Smartphones can be easily tapped by hackers or people around you. Even your friends, employers, colleagues or family members can tap phones for several reasons. Android phones are usually monitored by third-party applications but iPhones can be tapped after jailbreak. If you too suspect that your phone is being tapped or watched by someone, you must take immediate action without panicking. Check some of the ways to check if your phone is been tapped or not and how you can stop it.
When your phone shows a battery issue
A malfunctioning battery is one of the common signs that your phone has been tapped. Hot batteries or overheating of batteries is one sign when it comes to smartphone tapping. When taken to the customer centre, the service representative will deny issues with the phone itself and that the overheating problem could be temporary. So, when your phone becomes extraordinarily hot but does not have an issue, it means someone has installed spy software to consume media making your handset hotter than usual.
Although your phone may get hot even during watching long videos or listening to songs, getting hot when not in use is unusual and must be inspected. Also, you must watch if your phone is not charging at all or stops charging suddenly. If the issue persists, look for apps that you do not use and can affect your phone battery health. Eliminate every app, not in use or has been downloaded unconsciously. Before you decide upon whether your phone is been tapped or not, you must also check for weather or physical condition that could heat up your phone quickly.
When your phone’s mobile data usage is increased
Keeping a track of phone bills or mobile data usage is one way you can find out whether your phone is being tapped or not. Many apps use a huge amount of data and it gets worse if your kids use them when you are not at home. But you must know how much data is used each month on average. If the data usage increase all of a sudden, you need to find out what is happening. If you still cannot find the reason, probably a third-party app is monitoring your media files or storage. A malicious software uses huge data to send and receive information from the tapped phone. They may not rely completely on your area’s Wi-Fi but rather consume mobile data to know where you are.
Unwanted apps are downloaded and installed
Most of us are familiar with mobile applications and operating systems. But, if you suddenly find an unknown application on your phone that keeps running in the background, it could be a malicious application. To install such malicious software, your phone does not need to be jailbroken and most of the time contains Trojan malware that taps the user’s phone to sell data to a third party.
Spyware may be used to collect information and provide hackers with a backdoor, which encourages the installation of other malicious software. The advertisements may become invasive, urging users to click on them even unknowingly, in order to build up pay-per-click income. Clicking on suspicious links can also add malware to your phone’s operating system. Although Apple phones claims to have removed such threats, any outdated system phones can still be vulnerable. If downloaded, malware can also generate many ads traffic and increase data usage.
Phone performance issues
When unknown apps start controlling your phone or excessive data is been utilized, your overall phone performance will be affected. Since malware tries to get root access to your phone and trick you to download fake system updates, it may dominate your phone activities if you fall into its prey. It does not matter how new your phone is, if the information is being transferred from your phone to another device, the phone’s performance will be slowed. To avoid issues, check which applications are been used by your device’s RAM to find if anything inappropriate is installed.
Strange messages appear in the phone inbox
Dubious SMS can contain apparently random combinations of numerals, letters, and symbols. While they will instantly strike you as weird, they might not be particularly harmful. Pay attention to strange texts. This is most likely caused by a weakness in the malware that online fraudsters deploy. Coded communications that would have gone unnoticed otherwise will show up in your inbox if it wasn’t deployed correctly. Such arbitrary data sets are commands delivered from a hacker’s servers to alter the phony program. It can also be the software attempting to get in touch with its developer.
Also, your phone may be breached if members of your family or close friends claim you are sending them strange SMS or emails. This might indicate that the virus on your compromised phone is attempting to infect the devices of your loved ones. Keep an eye out for any unfamiliar activities. Check outbox and sent folders, as well as message chains and social media accounts. Be wary if you can’t recall mailing something.
How to stop phone tapping?
Once you have examined your phone and find that it is being tapped, follow the below-mentioned steps at once.
- Turn your phone off when not in use. This will prevent hackers from getting continuous information about you or your phone records.
- Disable the phone’s GPS system if you do not use it. Accept only Bluetooth connections from the people whom you know. Closing phone GPS will stop location sharing and the hackers will not know your whereabouts.
- Download and install good anti-spyware software from the trusted site if the tapping issue still persists. If possible, erase all your smartphone data or employ a factory reset to get rid of malware software from your device. If your phone runs on mobile data, consider using an online anti-spyware program that can keep a live track of hackers and protect your phone security.
- You can also switch to another handset until the issue is resolved. Or, contact with your mobile service providers to deal the issue with the help of technicians. They will surely track potential spies and if necessary, wipe data that looks suspectable.
