Know How to Check If Your Phone is Monitored

Hackers today sit in ambush to sneak inside your phone, and advancing surveillance technology has made snooping into your phone easy.  As a result, every minute, information stored in your phone is vulnerable and easily accessible to hackers. Everyone needs to admit that monitoring devices are not used for good deeds only. There have been many cases of cyber-attacks where this modern technology and gadgets are used to intrude on your privacy and get your personal information. 

If you also suspect that your phone is under somebody’s surveillance and questions like ‘Is my phone being tracked?’ constantly haunt your mind, it’s important to trust your gut feeling and do something about it. Or else you may end up losing all your personal and confidential data like messages, call logs, login credentials, emails, and in the worst case, online banking details and OTPs. 

In case you feel you are being tracked, read this article till the end with utmost concentration to know how to check if your phone is monitored.

Is It Possible for Someone to Put a Tracker on Your Phone?

You are entirely wrong if you believe that your personal information is safe in this fast-paced digital world. Today, technology has advanced to such an extent that a person can keep an eye on you and track every activity of yours without being physically present there. 

Someone can secretly install spyware on your smartphone, regardless of whether it is an iPhone or Android phone, and can track what you are doing, whom you are talking to, what you are talking about, where you are, etc. So if you wonder, ‘Is it possible for someone to put a tracker on my phone,’ you must know that with the right spyware, it’s possible. 

The hacker needs to access your device for a few minutes to download and set up spyware, and he/she can easily eavesdrop on your conversation. In the subsequent section, let’s discuss the ways through which you can confirm whether you are being tracked. 

11 Ways to Know If Someone Is Tracking Your Phone?

Remember that the phones that are hacked or tracked act differently from the usual phones. If you are aware of those subtle changes, you can easily spot if your phone is under somebody’s surveillance. 

Being watched through the phone is very uncomfortable, so if you wonder ‘How to know if someone is tracking your phone’ read the following signs to determine whether your phone is monitored in the upcoming sections.

Android phones are relatively more prone to hacking because they can be hacked just by rooting. However, iOS devices are considered comparatively safer, but they can also be hacked by jailbreaking to download prohibited applications.

If you suspect your Android phone is rooted or jailbroken, download tools like Root Checker to determine if your phone is rooted. And if you have an iPhone, install Cydia and other apps to detect if your phone is jailbroken. 

A sudden rise in the phone’s temperature is another sign of hacking, so if you ponder how to tell if your phone is being tracked, look at how often your phone’s temperature arises. 

If your phone gets overheated while being idle or performing simple tasks like making a call or chatting, there’s a high probability that it may have been tracked. Your phone is getting overheated frequently because of the presence of malware running in the background, so go and get it checked as soon as possible. 

If you suspect your phone is under surveillance, and searching for how to check if your phone is monitored, observe whether your daily data requirements are increased. One of the easiest ways to tell if your phone is being monitored is by tracking the data consumption. 

The spy app needs data to transmit information to the perpetrator. So an instant increase in data usage can be a sign of active malware in the background. Move to the storage section in settings to see how much data is being consumed by an app. 

Bonus Tip 🖊️By restricting the data limit for background apps, you can indirectly affect the working of spyware apps.  Android users can limit the amount of data background apps can use with the data saver option. To turn on data saving mode, open Settings, click on Network & Internet, and toggle on the Data Saver option. 

Spyware works diligently in the background to steal your information and forward it to the person spying on your phone, which it consumes more resources. 

This sneaky software constantly runs in your phone’s background, and as a result, your device becomes slow. So if you suspect ‘Is my phone being tracked by someone?’ and want to know how to tell if someone is tracking your phone, look at its performance and try to find out the reason behind apparent poor performance. 

If you doubt your phone is being monitored, carefully listen to the call and look for unusual background noises when you place a call. White noise, plain echoing, and beeping are the signs that someone is eavesdropping on your call. 

These inexplicable noises are commonly heard in conversations done by spied-on phones. See, experiencing poor connection occasionally is okay, but if it’s a regular occurrence, it’s an indicator of spyware. 

The hacker can install spy apps or parental control apps to keep an eye on your phone. These secret spying and surveillance apps are not visible and traceable, so move to the app store and look for the unknown apps that aren’t installed by you. If you find any unknown apps on your phone, it means that someone is monitoring your phone.

Keeping a check on battery usage is another way to know if you are under surveillance. If you have a strong intuition that someone is snooping inside your phone and want to know how to check if your phone is monitored, observe your battery consumption. 

Due to the constant running of spyware apps on your phone, the battery drainage will become faster. Remember that, after a while, the phones’ batteries eventually degrade, so instead of a slow decline, look for a sudden change and decline in battery consumption.

