How to Tell If Your Phone Is Secretly Listening to You

If you own a smartphone, you may have experienced a rather eerie phenomenon: out of nowhere, you start seeing ads related to a topic you just casually mentioned. It’s a bit unnerving, isn’t it? How do these ads seem to know what you’ve been discussing?

Your smartphone might be the key player in this mystery. With its built-in microphone always on to capture your voice commands for virtual assistants, it raises the question: could these devices be secretly listening in on your conversations to target you with ads? Let’s dive into this and see if you can find out for yourself.

How to Check if Your Phone is Listening

To find out if your phone is picking up on your conversations, initiate a discussion about a unique subject that you haven’t previously searched for or talked about in its presence. Make sure this topic is something completely outside your usual interests.

Over the next couple of days, continue talking about this topic with your phone close by. Avoid making any searches about it on any device—your phone, tablet, or computer.

Feel free to delve deeper into specific aspects of your chosen topic. For instance, if you’re chatting about a potential trip to Spain, you might also discuss topics like learning the Spanish language or the best places to find authentic paella in Madrid.

During this time, keep your eyes peeled for any ads that come your way—whether on social media, websites, or even Smart TVs. If you notice an increase in ads related to the subject you talked about, it could suggest that your phone is indeed eavesdropping.

Steps to Take if You Suspect Your Phone is Listening

Before you consider drastic measures like covering your phone’s microphone or tossing it in water, there are some less extreme options to help mitigate potential eavesdropping.

Start by examining the permissions granted to the apps on your device. It’s possible that you unknowingly allowed an app to access the microphone. Go through the permissions set for each app, restricting access for those that don’t require it.

Next, consider clearing the voice history and disabling your digital assistant. While tools like Google, Siri, and Alexa can be handy, they might be unknowingly recording more than you’d like.

Only last year, reports surfaced regarding a third-party company named Cox Media Group (CMG) using “Active Listening” technology in partnership with major players like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.

Although these companies have denied using such technology for spying purposes, the capabilities are certainly there, and it’s naïve to assume that companies wouldn’t leverage such tools to enhance advertising efforts—after all, ads are essential to their profit margins.

Moreover, while companies may play a significant role in eavesdropping, there’s always the risk of hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in your device to gain access to your microphone or camera. Make sure your phone’s operating system and apps are regularly updated to minimize these risks.

Implementing these measures will help restrict unauthorized access to your phone’s microphone. However, if you remain uncertain, an easy solution is simply to turn off your phone or leave it in another room when discussing sensitive topics. This way, you can be sure your phone isn’t listening.

If Your Phone Isn’t Listening, How Does It Know So Much?

While the idea of your phone continuously eavesdropping might be alarming, there are numerous other ways it could be gathering this information without you ever saying a word.

Each smartphone serves as a treasure trove of personal data that apps and services can tap into. These devices are essentially mini-computers equipped with a multitude of sensors, including gyroscopes and accelerometers. The information collected from these sensors can reveal an astonishing amount about our daily habits, preferences, and more.

Your phone tracks where you go, who you interact with, and even your lifestyle and health choices. This metadata is harvested by your device and shared with third parties, such as data brokers, who analyze and sell it, ultimately serving you tailored advertisements.

So even if you haven’t explicitly discussed or searched for that trip to Spain, your phone might have pieced together clues based on collected data. Perhaps your friends were looking at Spanish accommodations when they were around you, or maybe you recently started using an app to learn Spanish, or your shopping habits reveal your interest in Spanish cuisine.

All this data collected over time may explain the surprisingly relevant ads you’re encountering. While your phone might not be listening in, it could just be cleverly interpreting the myriad of information you unknowingly provide.