10 Red Flags Someone’s Tracking Your Cell Phone

10 Red Flags Someone’s Tracking Your Cell Phone

Our phones and computers are the two primary communication devices we use every day. Therefore, if anyone hacks your cell phone, they would have access to the following information: email addresses and phone numbers (from your contacts list), pictures, videos, documents and text messages. In today’s time, tracking smartphones are not just limited to messaging and calling.

Still, smartphones can be easily used to click pictures, and you can stay active on social media and connect to your lost friends and have the best conversation. You can play millions of games on the web, browse the Internet for your different needs, and stream the video online. It even allows you to check the weather, and you can even use the map installed on your phone to reach any destination.

There are plenty of possible things to do when it comes to smartphones, as these smartphones have become a prime usage of people daily. It has vast availability of various tools and features which attracts the audience and forces them to even go for more smartphones. Technology is rising. Therefore, it has become easier for hackers to take your location or spy on your personal information or details.

Tracking your area through the GPS on your phone may sometimes seem harmless. Still, many hackers can use this information to find out where you live, your shopping habits or your details, your cards about your family members, and everything else. Once they have your information, they can quickly sell it or use it to steal your identity or you are any critical information. Nowadays, it’s essential to be aware of these signs that your phone is being tracked, and you should be mindful of any miss happening before.

Your cell phone gets very hot.

If you ever find that your phone has been getting very hot recently and is very unusual, it may be a good sign to know that it has been hacked. There is spyware running in the background, which quickly makes your phone work very much harder and subsequently puts it on more heat than usual.

This was even stated by Russell Kent- Payne, the co-founder and director of Certo Software, who has been giving his expertise and specialization in phone stalkerware and spyware detection. There are many other reasons for this hacking, and you can easily use several Internet methods to cool down your phone.

The battery drains very quickly.

The phone is the one thing used daily, and you can quickly determine the changes it takes in the battery aspect. Just go for the most sudden changes in the amount of time your phone text to run out. Will always be continually sending data from the phone to the hacker, making your cell phone use more power and deplete the battery much quicker than average.

How to check which apps are using up your battery:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on Battery.
3. Hit Battery usage.
4. A list of apps with a percentage of battery usage will appear.
5. Check if there are any weird or unknown apps here. If you see something you can’t recognize, do a Google search and see if it’s possibly a spying or tracking app.

Monthly data usage is inexplicably higher than usual.

And you should see how much data you should check when suddenly you are using a handphone will always use a lot of data because it is continuously sending information back to the hacker’s phone or computer.

How to check data usage:

1. Open your phone’s Settings app.
2. Select Network & Internet.
3. Under SIMs, select your SIM of choice.
4. Go into App data usage.
5. You can see more information here and even check how much data each app uses.
6. Check the list of apps and see which are using the Internet more. Look for any discrepancies. It would be normal to see YouTube using up a lot of data, for example, but a “Notes” app shouldn’t use much.

Your cell phone reboot unexpectedly.

Whenever you are using your phone and if your phone, out of nowhere, starts rebooting, this could be one sign that your phone is hacked. An information, compliance and security consultant at IDStrong has advised that the malware on your phone interferes with normal functioning, making it glitch out and restarting it randomly.

Your cell phone takes more time to shut down.

When it takes much longer than average to shut down, this could be another sign that it has been hacked. Whenever a phone shuts down, it has to complete all the tasks currently running in progress; this could include the data being sent reportedly do I hacker, which would romantically extend the time required to shut down. You should always check how much time it takes to shut down or restart.

Your phone has been rooted or jailbroken.

For Android or jailbreaking for iPhone is the loan process of removing the manufacturer restrictions to gain easy access to areas of the cell phone that would generally be protected. It is a very common practice that is used by hackers to install spyware, and it can be challenging to spot among all of the others mentioned above. Still, people can look out for a strange application called Cydia for iPhone or Superuser phone android suddenly appearing on your home screen.

You hear an electronic interference or background noise.

Hearing any background noises coming from your phone like static, clicking sounds, or a course could be a sign that someone is listening to your calls. This one sign is pretty rare because most of the newer tracker software is ultimately acquired, but still, it is something that you can look for.

Your cell phone is slower than average.

Sometimes your phone might work very slowly than usual, it works, and people sometimes get frustrated with how slow their cell phone becomes suddenly. Every phone gets low over time if it is an old phone or faces some problems. But if you are facing this issue very early, this might be a sign that your phone is being tracked. If this problem happens independently because of other problems, you can try out easy ways to speed up your cell phone.

