Quote Quoting jk
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a regular poster here who just happens to be a policeman in California has stated that searching a cellphone is fair game when the person is arrested. While there has been recent discussions concerning this exact point, so far I do not believe any federal court has ruled against the search of a cellphone without a warrant.
I see that the 4th Circuit (MD, VA, NC, WV, SC) decided a case in 2009 while I was...out of pocket for a while. That case supports the contention of the officer above.

In U.S. v. Murphy, the court broadly construed the authority to search a cell phone incident to arrest, ruling that “once the cell phone was held for evidence, other officers were entitled to conduct a further review of its contents . . . without seeking a warrant.”11 In Murphy, the cell phone was searched 23 days after the arrest and after being turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration by a state trooper
However, in Northern California (San Francisco) it would appear that the searching of a cell phone incident to arrest is not sanctioned by the Federal courts:

For example, in U.S. v. Park, the court distinguished cell phones from pagers, reasoning that cell phones contain a greater quantity of information; for this reason, the government could not show the potential destructibility of evidence needed to justify a search of the contents incident to arrest. In addition, the court ruled that an inventory search of the data was not justified.
It also appears to not be acceptable in the Southern District of Florida:

In U.S. v. Wall, the court also declined to adopt Finley, reasoning, “The content of a text message on a cell phone presents no danger of physical harm to the arresting officers or others. Further, searching through information stored on a cell phone is analogous to a search of a sealed letter, which requires a warrant.”
I guess the bottom line is, until the Supreme Court weighs in on this, it all depends upon where you are.