Have you ever felt like your phone conversation has eavesdropped by someone? Maybe you have heard a strange sound like a click, buzz, static noise or a voice in the background which you can’t pinpoint?
Do you have reasons to believe that someone might be snooping into your conversations? You’re not alone. A lot of people are concerned that their personal and business communications might not be private. Smartphones are vulnerable to tapping, especially if you have jailbroken or rooted them.
Also read:Â Why do smartphones explode? A nerd guide
Thankfully, there are telltale signs that you can look for to support your suspicions. Here are 8 ways you can tell if your smartphone is being potentially tapped:
- Listen to any unusual background noises: Keep a sharp ear when you’re on a call for any cracking, buzzing, clicking, static or straight up human noises such as breathing and voice sounds from anyone other than the involved parties is a possible indicator that something or someone is meddling with your connection.
- Pay attention to your phone’s temperature and responsiveness: A tapped phone will probably show signs by overheating and being sluggish due to the spyware utilising the battery and the phone’s processing power. So, if your phone’s battery is draining sooner than expected or being sluggish and unresponsive without discernable reason, there might be something up.
- Watch the background process activity:Â Tapped phone often have spyware apps running in the background to collect your call data. It is possible to check for these apps in the “running services” section under the developer apps options. If you find anything out of the ordinary running in the background there’s your black sheep.
- Try shutting your phone down:Â If you notice the phone struggling, taking longer than usual to shut down or keeps the display on unusually it’s a sign that a rouge or possibly spy app is preventing it and should raise some cause for concerns.
- Check for any unusual text: Keep tabs on your SMS message feed if you find any messages with random texts to unknown senders which you don’t remember sending, It’s a red flag as it is one of the ways for hackers to send commands to your phone.
- Pay attention to your phone bill:Â If you find irregularities in your data and text usage out of the ordinary there might be a strong chance that the phone tap is utilising the extra text and data.
- External sources: If you hear any disturbances while you’re on the phone and walking through your home pinpoint its origin and investigate as it may be a bug intercepting your call or tapping ambient audio.
- Avoid installing apps from unauthorised sources:Â If you’re concerned about your privacy and security online avoid installing apps from unauthorised sources and double check the app’s legibility as there are many fake and scammy ones that can compromise your phone.
Determining whether your phone is tapped by spyware can be a tricky process these steps will provide you with basic pointers of behaviours of a tapped phone. Bear in mind that it may also just be a faulty phone but If you’re absolutely sure of your suspicion contact authorities and seek help from professionals who can take steps to safeguard your data and prosecute the offenders.
Also read:Â 5 ways to detect and avoid fake/dangerous apps on Google Play Store
