Can someone track my Phone? Most people are worried about the security of their data. I decided to find out if my phone could be tracked. In this article I will tell you if someone can track my iPhone, Android, iOS, or Windows phone even when it is turned off. You can follow these tips to prevent your phone from being tracked. What’s on your phone could be even more personal than on your computer in terms of identity theft or accessing sensitive information.
Do you ever have the feeling your phone is tracking you? So, can someone track your phone if you forgot to take it with you? The answer is yes, every modern mobile phone is tracking you even in the case, when it power off. It allows law enforcements to easily find your lost or stolen phone.
Also read: Best iPhone tracking apps
In the western world our phones have turned into our precious companions. If you think about it, we keep our cell phones with us at all times; we even sleep with them. We use them to play games, read the news, listen to music and much more. They are an essential part of our day to day lives. But do you ever stop to think if someone can track your iPhone despite it being off? Of course not! Never! As long as you haven’t done anything illegal (finger’s crossed, everything is okay!).
I remember a time in which my cell phone was the de facto tracking device. I had an iPhone that played music, took pictures and let me call people, all independent of any Wi-Fi connection. What’s more, it was in my pocket for hours every day, sending me an e-mail here and there. However, five years later we have seen such a change in the technology that I started wondering if I could track someone else’s phone. After all, cell phones are now connected to the Internet all the time and this is big data personified: information about where everybody is at every moment of the day. It can be both terrifying and fascinating at the same time.
How the Government Can Track Your Location
There’s a lot of paranoia today about how much companies collect and share customer data with the government. But this post will address the more common, and less understood method by which government agencies can get access to your location information: from your cellular provider. This is possible because even though they’re not allowed to sell your information, they can share the information with government agencies who come in with proper warrants.
It’s also worth reiterating that the government can get this information directly from us if we provide it to them. If you use an app which uses our phones GPS to help find our location, the company running that app has a legal obligation to share that data with the government when requested.
Government policy has been pretty clear on tracking phone locations for a while: the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police need a warrant to get this information. That doesn’t mean they always use them, of course, but it’s there in case they do.
With the recent revelations about the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, people may be asking how the government could access their devices to track their locations.
We all know that with the advancement of technology comes privacy issues. While most people don’t really care about giving up some personal information to big corporations, there is something unnerving about the government having access to this information without our knowledge. That now becomes a possibility. It’s one thing for Google and Facebook to know everything about you — they are businesses looking to make money off of you. The government doesn’t necessarily need you in order for it to function. And knowing everything about everyone means they could use the information against people, especially those who aren’t in the majority of society (i.e., minorities).
“It used to be that to be able to absolutely track someone, you would need to physically surveil them at all times. You could do it on foot or by car with teams of people, but it required resources and money.”
You might think the government has to get a record of where your phone is via your cellular provider, but they don’t even need to do that in some cases. Your phone gives off a unique identifier (UUID) whether there is a SIM card or not. The UUID can be used by law enforcement to track you with even better accuracy than you can by using records from your cell provider. These stingray devices are small and portable, so they’re more widespread than people realize.
Once your phone connects to stingray, it can triangulate your precise location. This is then uploaded to the FBI’s geolocation database, also known as “GILGAMESH” or “Hailstorm,” according to the ACLU.
How to know if Someone’s Tracking Your Cell Phone
Have you ever wondered how people can track your cell phone to discover where you are? Are there ways to prevent it? And are tracking services legal or illegal? When it comes to being the target of a crime investigation, an invasion of your privacy is a big deal. If someone is monitoring your cell phone, you should know about it. To be safe, you should know how to tell if someone is tracking your phone.
Your Android or iPhone is really hot
Another sign that you may be a victim of phone hacking is if your phone has recently lost battery power without regular use. Spyware can run in the background and drain the battery life. Unless you have been using your phone heavily for games or other apps, losing power quickly may indicate that someone is watching what you are up to.
In the past, signs of spyware included static on the line or a phone that was working harder. But these days, spyware is much more advanced and harder to detect. “You will not find anything wrong apart from increased heat or speed.
Your device battery is always low
If your phone battery drains much faster than normal, it’s a possible sign you’re being tracked. If you have a brand new iPhone, the battery life should last at least a day on a full charge before needing to plug it in again.
This type of tracking is harder to spot because it doesn’t leave any traces on the phone itself. You might suspect something if your battery drains much quicker, but then again you may not.
