You can check any phone’s radiation test results for yourself. Every phone sold in the United States has an FCC ID number printed somewhere on the device, often under the battery or in the settings menu. Type that number into the FCC’s online database, and the agency’s test reports show up. Those reports include the specific absorption rate, or SAR, which is the measure of how much radio frequency energy the phone puts into body tissue. The SAR number that matters for phones used against the head or body is 1.6 watts per kilogram, averaged over any 1 gram of tissue. That limit was adopted in August 1996, and it has not changed since.

The FCC did a full review of its radio-frequency exposure rules in 2019. It looked at the science, read public comments, and talked to federal health agencies. In the end, it decided to keep the 1996 limits. The agency said the existing rules still protected the public. So the SAR limit of 1.6 W/kg for devices used near the body stayed exactly the same.

Some advocacy groups were not satisfied with that outcome. They took the FCC to court. In 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the FCC 2019 RF decision District of Columbia Circuit issued a split decision. On the question of whether the FCC should have set stricter limits based on cancer risk, the court sided with the agency. But on other questions, such as whether the FCC had properly considered effects on children and on the environment, the court said the agency had not explained its reasoning well enough. It sent those issues back to the FCC for a better explanation. The court did not order new limits. So the 1996 numbers remain in force today.

The way phones are tested for SAR has not changed much either. The manufacturer sends a phone to a testing lab. The lab puts the phone against a model of a human head and body, filled with a liquid that mimics human tissue. The phone transmits at its maximum power. The lab measures how much energy the tissue absorbs. That number is the SAR. If the phone’s SAR is below 1.6 W/kg, it can be sold in the United States.

Most of the world uses a different rulebook. The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, or ICNIRP, sets guidelines that many countries adopt. ICNIRP allows 2 W/kg, but it averages that energy over 10 grams of tissue instead of 1 gram. That makes the two systems hard to compare directly. A larger averaging mass smooths out hot spots, so a phone that passes one standard might not pass the other, even if the headline numbers look similar.

The FCC’s 1996 limit is still the law in the United States. The 2019 review kept it in place. The court sent some questions back but did not change the rule. If you want to know the SAR of your phone, the FCC database has the answer. Whether that is enough to protect long-term health is a question for medical researchers and the agency itself. The FCC says it is. Not everyone agrees.

There is a fuller write-up at the FCC 2019 RF decision.