How to Detect if Your Phone is Being Tracked and How to Prevent It

Recently, your phone has been exhibiting some weird behaviours or has been malfunctioning, but you can not place your hand on what exactly is wrong with it.

There may be too many reasons, and one of them may be that your location is being tracked through your phone. As much as it may sound unacceptable, it may be true.

Your phone location may be tracked through the app you downloaded from unverified sources, spyware apps and even email messages. Knowing when your phone is being tracked and how to prevent it can help you stay safe and tighten your security.

You might need to detect many indicators to determine if your phone is being tracked, such as Battery drain, high data usage, websites not operating normally, and even random turning on your location status.

When you notice these signs, it may mean your phone is being tracked, or someone is using it to track you. Below are the details about how these signs may indicate you are being tracked.

How to Detect if Your Phone is Being Tracked.

There are several ways in which you can detect if your phone is being tracked, and they include;

1. High Data Usage

Normally, you know your phone’s data usage, including its daily level, so when a tracker hacks into your device, it will increase its data usage or even double it if it is also trying to send pictures and videos to the tracker.

Luckily, you can detect that by checking which app mostly uses your data, which results in this high data usage, and if it is suspicious, then you can uninstall it.

Below are the guidelines on how you can check your data usage on either iPhone or an Android.

For iPhone

• Tap on the Settings icon
• Go to Cellular

On an Android

• Go to Settings
• Tap on Network & Internet or Connection (Depending on the Android device you are using)
• Then, tap on Data Usage or Mobile Data Usage

2. Battery Drain

If suddenly your phone’s battery starts draining and heating up easily, even when you are not a heavy phone user. A sudden switch in your phone’s battery life and heating up at the slightest use should tell you something is wrong.

When your phone is hacked, and the spyware that hacked it is trying to transfer some important data to that tracker, it will drain your battery. That is when you start noticing that your battery life has suddenly reduced, and it now heats up easily.

Check your device thoroughly to see if you notice any unwanted or suspicious activity in your phone, and try fixing it to prevent it, including jailbreaker apps like Cidia. If you see such, then know that someone has jailbroken your phone.

3. Websites not Operating Normally

Avoid clicking on links that appear abnormal, especially when sent through emails or SMS. Trackers may be sending them to find ways to access your location and personal information.

If someone sends you a suspicious link, do not tap on it. These are their best tricks in getting you to visit websites with viruses running in the background. At other times, they may imitate the website you are looking for, whereas they are not.

To prevent it, pay close attention to the website logo when you browse with your phone and check your browsing history to see if you notice any websites you do not remember visiting. This can be a good sign that your phone is being tracked.

4. Random Status Icon Turning on

Whenever a tracker gains access to your phone, it will start accessing your personal information, which may lead to turning on some status icons on your phone.

If you notice that some status icons on your phone turn on without your notice, such as the Location icon, and you are not using them on any relevant app, it can be a sign that you are tracked.

Also, if the camera light or the screen recording indicator turns on, even though you are sure you never turned it on, it can be another sign that your phone is being tracked. All you have to do is uninstall irrelevant apps that ask you to allow them access to your location, photos, videos, and even your Call logs.

How to Prevent Your Phone From Being Tracked

Immediately you notice the signs mentioned above on your phone; you can follow the guidelines outlined below to prevent or block them from tracking your location through your device.

1. Uninstall or Delete Suspicious apps

Sometimes, your phone is being tracked through the apps you installed on your device. These apps might be the gateway for your tracker to access your information and use it against you.

Therefore, when you notice that your phone is being tracked, the first thing to do is delete those apps you did not install from the Google Play Store or App Store, including those apps whose activities have been suspicious.

If an app starts asking for permission to access your contacts or location when it is just a gaming app, or you’re sure it doesn’t need it, then it can be one of those apps they are using to track you.

2. Check your Device Location Settings

Some default apps on your phone might share your location by default, so you have to check your phone regularly to see who has access to your location updates or who you are sharing it with.

Google Maps can also be another way for people to track your phone. To see if you are being tracked through Google Maps, open the app, tap your account icon, and click on Location Sharing. You will see a list of people you share your location with via the app. You can set it to share your location only when using the app.

3. Improve your Device Protection

This is another way to prevent your phone from being tracked. Your phone must improve several protection features like Antivirus, Anti-Malware, and VPN apps.

Scanning your phone regularly, updating your apps whenever they are due, and updating your phone can also help prevent your phone from being tracked and improve its security.

4. Carry out Factory Reset

If you have tried the three methods mentioned above but they do not work, you must clear out your data and reset your phone through Factory Reset. This can also be a way of reversing and blocking someone from accessing your device’s location.

Also, remember to back up your phone to the cloud or external drive to prevent data loss.

5. Turn off The GPS and put your phone in Airplane Mode

You can still be tracked even if your phone is in Airplane Mode, so to prevent it, you first turn off the GPS of your phone before you proceed to activate the Airplane mode on your phone