There are a number of different reasons your phone’s battery could be draining flat. It might be a simple case of misconfiguration: You may have left an app open, causing it to run in the background, or you might have forgotten to charge the phone overnight. On the other hand, if your phone has been behaving oddly lately, like losing connections or dropping calls more often, then it could require a more thorough check-up.
High Mobile data usage
If you use your phone for business, you might want to take a look at your data usage. The average active cell phone user consumes 5 GB of data per month; voice calls are only one-third of that amount. But if your usage suddenly spikes significantly, your phone probably isn’t the culprit.
If you are concerned that your cell phone is tapped, there are a few steps you can take to be sure. If you are using an Android phone, tap Apps > Cell Data Usage and monitor this over the next few days. If you see a huge spike in data usage over one day or several days, it’s likely that someone is tracking your location via your GPS.
Phone keeps rebooting
If your phone is booting and there’s some sort of blinking light or other external indicator that shows that the OS is loading, you can see if there are any unusual lights. It might be an indicator that there is something happening on the device. This would make sense if you think about how malware works ― it has to be active in order to collect personal data from your phone.
If your phone is taking an unusually long time to shut down, it could be due to spyware. “The only way to rule it out is to remove the battery. If you can’t remove the battery, the best thing to do is factory reset your device erasing all personal data on the device.
The shutdown process should be immediate. If you notice that it’s taking your smartphone a long time to shut down, you that could be another sign that someone is spying on you.
Jailbroken iPhone or rooted Android Phone
How many times have you thought that maybe an app was sending a text message, or uploading something to the internet when you weren’t supposed to be? Maybe someone in your family is using your phone without permission. Or perhaps there is something else going on. Either way, just like with a computer, you can check to see if there has been any tampering.
If you are suddenly getting spam calls after your phone has been jail broken or rooted it could mean that someone has installed spyware. This can come in the form of an app that records your surrounding conversations and sends them to a remote server where other people can listen in. Also, check for a strange app like “Cydia” or “Superuser” on your phone that you don’t remember installing.
Things you must do o stop Phone tracking
Restart iPhone or android phone
If you’re worried about your phone being tracked, the first thing you should do is to restart your phone. That seems obvious, but tracking apps and spyware rely on your phone being left switched on for long periods of time. Just rebooting the device means that many of them will no longer be able to track it.
Turn off GPS location services
Turn off the GPS on your phone. You can do this by enabling Airplane Mode and then turning it off again when you’re finished. Next, remove any SIM card if it’s removable. “This is because some apps will upload the contents of your phone to a remote server and they need an internet connection via the SIM.
Remove un-known apps from android or iPhone
Next, I recommend removing any unknown apps. Many of these will have a feature to alert you if they are removed, so again, by rebooting your phone this should affect them.
You should also check to see if you have any rogue applications (apps) on your cell. Rogue unknown applications can be a huge threat to your privacy and just about every other facet of your smartphone experience, so you’ll want to make sure you stay vigilant in keeping all apps up-to-date and only install apps that have been suggested by reputable sources.
Check social app privacy settings
The fact is that, even with encryption and privacy settings tweaked the right way, your phone could still be transmitting location info to someone else. To be on the safe side, you should run an anti-malware scan to make sure that no third party app has been collecting your information. Also check your default Android apps like Facebook or Twitter, as these share your location data by default.
iPhone shows notification to you when an app tries to track your location or collect any sensitive information.
Update iPhone and Android phones
One of the most important steps is to update your phone if it hasn’t been updated recently. The software on phones can be used to track people through the transmission of phone data, so keeping your phone up-to-date is really important in preventing any tracking.
Take the time to update your phones if it hasn’t been updated recently to be sure that it has the most recent security patches to block any tracking.
Conclusion
Your phone is always within reach. It knows where you are at all times. And it’s tracking you. It might be creepy and dangerous to think that there are third parties knowing your location, tapping into all of your contacts, reading all of your incoming and outgoing messages at all times, recording all of your calls – but it’s true. Phones are always online to keep up with the most recent software updates so it’s crucial to regularly check if your device has been updated (and apply them). If you see an update available for download, don’t hesitate to update it right away. These updates will keep you protected and secure from online dangers.
Do your friends think you’re paranoid if you check with them before you go out to see if anyone is following you? Well, if you think that way, it may be because you don’t know. The truth is that your every move could be watched by the government and law enforcement agencies without your knowing about it. So how can you keep yourself from becoming an easy target of watchful eyes? By keeping abreast of the latest technology when it comes to cell phone tracking and the signs of cellular spying.