You click any weird or unknown link in any text.

It could be a text mentioning to be from your mother, friend or someone you know, asking you to open maybe any pdf file or a photo. Once you open it, some Trojan (horse programs) embedded in the file somehow corrupt your entire cell phone system, or you grant them access to steal your files.

An excellent example of phishing can be observed in the FBI hack attack. So, if you get an email message from someone you don’t know asking you to click to view a picture or watch a funny video, don’t click unless you are sure of the source.

Using public charging stations or spots.

This strategy always takes advantage of our obsession to always keep our phones charged. Malicious charging stations take advantage of USB being used for both charging and transferring files. There are some hackers who can monitor your every keystroke while plugged in, so you think you’re capturing while you’re being located or hacked. So never hurry to plug in your phone on any outlet you see anywhere.

How to know if your cell phone camera is hacked

If you suspect anytime, that your phone camera has been hacked, there are a few more important signs that someone else is using your phone remotely. For example, you may notice sometimes that your photos and videos in your gallery that you don’t remember taking. You can accidentally record something sometimes, but if you keep finding the new ones, it’s a possible sign that someone might have access to your cell phone’s camera.

If the flash is lighting up when you’re not using your phone is another thing to look out for. Both the flash and camera need a lot more resources and battery power. Therefore, if someone remotely controls your device, you will notice it sweltering even when you don’t use it.

Ways to remove a hacker from my phone.

Here’s are some pointers to do if your phone has been hacked:

1. You change your passwords immediately. You can easily find out the best tips to get a stronger password.
2. You run anti-malware software in which you detect any malicious processes and applications. Just make sure that you use it safely and reliable security software that doesn’t track and gather your data;
3. Turn off your mobile data and Wi-Fi if you are not using them. This might even prevent a malicious application from using your data and can disrupt its activity if it uses an online connection;
4. Remove the suspicious applications immediately. If your security application doesn’t find anything, or if you don’t have any, it’s still a good idea to delete any apps you downloaded right before the problems start appearing.
5. Inform your friends, family members and contacts and instruct them to ignore suspicious messages coming from you;
6. Stop broadcasting your hotspot when in public, as this makes it easier for hackers to breach your device.
7. Restore your phone to its factory settings. That might help if many pop-ups or malicious applications have made your cell phone impossible to use smoothly. This one is an important option, so use it only as a last resort.

How you can block hackers from hacking your mobile phones.

To restrict your phone from being hacked, do the following:

1. Turn off your hotspot when you are in public. If you don’t need to turn it on, make sure you’ve made the settings as secure as possible;
2. Avoid charging spots or WiFi you don’t trust. If you want to use any public Wi-Fi connection, never do so without a VPN. And, don’t forget to disconnect from public Wi-Fi once you’ve stopped using it;
3. Switch your Bluetooth off. When not using it as it can also be an access point for hackers;
4. Lock your phone. Using a password or lock screen;
5. Never leave your phone unattended. And don’t let people you don’t know use it;
6. Regularly review. What apps your phone has to see if there are any you don’t recognize;
7. Do not open suspicious messages. Like any links, or unknown files. They can be spyware or malware in disguise.
8. Install anti-malware apps. Which can remove malware soon after it’s downloaded or prevent the infection in the first place;
9. Do not use sites you don’t trust. They are a potential source of malware.
10. Always use a VPN for Android or iOS. To protect your mobile phone from data hackers and snoopers. A VPN is defined as a virtual private network, that will encrypt your phone’s online traffic and mask your IP address, allowing for greater privacy while online.

Can a mobile phone be hacked while turned off?

The simple answer is no, and your phone cannot be hacked in any way while it’s switched off. The process of phone hacking, even remotely, only works well if the device being targeted is on.

That doesn’t mean you’re personally safe from snoopers or hackers while your devices are off. Criminals could spoof your number, making calls from their own devices and pretending to be you to try and extract information or money from other targets. And if your phone has been jailbroken, whoever jailbroke the phone could (in theory) install malware that would activate when the device switches back on.

Yet, it would be best to be confident that your phone will not be hacked while it’s entirely switched off for all intents and purposes.

Is there an application to check if your phone has been hacked?

Some apps will improve your device security by notifying you of unusual activity to ensure that you’re using basic security features like Screen Lock, Face/Touch ID and two-factor authentication (2FA).

Specialized spyware apps are also available; these programs can trawl your phone for hidden malware and help you identify hacks early.

edited and proofread by nikita sharma