How to Check If Anyone Is Spying on Your Phone
There will be several apparent indications if something is wrong with your phone as if it is acting uncontrollably, unlike before. But it won’t be easy for you to understand these indications as there are so many to consider and many unknowns to take seriously. So, for your convenience, some of the common yet evident red flags are listed below to check if anyone is tracking your phone.
How to Check If Anyone Is Spying on Your Phone How to Stop Phone Tracking Method 1: Delete Battery Draining Apps Method 2: Uninstall Excessive Data Exhausting Apps Method 3: Opt Out of Ads Personalisation Method 4: Use Antivirus App
Excess Battery Drainage: You can experience battery drainage as you go on using the phone for years. And you will find this normal if you play high graphics games on your phone. However, a sudden drop in battery every time you check your phone might concern you about its working condition. The phone tracking/spying applications or files can take up a lot of power for working and continue to drain power while being in the background as well. Extreme Data Usage: If you notice high data usage on your phone despite you not using it as much, it might indicate that some unknown and unusual apps are trying to update themselves or add more such apps to the phone. It might happen without you noticing while you are sleeping or within a period when you don’t use the phone. Also, it can lead to jamming up your phone storage with suspicious apps. Phone Switching On and Off Automatically: The most common sign is to experience your phone getting on and off without you initiating any action. It can happen when your phone is experiencing some bugs or glitches and sometimes when some suspicious activities are happening. If you are sure that this is not causing some glitches, it is a strong possibility that some malicious workings are behind this issue. Getting Suspicious Calls or Messages: Anyone gets worried when they receive distrustful messages or phone calls that require some actions to be taken, like opening a link or disclosing an OTP. But if you receive incomprehensible calls or messages, it seems even odder and a bit creepy. The messages could contain some random numbers, letters, or characters that form to be a code and do not make any sense at all. And these codes can be used to gather some essential information from you. Reduced Phone Performance: Your phone can slow down and become less efficient than before due to many known reasons. But if you can’t find any reason for your phone to become too slow and underperform than before, then you might consider some other reasons. If your phone is under surveillance, it might use up maximum resources due to spyware present in the phone and also remain in the background causing further performance drainage. Unknown Installed Apps/Files: As you’ve read in the above point to check if anyone is tracking your phone, some unknown apps can somehow make it on your phone and can disguise themselves in any corner without getting noticed. If you just take a quick stroll into your phone or file manager and notice some apps or files that you do not remember having installed or saved, they might be the ones that are employed on your phone with the aim to spy on you. Strange Browsing Activities: It is easy for you to notice your browsing activities and histories if you use the browser daily. If there is an ongoing procedure of tracking/spying on your phone, then you will notice some unknown and suspicious site visits logged in the history tab. And the attackers might use this history list to further the tracking levels. You may also notice some websites visited regarding phone spying applications which might be enough to alert you and prompt you to take action. Phone Lights up Suddenly from Standby: Maybe the most overlooked sign is your phone getting lit up uncontrollably. You may forget it by thinking you have received a message or a failed incoming call, but it also can happen when your phone is getting spied on. Odd Sounds: You will also hear some inexplicable sounds when you are not using your phone. These sounds can be some white noise, echoing, or even beeping during a call or even when doing nothing. Sudden Phone Heating: You will notice your phone getting heated unknowingly even if you have no games installed and you do not use your phone heavily. The attacking spyware might consume the resources excessively, and it might result in your phone getting heated profusely. Prolonged Power Off/Reboot Time: When you turn off your phone, the system first closes all the active processes from the foreground and background. If you experience an extended duration for this to complete, the installed spyware might be opened and take time to kill the operations.
Now, you know the signs that are enough to alert you about spying software or activities on your phone. by knowing how to check if anyone is spying on your phone. Below are some of the methods to stop or avoid those malicious attempts and check if anyone is tracking your phone. Read and follow them carefully on your phone. Note: Since smartphones do not have the same Settings options, they vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Hence, ensure the correct settings before changing any on your device. These steps were performed on MIUI 11, as shown in the illustrations below.
How to Stop Phone Tracking
The following methods will allow you to track and delete the spyware applications and avoid the same attempts in the future to disclose your data and privacy to a great extent causing trouble for you.
Method 1: Delete Battery Draining Apps
You have to find and eliminate the unknown and suspicious apps which drain the power excessively in your phone. Read and follow the upcoming steps to know how to delete an app that is consuming excess battery.
Open the Settings application on your phone.
Find and tap on the Battery & performance option from the list, as shown below.
Scroll down to find the battery usage of each active application. Tap on the application that seems unknown and suspicious with excess battery usage.
Tap on the Uninstall option from the bottom of the screen.
Tap OK to confirm the deletion process.
Also Read: How to Find or Track your Stolen Android Phone
Method 2: Uninstall Excessive Data Exhausting Apps
You can also detect the unknown and suspicious apps that are exhausting your internet data by the following steps and check if anyone is spying on your phone.
Open the Settings application on your phone.
Tap on the More option, as shown below.
Tap the Data usage option.
Find and tap on the unknown application that has consumed the most data in the list.
Tap the Info icon from the top right corner, as shown below.
Tap on the Uninstall option, as shown below.
Tap OK to confirm the deletion process.
Also Read: How to Find or Track your Stolen Android Phone
Method 3: Opt Out of Ads Personalisation
Sometimes apps and companies track your phone and your usage patterns to target the ads that you would open. And sometimes this data can be used in the wrong way. If you don’t want it to happen, you can opt-out of ads personalization by following the below steps and check if anyone is spying on your phone.
Open the Settings application on your phone.
Tap on Google from the list, as shown below.
Tap the Ads option under SERVICES ON THIS DEVICE, as depicted below.
Tap the toggle option next to the Opt out of Ads Personalisation, as shown below.
Tap OK to confirm.
Also Read: 8 Ways to Fix Android GPS Issues
Method 4: Use Antivirus App
It is one of the essential methods to know how to know if anyone is tracking your phone and prevent it from happening in the future. The antivirus apps like Avast help you to detect, eliminate and prevent malicious content entering your phone that eventually leads to spying on you. These apps have the functionality to track the apps and files that you would not be able to find by yourself with naked eyes. Read our article on 10 Best Free Antivirus Software for Android to choose the app of your choice and secure your device comprehensively. You will be able to avert the spying or tracking situations while helping you fight the attackers and their traps effectively.
Hence, using these methods you can check if anyone is tracking your phone. Recommended:
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Now you know how to check if anyone is spying on your phone and methods to avert the situations with mentioned steps. We hope you found this article helpful and were able to solve the query you had. Mention other queries or issues you might have regarding this topic or any other in the comments section below.
