Shawn Ryan Show - I can finally talk about this...

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

Glacier is officially here. Everything you need to take your privacy back, in one app: 🔒 Secure DNS 🚫 Data blocking and device protection 🇺🇸 All-American VPN 📱 Burner numbers Shawn built Glacier to make protecting your privacy simple. No complicated setup, no confusing settings. Just a few taps and you're covered. The app is currently available on iOS, with Android coming soon. How to sign up and download Glacier: 1. On your iPhone, go to theglacierapp.com and tap "Get Glacier." 2. Create your account. 3. Check your email for a confirmation code and enter it. 4. Choose your plan: Glacier on its own or bundled with Burner Numbers. 5. Complete your payment. 6. From your profile page, tap the download link in the top-left corner. 7. Download Glacier from the App Store. 8. Open the app and log in using the same account you purchased under. Get started at https://theglacierapp.com or download it on the app store. Privacy isn't paranoia. It's protection. Questions? Visit our Help Center - https://support.theglacierapp.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As you guys know, once upon a time I was a Navy SEAL, and then I contracted for CIA. And that was a whole other life. But in that life, one thing I learned is how important encryption in protecting your data is on your devices. And so let me give you an example. one time when I was contracting for CIA, we were in a very poor country in the Middle East. And in that country, we were hunting ISIS, Taliban, terrorist organizations, stuff like that. But it was a very permissive environment. And when we were there, we had to get these black phones, super complicated, not easy to use. very not user-friendly at all.

And to be able to operate it, it was like an app inside of an app, inside of an app. And then you get your secure communications. And we had that because there was like a spy game going on in this place. China was there, Russia was there, the Iranians were there, and everybody's kind of collecting on each other. That experience has just always made me extremely paranoid about what. What's being sucked out of my phone? What information are people getting?

And then it kind of fell off a little bit as I kind of changed careers. Now you know I run a podcast called The Sean Ryan Show. And, you know, when that started, it was interviewing former colleagues of mine. People that I contracted with at CIA, people that I worked with in the SEAL teams, former Green Berets, former Dev Group guys, Delta guys, intelligence professionals. And then the show kind of developed. And it got bigger. And we started meddling a little bit in politics

and talking to members of the administration, current and former administrations, very powerful people. And then it went to vice presidents and presidents, and now it's all the way up to heads of state all over the world. Intelligence professionals in Austria, Vienna, the spy capital of the world, where we interviewed Ahmad Massoud. the leader of the Afghan resistance.

We went to Taiwan and interviewed Baushi Kim, the vice president of Taiwan, where China is just constantly exploiting information out. Dubai, where they hand you a free VPN card as you enter the country. What do you think that's for? And so through this journey, I've been really paranoid,

worried worried about myself and my team because we're in communication with all these people. And what we've noticed is once you get in touch with them, all their friends want to get in touch with you. And they all have access to you. And so I started looking for a black phone, meaning a phone that just cannot be tracked, can't be traced, can't be exploited. And I found them. And they're expensive. I'm not talking about the ones that are 500 bucks or $1,000. I'm talking $10,000 plus for one phone, but I needed them for my team to protect them as well as myself.

So I partnered with some of the developers that developed one of those black phones. These guys are all former Intel guys, NSA types, very good at tech. I wanted something that could protect everybody, not just people that can afford a $10,000 plus phone. And so we turned it into an application. We call it the Glacier app. My favorite thing about the Glacier app is the burner number feature. This is like the real James Bond shit. MI6 CIA level stuff.

And so what do we use it for? Well, as I just mentioned, different heads of state, politicians that we don't want to talk to. I don't want those people to have my number. So with the Glacier app, you can pick a burner number with any area, code you want in the country. You pick it, you give that burner number out, and if they take advantage of you or your phone or they start calling you or handing out your number or anything that pisses you off, you just deactivate the number. You burn it, gone. Relationship over. They have no way to contact you now. And then you just pick another one. Now how does this apply

for everyday people like you? I'll tell you how it applies. How many of you guys have donated to, out of the generosity of your heart, you've donated to a nonprofit, and then what do they do? They exploit your number, and they sell it. And then you get spam calls from them nonstop, begging for more money. Or maybe it's a political campaign, and that politician just continues to pander you for more money, and then they sell your number, and then the next politician is pandering you for money because you donated to the other one. Or it's a pizza or a hotel or you're trying to get a discount at a store and then they sell your number and then the next thing you know every single phone call that comes in is a spam call well now you can give them a

burner number and when they do sell your number deactivate it burn it throw it in the trash pick a new number they have no way to contact you again either that's my favorite feature along with that we have secure dns now what's secure dns well very simply put secure dns keeps your phone from being exploited while you're browsing the internet. How many times have you been talking about a product next to your phone? Something you want to buy. Maybe it's a new device. Maybe it's a new car. Maybe it's a new camera. Whatever it is. And then all of a sudden, every social media app you open, every web browser you open, it's all these ads about the exact thing you were just talking about like five minutes ago. Well, these are the kind of things that secure DNS help.

fix. So here's an example. Today, it's about 4 p.m. and my phone has already blocked over 1,300 web trackers. And I don't even have any social media apps on my phone, but I'll bet you do. So yours would even be more than mine. And we have a U.S.-based VPN who collects no data off your phone. All of your data stays localized right on your device. So you never have to worry about us exploiting it. Now, if you look at VPN companies, I researched the shit out of this when we were developing this. And most of the VPN companies, actually,

I feel pretty comfortable saying all of the VPN companies that are advertised on podcasts. They're owned by Chinese companies. They're owned by Pakistani companies. They're owned by Israeli companies. I'm pretty sure we've all figured out by, now that those companies and those nations do not have our best interest. So what do you think they're doing with all that information that they're sucking out of your phone? I don't know,

but I'll bet you could come up with some stuff. And so we developed the Glacier app. It's the simplest app on the market. Just a couple of buttons. Your phone's protected. A couple of buttons, you got yourself a burner number, or five, or more. It's easy. You open the app, you hit connect, done, you're protected. You can get the Glacier app at the App Store, you can get it at the Glacier app.com. It's available for iOS right now. Android's coming soon. If you have an Android and you want the Glacier app, we have a link below here. You can sign up for the newsletter, and we will inform you when it's ready. It'll be out soon. Once again, ladies and gents, the glacier app.com or just go on the app store and look up the glacier app.

Remember, privacy isn't paranoia. It's pretend.