How To Prevent Your Smartphone From Spying On Your Activities

Your smartphone, be it Android or iPhone, may spy on you without your knowledge. Depending on who you are and what you do, you may be exposed to different levels of spying. High-value targets, like politicians, journalists, dissidents, and advocacy groups, may be subject to sophisticated spying attacks from nation-state adversaries. Key employees working for specific companies may be targeted by corporate espionage activities, or hackers looking to gain access to your company. Regular smartphone users may be the target of less sophisticated spying attacks that are sometimes even initiated by family members.

To understand how you can try to prevent your iPhone or Android phone from spying on you, you should understand what the spying may look like. Attackers may want to obtain access to your entire phone, so they can access all the data on it and listen in on you. They may want live access to the camera and location data. Others may want access to apps on your phone, like chat and email apps.

Sophisticated attackers may deliver the spyware via texts, including zero-click messages. Other attackers, like stalkers, may obtain brief access to your device to install apps. Then there are the hackers targeting you with malicious emails and text messages or compromised USB ports present in public places. Some of these spying attempts may leave traces behind, which can help you determine whether someone is attempting to spy on you. Once you suspect a sophisticated attacker or a dangerous stalker is spying on your iPhone or Android device, you can consider buying a new phone and setting up a new phone number, while also securing your digital accounts (email and chat apps) and contacting law enforcement.

Apple and Google added privacy indicators to iOS and Android that appear as dots at the top of the handset whenever you use your camera and microphone. When you are on a voice call, the indicators turn on to signal that the microphone is in use. When you use a video call, they’ll indicate that you’re using the camera and microphone. They’ll also light up when you’re taking a photo or video. This is normal behavior, but if these indicators show up when you’re not using apps with access to the camera and microphone, or in apps that shouldn’t have access, that may be a sign that something in the background is accessing the sensors.

Apple uses orange (microphone) and green (microphone and camera or only camera), while Google uses a green indicator for both the camera and the microphone. On your iPhone, you’ll want to open Control Center first to see which indicator was last used. Regardless of whether an untrusted app appears at the top, you can also go to the Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone/Camera to view which apps have access to the hardware. Apple’s App Privacy Report, which you can enable from the same Privacy & Security menu, will tell you which apps access data and sensors.

On Android, you can swipe down on an indicator when you see it to determine which app or service may access your camera or microphone. A second tap will help you manage permissions. Like on the iPhone, you’ll want to remove apps that shouldn’t have access to these sensors. Alternatively, head to Settings > Security and Privacy or Privacy > Privacy dashboard to find out which apps are accessing your camera and microphone. App activity may also be visible here for some smartphones.

The privacy indicators are a good way to determine if an app has access to sensors it shouldn’t, but these aren’t the only signs you should be on the lookout for. Also, if you’re a high-value target for hackers, you should consider that sophisticated attackers may be able to spy on your camera and microphone without drawing attention. Separately, if you think a current or former partner is spying on you, you may not want to take immediate action when discovering a spying attempt. The FTC warns victims not to alert their abuser by changing settings immediately after discovering untrusted apps or activities.

You should also pay attention to other suspect phone behavior, including the battery draining faster than usual and the phone being warmer to the touch when not in use. These signs suggest apps are running on the handset when you’re not using the phone. Also, if an attacker is extracting data from your phone, your mobile data usage may skyrocket. To check battery usage on iPhone, go to Settings > Battery > All Battery Usage. On Android, go to Settings > Battery > Battery usage. You’ll spot unusual battery activity in these menus and determine which apps may be consuming extra energy.

To see which apps are using more data than usual, you can see statistics for cellular activity only. On iPhone, go to Settings > Cellular and then spot the apps that may be using more data on 4G/5G. On Android, head to Settings > Network & Internet > Internet and select your carrier to inspect app data usage. The entity spying on you may extract data from your device only when connected to Wi-Fi.

A phone running spying apps may show other types of unexpected behavior, like the screen turning on randomly. This may be a huge sign that an app is being used in the background. You may not find out which app brought the screen to life when it shouldn’t have, but it’s a warning that should prompt you to review the apps installed on the phone.

Also, if the phone is running apps in the background, it may be slower than usual. If you experience any performance issues, you may want to look for suspicious apps. But before that, make sure the reduced performance isn’t a result of the phone aging, or not running the latest software. You can try to update the handset, and even restart it. You may also check if the handset is rebooting randomly, as it may be a sign that the attacker is managing your handset remotely.

Also, you’ll want to see whether your iPhone contains any custom remote management profiles (MDM) or VPN connections, and disable unknown items. To find MDM profiles and unknown VPN connections, you’ll want to open Settings > VPN & Device Management on iPhone. On Android, go to Settings > Passwords, Passkeys & Accounts to see MDM profiles. For VPN activities, head to Settings > Network & internet > VPN. Your phone may have legitimate MDM profiles installed. Also, you may run VPN apps to improve your privacy and security. But if you see any suspicious MDM and VPN entries, you’ll want to make a note of them and remove them from the handset. You may also want to collect evidence for forensics analysis of your phone before actually deleting any MDM or VPNs.

The smartphone symptoms that may indicate someone is spying on you may not necessarily show up. But if you suspect foul play, you can always audit the apps installed on your phone and check their permissions. If you see any suspicious app on your smartphone that you don’t remember installing, you may consider removing it. Before that, you can check its permissions to see what it can access. On iPhones, head to Settings > Privacy & Security and then review each menu or category to see whether the suspicious apps can access key sensors like the camera, microphone, or location.

You’ll want to pay even more attention to suspicious apps installed on Android devices and determine whether the apps can access restricted permissions. Go to Settings > Apps and find the suspicious app. You may need to tap See all apps or App info if you can’t find it. You’ll want to see if that app has access to restricted settings by tapping the three-dot menu. An example of a restricted setting that Google offers is a legitimate Accessibility app that lets users read the content of the screen and interact with apps. But if a suspicious app requires access to similar settings, you will want to remove access. As before, you’ll want to document your findings, as you may want to escalate the matter to law enforcement. You’ll also want to check if a suspicious app’s permissions get re-enabled on their own and if the app can’t be deleted from your phone.

Hackers targeting your smartphone may want to obtain access to key apps and features, including your Apple Account or Google Account, email addresses, and messaging apps. You should be on the lookout for unusual behavior. On iPhone, you can see which devices you’re signed into by going to Settings > Your Apple Account (your name) and see the devices where you may be logged in. For Android devices, go to your Google Account on the web, select the Your devices menu, and the “Manage all your devices” option. You’ll want to remove devices or sessions that you deem suspicious on both iPhone and Android. You may also want to change passwords for your Apple Account or Google Account, and enable two-factor authentication.

Separately, you may notice strange behavior in your communication apps, like missing calls and receiving verification codes you did not request. Or you may suspect your messages are forwarded to a different party. On iPhone, head to Settings > Apps > Messages > Text Message Forwarding to remove any strange text forwarding setups. For calls, go to Settings > Apps > Phone > Call Forwarding and disable the feature if mistakenly enabled. Unlike the iPhone, text forwarding won’t be as easy on Android, as a third-party app may need to be installed on your handset to do that. To check call forwarding on Android, go to the Phone app > tap the three-dot menu > Settings > Calls > Call forwarding. The exact location of this menu may differ depending on your phone vendor. Finally, you’ll want to inspect all your email and social apps for improper access and change passwords for those apps as well.