Do apps on your phone ask for unusual permissions that don’t make sense? For example, a compass or calculator app asking for call voice recording permissions, camera access, or forwarding. Such weird authorization requests indicate that there’s some malware running on the back of your phone. 

Frequent coded text messages point towards a phishing scam or possible spyware. You need to be aware if you constantly receive strange texts with links or coded messages from unknown numbers. I’ll advise you to never click or engage with such unusual texts, as those shady links can pose a threat to your phone’s security. 

If you have an iPhone or other iOS device, you can confirm whether your phone is under surveillance by accessing your Apple ID account page. The Apple ID account page will show you all the devices you are currently signed in to using your Apple ID. In case you see any unfamiliar device that you haven’t signed in to, just remove it immediately and seek professional help.

In case you suspect call forwarding on your phone and searching for how to check if your phone is monitored, dial USSD codes to see if your phone is being tracked. USSD codes are inbuilt into your phone and can help you learn whether your calls and messages are being forwarded. You can dial *#21# or *#62# to find out if your calls and phone are being tapped and forwarded to someone else. Here, you need to know that in certain types of spy software, these USSD codes may not be effective.

After understanding how to know if someone is tracking your phone, let’s discuss different ways to stop your phone from being tracked in the next section. 

Ways to Stop My Phone from Being Monitored

Knowledge of preventive measures to stop a phone from being tracked is equally important as understanding how to check if your phone is monitored. That’s why it’s essential to take a close look at the ways that can prevent your phone from being traced. So if you are looking for how to make your Android phone impossible to track, here’s what to do!

Turning off your location services or putting your GPS transmitter on standby can prevent the perpetrator from accessing your location. Generally, this option is available on the privacy or location settings menus, but some phones have a separate feature for putting a GPS transmitter on standby.

Deactivate Location Settings >> Location >> Toggle Off

So, in case you wonder, can someone track my phone if my location is off? Remember that no one can access your phone’s location when the location and GPS of your device are off. 

If you are confirmed that your phone is under surveillance and ponder ‘how to stop someone from monitoring my calls and messages,’ try uninstalling all the unknown apps. To get permanently rid of tracking, you need to locate the spyware and uninstall it. If you can’t find the tracking app, just uninstall all the unknown apps that you don’t remember installing into your device. 

Uninstall Unknown AppsSettings >> App Management or App Manager >> App List >> Select App >> Uninstall

Factory reset is the only option left to you in case you are not able to find the spyware or tracking app on your phone. Before doing a factory reset, you should store your important pictures or documents in a Drive or somewhere else. Otherwise, you may end up permanently losing them. 

While installing the app, you should always review the app’s permissions by navigating to Google Play Store or Apple App Store websites. Android phones always list permissions required for running the app while setting up the application. Similarly, Apple also gives a permission access pop-up in Apple apps while installing and setting up a new app.

Restrict App Permissions Settings >> App Management >> App Permissions >> Open a permission >> Toggle off the app to restrict app permission

Till now, I have explained to you the ways through which you can stop sharing location, media, and files with the perpetrator; here, I will discuss how to stop someone from tracking your text messages. 

Switch off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Slide down from top to bottom >> Tap on the Wi-Fi icon >> Click on the Bluetooth icon

To prevent your text messages and other chats from being leaked, you need to ensure that your phone’s Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and other cellular antennas are not connected to any device. Turn on Airplane Mode to prevent your phone’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi from connecting to any other network or device nearby. 

If you are an iOS user and want to know ‘how to block my phone from being tracked in iPhone,’ try updating your device’s operating system. Android and Apple take steps to patch the vulnerabilities in the operating system with the software update. Keeping your phone updated limits the threats and security compromises, thus preventing hackers from snooping into your phone.

Update Your Phone’s Operating System Settings >> Software Update >> Update

As an additional security measure, you can install an anti-spyware and phone security app on your device. Besides this, you should also be aware of spying and surveillance apps like mSpy, Eyezy, Cocospy, uMobix, Mobile Tracker, etc., and immediately uninstall them if you find any of them on your phone.

Tracking someone’s phone without consent and information is a criminal act. So if you suspect someone of intruding in your privacy you should definitely seek professional help, inform designated authorities about it, and plead for justice in court.

I hope this article clears all your doubts and speculations related to ‘how do I know if someone is tracking my phone’ and makes you aware of how to check if your phone is monitored. You can use the aforementioned preventive measures to stop your phone from being tracked by someone, in case you find someone sneaking into your phone. Advancing to the end, let’s quickly glance through some frequently asked questions. 

Frequently Asked Questions