War in the Smartphone Age: connectivity, combat and the crises at our fingertips

War has been radically remade. This decade has seen a greater change in the conduct and coverage of warfare than any since the 1940s and the invention of the atomic bomb. From Libya to Somalia, from Myanmar to Yemen, and from Gaza to Ukraine, war suddenly looks very different. And the principal innovation, the most important new weapon of war is… the smartphone. Every soldier has one, every citizen has one: they are supremely accessible and portable, globally meshed, and instantaneous in their recording and relaying of events, positions, movements. But what does this newly essential, pivotal weapon of war, the smartphone, do to the soldiers, generals and politicians prosecuting the wars, and the citizens, refugees, injured and families observing and suffering through them? And now that Meta, Telegram, X et al possess and control most of the world’s archives of war footage, how, to take just one consequence, will war crimes trials be prosecuted in future? These questions and more are addressed by Matthew Ford in what is the first essential explanatory guide to the new world of warcraft in which we all now play.

‘Matthew Ford tells a story about technology and warfare that is a must read for anyone trying to grapple with the impact of data, artificial intelligence, and social media on both the modern battlefield and in the hearts and minds of soldiers and citizens.  This is a saga about far more than the smartphone; instead, Ford brilliantly uses the smartphone as a lens to understand the conduct of war in the modern age.’ – Dr Jacquelyn Schneider, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

‘Matthew Ford cuts through the new fog of war that shrouds deceptively transparent contemporary battlefields. Ford’s insightful, original analysis and accessible style provide valuable lessons which our democracies should heed in bolstering our deterrence without undermining our values as the “democratisation of destruction” has found its corollary in accelerated, participatory warfare that implicates private citizens as much as the private sector. Crucially, Ford shows how we need to truly realise the promise of the “revolution in military affairs”, which has already seen the proliferation of sensors and shooters, but which now requires us to make genuinely connected battle networks, powered by intelligent machines that fuse and process ever larger amounts of data. Learning from both civil and military examples, Ford points to how we can reclaim agency and master this task by harnessing technology in ways which will allow humans to make the informed decisions that are needed to safeguard our freedom.” – Dr Benjamin Tallis, Helsing AI

‘A major contribution and an extraordinarily timely and accessible work. A younger generation of readers without memory or direct experience of the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria will come to see their personal devices in a new light after reading War in the Smartphone Age.’ — Michael Innes, formerly NATO and the UN, author of Streets Without Joy: A Political History of Sanctuary and War, 1959–2009

'In this compelling and important work, Ford illuminates a transformed world, where we can order from Amazon, participate in a kinetic kill chain, and see the results of that strike in a video, all without leaving our couch. His compelling book shows us how radically these technologies have changed our relationship to war, blurring the line between combatant and civilian and upending everything built on that distinction.' – Dana Eyre, Global Learning Officer, M+C Saatchi World Services

‘An incisive, disturbing, but uniquely fascinating account of how everyday technologies—once the stuff of social convenience—are now entangled in the mechanics of modern warfare. After reading this, your phone may still seem smart, but you might start to question whose side it’s really on.’ — Michael Rainsborough, Professor of Strategic Theory, Academic Principal, Australian War College

‘War in the Smartphone Age is a peripatetic virtual tour of today’s battlefield, illuminating the breakneck pace of technological advancements and its impact on the character of modern warfare. Ford’s scholarship and energy make him the perfect guide for readers of all backgrounds.’ — Craig Whiteside, Associate Professor of National Security Affairs, US Naval War College, Monterey, co-author of The ISIS Reader