiet, and Effective
Easily protect your phone from EMPs and other signal threats with an EDC-sized Faraday sleeve.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
SLNT (previously Silent Pocket) creates stylish Faraday bags that could easily be confused for common phone sleeves. This makes them exceptional for everyday carry since you get world-class EMP and signal protection without unwanted attention. The magnetic closure also helps with this, since you don’t have the hook-and-loop ripping sound every time you access the pouch. They make various sizes and styles with durable materials and magnetic closures.
Specifications
- Shielding: Multishield fabric
- Closure: Magnet fold
- Certifications: MIL-STD-188-125-2, IEEE 299-2006
- Outer Fabric: Water-resistant Nylon
- Size: 4.5″ x 7.25″ (reduces to 3.5″ x 5.5″ for inner pouch size)
- Weight: 3.4 ounces
The Silent Pocket Faraday Bag is a great way to discreetly protect your mobile device from any electronic interference.
Budget Faraday Bag
Simket Faraday Pouches
Two-pack, Effective, and Inexpensive
The cheapest pair of Faraday bags that you can trust to protect a phone or key fob.
*Price at time of publishing; check for price changes or sales.
Simket is one of the few inexpensive Faraday bags that passed all of our tests. They aren’t especially durable, with rough-cut single-sewn tape seams, and they have the sole accessory feature of a small D ring. One big bonus is that this size/price is for a two-pack, which is great because it’s an ideal size for protecting phones, power banks, handheld hams, and more.
Specifications
- Quantity: 2-pack
- Shielding: 2-layer metal fiber
- Closure: Double roll hook and loop
- Outer Fabric: Waterproof/fireproof silicone/fiber
- Size: 5″ x 8″ (reduce 0.25″ for inner pouch size due to seams)
- Weight: 1.7 ounces (each)
If you are on a budget and protecting in-place equipment like Geiger counters, weather radios, handheld radios, or burner phones… Simket Faraday Bags are the bags to buy.
Comparison Table
| Faraday Bags | Recommendation | Price* | Size | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission Darkness | Best Overall | $90 | 14.5″ x 18″ | Double roll hook and loop |
| SLNT Phone Sleeve | Best for EDC | $80 | 4.5″ x 7.25″ | Fold magnet |
| Simket Pouches | Best for Budgets | $18 | 5″ x 8″ | Double roll hook and loop |
The Bags We Compared
Our research narrowed the field down to a few brands and types of Faraday bags that we compared: SLNT (formerly Silent Pocket), Mission Darkness, OffGrid, Onever, Simket, Firedog, and more.
You can see our full list of review criteria below in the What to Look For section, with an explanation for each.
We considered a wide range of bags made out of Faraday fabric, skipping Faraday cages altogether for the sake of fair comparison. Since we first reviewed these bags several years ago, there have been many more products on the market- especially at the lower price point range.
We’re always looking for new and better gear, so if you have a Faraday bag you love, let us know in the comments. We review most of our tested gear annually so we can try to get it in the next roundup and see if it will beat out our top picks.
How We Tested the Faraday Bags
After researching the top bags and the most popular sellers, we ordered several to compare ourselves. We tested their effectiveness using a variety of practical tests with electronics, including:
- Key fob test (Toyota Highlander fob)
- RFID test (Tesla key card)
- Bluetooth test (Apple AirPods)
- WiFi test (Apple iPhone 15 Pro)
- Cell test (Apple iPhone 15 Pro)
- UHF test (Baofeng UV-5R)
By putting these devices inside the different bags, we could test the bags’ effectiveness at blocking the various signals. We also used the phone app Shielding Tester to verify Bluetooth, WiFi, and cell blockage with the iPhone. All of our suggested picks successfully blocked these signals, indicating their EMF and EMP performance.
What to Look For
The best Faraday bags have a few features to look for:
- Value
- Effectiveness
- Durability
- Size & Weight
- Versatility
When you get the right blend of these, you can find a bag that’ll protect the contents from a wide range of electromagnetic threats. Below, we break down what each of these features means for the bags that truly set themselves apart. But first, we’ll go over how the bags actually work.
What is a Faraday Bag?
