> So you plan to (1) actively/proactively conceal your data/evidence
I am not concealing data/evidence as it doesn't exists. I don't know of any law in any country that force you to hand out the key of your home to a remote state so that they can enter your country and do a search.
> and then (3) constantly restore from cloud backups?
Why constantly? Only and only if I need to access specific data (that may be available remotely without restore anyway). Full restore only when going back in my own country.
Being prosecuted because your smartphone has been setup yesterday is not the same as being prosecuted because you gave a password that wipe your phone in front of law enforcement.
In the past I have had my smartphone die a couple of days before travelling and quickly buying a smartphone so I could have a mobile line in case of emergency while travelling. This is not a totally uncommon case to have a smartphone with very little data. A lot of people never setup any cloud backup and lose all their data every so many years.
Yeah, the lesson is: do not travel to countries that treat people such in a shitty way. This has always been true. Unfortunately, for many foreigners this also applies to the US nowadays.
I guess that you are out of luck if you are a US citizen and need to return to your own country.
Do the requirement to put your social account public when applying for a US Visa still applies? I guess the USA do not have that many non US visitors these days because I don't know a lot of women who would agree to that. Almost all my female friends have been experiencing stalking from jealous ex, former colleagues/clients/patients so putting their social media account public would be a complete no-go for them.