Mobile phone Mobile phones , also known as cell phones , were handheld mobile communication devices . Earth culture . On the planet Earth , they became popular in the early 21st century . ( TV : " Rose " , " World War Three " , " Smith and Jones " ) They were crucial elements of teenagers ' social lives . After realising that Martin Trueman had stolen his mobile and was now among the star s , Clyde Langer exclaimed , " I ' m nobody . I ' m no one ! It ' s a social disaster . " ( TV : " Secrets of the Stars " ) Interference . When Jack Harkness rescued Rose Tyler in his ship ' s tractor beam , he told her that her mobile phone interfered with his instrument . Rose responded that " no one ever believes that . " ( TV : " The Empty Child " ) Toby Silverman and Celeste Rivers also took the mobiles of Sarah Jane Smith , Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer , also claiming that they interfered with the equipment . ( TV : " The Eternity Trap " ) The Doctor and mobile phones . The Ninth Doctor had his own cellphone on one occasion . ( TV : " Boom Town " ) The Tenth Doctor later kept another phone given to him by Martha Jones . ( TV : " Last of the Time Lords " ) The Twelfth Doctor , during his travels with Clara Oswald , began carrying a cellphone . ( TV : " The Zygon Invasion " , " Extremis " ) Companions and mobile phones . In October 1987 , Serena Paget was surprised that Melanie Bush had a mobile phone as they were not common at that time . ( AUDIO : " We Are The Daleks " ) Anji Kapoor carried her mobile with her when she began travelling with the Eighth Doctor , and was even able to use it when she travelled into her future . ( PROSE : " Escape Velocity " , " Trading Futures " ) The Eighth Doctor set up mobile phone - like devices for companion s Anji and Fitz Kreiner when they spent a selective amount of time on certain planets . ( PROSE : " The Book of the Still " ) Sarah Jane Smith , Josh Townsend , Natalie Redfern and their friends frequently used mobile phones to keep in regular contact with one another . ( AUDIO : " Sarah Jane Smith ( audio series ) " ) Later , Sarah Jane ' s teenage friends used mobile phones to keep in contact as well . This resulted in their phones being destroyed by their enemies on many occasions , with Sarah Jane ' s adoptive son , Luke Smith , having gone through seven phones alone in two years . ( TV : " Invasion of the Bane " , " Warriors of Kudlak " , " Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane ? " , " The Last Sontaran " , " The Day of the Clown " , " The Mark of the Berserker " , " The Mad Woman in the Attic " , " The Curse of Clyde Langer " , " The Man Who Never Was " ) Superphones . Rose Tyler , Martha Jones and Donna Noble had their mobiles adjusted by the Doctor to " universal roaming " ; Rose by the Ninth Doctor , ( TV : " The End of the World " ) and Martha ( TV : " 42 " ) and Donna ( TV : " The Doctor ' s Daughter " ) by the Tenth Doctor . These were called superphone s . ( TV : " World War Three " ) They could call nearly anywhere in time and space ( TV : " The End of the World " , " 42 " ) and work in areas with no service , such as the Cabinet Room . ( TV : " World War Three " ) The Tenth Doctor also modified Barclay ' s phone in this manner so he could communicate with UNIT . ( TV : " Planet of the Dead " ) The Doctor also similarly modified the phones of others who have travelled with him , though exactly when and where has not been chronicled : Courtney Woods was able to use her mobile phone to post to Tumblr in her own era while aboard the Twelfth Doctor ' s TARDIS in the year 2049 . ( TV : " Kill the Moon " ) Clara Oswald used her mobile on the " Orient Express " to call Danny Pink on 21st century Earth . ( TV : " Mummy on the Orient Express " ) She has subsequently used it to contact the Doctor - both audio and video calling - on numerous occasions ( TV : " Dark Water " , TV : " Before the Flood " , et al ) . The " superphone " modification was a refinement of the temporal interocitor , a communication device invented by the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa . ( AUDIO : " Renaissance of the Daleks " ) Later alternatives . By 2050 , mobile phones appeared to have been replaced by the vid - com . ( TV : " Liberation " , " The Cambridge Spy " , " Angel of the North " ) References . Upon seeing a Sontaran teleport pod in the Rattigan Academy , the Tenth Doctor told Luke Rattigan that " it might be Earth technology , but that ' s like finding a mobile phone in the Middle Ages " , pointing out that the presence of such futuristic technology was an anachronism . ( TV : " The Sontaran Stratagem " ) Missy later made a reference , saying her fights with the Doctor were " basically texting . " ( TV : " The Magician ' s Apprentice " )