A Faraday bag is a fabric or foil pouch that dampens electronic signals. This protects the device inside from sending and receiving signals, which can protect it from hacking attempts and electromagnetic discharge. These two very different threats can be blocked using a very simple concept.
Faraday bags have largely been adopted by militaries and law enforcement agencies looking for both signal and hardware protection. Cages may be the protection of choice for installed and stationary equipment, but bags are much better suited for equipment on the go.
The bags work in the same way that Faraday cages do. As long as the covering is made out of continuous conductive material, including metallic mesh, electromagnetic fields can be blocked or impeded. Faraday bags can struggle with complete closure since the bags are made out of a conductive fabric rather than wire mesh. Bags typically need the closure to be reinforced with a conductive material and closed as tightly as possible.
One misconception is that a Faraday bag can block all transmissions. The attenuation of the bag is important for this, since this can vary depending on materials and bag construction. High-powered frequency transmissions like RFID can penetrate low-attenuation Faraday bags and mesh Faraday cages. Solid cages and bags attenuated over a broad range of frequencies are much less likely to be penetrated.
Value: Cost vs. Benefit
The amount of money you spend on something as simple as a protective bag shouldn’t blow out your entire budget. There is a wide range of prices for different solutions and budgets.
You never want to spend too much money on one thing when it comes to niche protection. It’s better to diversify your spending to make sure you are covered for a wide range of threats.
Effectiveness
The effectiveness of a Faraday bag is easy to figure out if you have the right gear to test with. Many of the bags have the instructions printed on them, which typically involve rolling the opening before you secure it for a tight seal.
In our testing, we used a variety of devices as proxies for different communication methods and frequencies. We can’t practically test EMP protection because we’re not able to detonate our own Starfish Prime.
Durability
A big difference in the bags comes in their quality and durability. Besides the fabric weight, you can see this attention to quality in the seams, which can pull and rip easily on some of the cheaper bags we tested.
Once your Faraday bag develops a hole, it’s worthless unless you have the specialized tape or fabric to repair it. This makes quality and durability all the more critical if it is a bag that you plan to use regularly or travel with.
Size/Weight
Overbuilt Faraday bags can be found. Many EMF/EMP protective bags have evolved over the years into entire backpacks, duffels, and MOLLE pouches. Electronic protection probably isn’t necessary for every single piece of gear you have, so individual bags that are sized properly to the equipment seem to work best for most people.
Finding yourself in a situation where you have an entire duffel to protect a single key fob isn’t ideal. Try to seek out the correct-sized bags for individual equipment rather than grouping them all together in one bag. This also reduces the chance that you would have a total loss if the one duffel you have develops a hole without you knowing.
We also weighed the different bags because they can be another indicator of the manufacturer’s honesty and quality. If a manufacturer claims their bag is 8 ounces, but it comes up significantly short, they may be substituting inferior fabric or materials.
Versatility
While versatile pockets, windowed attachments, and extra seals can add weight, as we mentioned above, they also add versatility. It’s a balance deciding whether the added functionality is worth the bulk, but I’ve found in my experience that it typically does when the bag is designed well by a quality manufacturer.
Faraday Cage vs. Faraday Bag
Sometimes the two terms can be confused with each other, but their goal is very similar.
A Faraday cage is a structure, either solid or mesh, of rigid conductive material meant for protecting stationary electronic equipment.
A Faraday bag is a pouch or small bag made of conductive textiles meant for protecting portable electronic equipment.
Faraday cages have been around for a long time since Michael Faraday built a room completely out of foil to prove his hypothesis. Faraday bags, being made of state-of-the-art conductive textiles, are relatively new by comparison.
A Faraday shield is another term that is sometimes used, usually in place of a cage. The term shield usually implies that a solid conductive material is used, whereas cage could mean either solid or mesh.
Faraday mesh, Faraday fabric, and Faraday tape are sometimes referenced, usually as materials to construct or reinforce a cage or bag.
DIY Faraday Bag
Many types of electronics would be worth protecting in an emergency or survival scenario. We have hunted down the best for phones and laptops above- but what about the rest? Make your own Faraday bag!
Building your own Faraday bag is not that hard. Materials to get it done are easily found online. Just like making your own Faraday cage, resourcefulness is what it is all about. Even in an emergency, tin foil and conductive tape can get the job done, even though they are less durable.
Here is what you need:
- TitanRF Faraday Fabric – Fabric runs about $0.60/in for a 44″ wide roll, depending on how much you buy
- TitanRF Faraday Tape – Conductive adhesive tape will let you seam and seal larger sheets of fabric or material.
Once you have the materials, just follow the three steps:
- Cut the Faraday fabric in a large enough size to wrap the electronic device
- Wrap an electronic device as you would a present
- Use conductive tape to completely seal the wrapped device.
Planning how to wrap the device so it can be opened and removed without damaging the makeshift Faraday bag is important, so consider this before you start. Your limit is your imagination when you have your own materials to construct a Faraday bag. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see if this works for an electric vehicle.
How to Use a Faraday Bag
Using a Faraday bag is simple: place the electronic device inside the bag and seal the bag.
You can check the attenuation of the bag by attempting to signal the device:
- Attempt to call an enclosed cell phone
- Attempt to connect a Bluetooth device to an enclosed device
- Attempt to key an enclosed two-way radio
Once you have completed a confirmation check, you would want to power down the device inside the bag for short-term storage.
One of the main issues with a Faraday bag is that protection is only afforded when the electronic device is inside the bag. We usually need to remove the device to operate it since the device will need a signal. Returning the electronic device to the bag as quickly as possible is important since signal threats are difficult to predict.
Creating a habit of storing your sensitive electronic devices in Faraday bags during everyday use is the best strategy. Forgetting to replace the device inside of the bag could be a costly mistake, and is counter to the purpose of the bag, to begin with.
Who Needs a Faraday Bag?
If you have sensitive information on a portable electronic device or heavily rely on the use of an electronic device for communication, navigation, and information gathering, then a Faraday bag is a sound investment.
Signal disruption events are improbable but not uncommon.
Nuclear events, such as attack detonations and EMPs, are wide-scale disaster situations that cause electromagnetic interference. Space weather, such as CMEs, can also cause widespread damage to electronics.
Localized events, such as RFID hacking and signal tampering, can be more probable for high-risk individuals. Military, law enforcement, and high-profile businesspersons can be targets for these attacks, given the sensitive nature of their work. GPS tracking can also be blocked with a bag.
The combination of the importance of portable electronic equipment to both our security and survival makes a Faraday bag a good opportunity to strengthen your preparedness against these threats.
Luckily, advancements in textile science have reduced the bulk of Faraday cages but kept the functionality of portable Faraday bags. This means that they can be included in many types of portable kits, including:
This last bullet point has some exciting options, as we pointed out earlier with our portable EDC pick.
How We Review Products: We research thoroughly before selecting the best products to review. We have vast prepping and survival experience and bring in outside experts when needed. Hours on end are spent testing gear in stressful conditions and using specialized testing gear to verify claims. We assign performance criteria and impartially rate each tested item. Learn more about how we test.
Sources & References
An objective look at the best Faraday bag is useless without sources and references. We leaned on these for the book knowledge that we paired with our practical military experience and prepping projects.
Lennox-Steele, A., et al. (2016). A forensic examination of several mobile device Faraday bags & materials to test their effectiveness. Australian Digital Forensics Conference. Pages 34 – 41. (Source).
Faraday, M. (2004). Experimental Researches in Electricity. Dover Publications. (Source).
Forbes, N., et al. (2014). Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics. Prometheus. (Source).
Conclusion
Faraday cages have been around for over 180 years at this point, and survivalists and preppers are thankful to Michael Faraday for taking the time to discover them. The more recently invented Faraday bag is even more useful, allowing us to take electromagnetic protection on the go.
Take care of your gear, and it will take care of you. Don’t stash it away, but get it out to get familiar with it if you are not using it every day.
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When can a faraday bag be penetrated? I have your bag and heard the alarm that I set when an IP address was picked up while my computer was inside your bag. Is there something that I may have done wrong? The bag was fully sealed. Thank you.
If you have the Mission Darkness bag- just be sure you are getting a good seal. Use the double roll with the velcro. If you don’t have it sealed tightly, it’ll just dampen signals like a cheaper faraday bag.