Phone Under Control: 5 Ways To Find Out

From checking applications to checking the battery, interference, credit and data consumption. How to get rid of spyware. You have noticed something wrong with your mobile phone for some time now. Your battery lasts less than half the time before, some application has disappeared, or you download things you didn’t ask for. 

You suspect that you are not the only master of your device and that someone can remotely control what you do, what you write, and what you say. Or that, at least, he uses your sim card to do his bidding. In this case, know that there are 5 ways for anyone who suspects they have the phone tapped to notice it. But also know that there are some ineffective tips. For example, entering certain codes to check if the cell phone is under surveillance: the information obtained with this system has to do with everything except the problem of an intruder in the phone. 

Rather, pay attention to any applications you have never downloaded but are active on your mobile phone. This is software capable of stealing any information from your device, from contacts to messages, up to the passwords you use to enter social networks, e-mail or – even worse – your home banking page. Let’s see, then, what are these 5 ways to notice if the phone is under surveillance?

Verification Of Applications

One of the ways to find out if your phone is being tapped is by checking applications. In particular, the check you need to perform concerns the list of apps that can act as an administrator, i.e. with the privilege to operate on the functions that concern privacy, mobile phone location, etc. If you understand that there is some other administrator besides you or that this privilege has even been removed from you, the omelet is done: spy software may have been installed.

Usually, this is noticed by some unusual behavior of the device: the volume suddenly turning up or down during a conversation, the screen turning on for no reason (perhaps when the phone is placed on the table and nobody touches it or no messages or calls), you have read messages that you have never seen before. It could therefore mean that you have the phone under control. How to find out? Suppose you have an iPhone, and someone has installed spy software for you that gives them administrator access. 

In that case, there are two possibilities: that the bug is hiding in your personalized profiles or your VPN configurations. In both cases, the intruder can access the data held by the device. Go to Settings / General / Profiles or «Manage profiles and device» to check your personalized profiles. If you find something that doesn’t suit you, don’t give too many compliments: select and delete. Your iPhone doesn’t necessarily have custom profiles: in this case, you won’t see the right menu. Better one, with less function than one compromised.

Conversely, you have to click on Settings / General / VPN for VPN configurations. Also, in this case, it is necessary to see if there is any strange profile. To remove it, go to Settings / General / Reset, confirming on the “Reset network settings” button. After that, you will have to re-enter the passwords of the wireless networks stored in the mobile, as those are also removed. If, on the other hand, you have a smartphone with an Android system, you will have to go to Settings / Security / Device Administrators. 

You will find a list of apps, which you will have to scroll carefully to find those that seem suspicious to you or that, in any case, you are sure you have never downloaded, and remove them from the device. Another useful check on Android is needed when the phone has been unlocked via root. Rooting is a process that allows users of devices running an Android operating system to gain privileged control over various subsystems. In this case, a check on root-enabled apps is needed. If any are suspicious, you can revoke the authorization by pressing “#” and then uninstall them.

Battery Check

There can be several reasons why your cell phone battery “doesn’t hold” like it used to. One is recharging it incorrectly by plugging it in when it still has a 40-50% charge. Or simply because the battery is gone due to old age, because it is close to a magnetic field, or who knows what other reason. However, another more worrying reason why the battery only lasts for a short time is that someone is using your phone remotely without you realizing it. 

Which, of course, eats up the charge. Do you have your phone tapped? You can check it like this. The procedure is the same on iPhone or Android (may vary slightly depending on the phone model. In both cases, you must go to Settings / Battery (or, depending on the brand, to Settings / Advanced settings / Management battery). At the bottom, you’ll find the list of apps that drain your phone faster. Just check if they’re apps you use often and if consumption can respond to the time you use them.

Checking The On And Off Times

From one day to the next, does your mobile phone take too long to turn on or off? Bad sign: either it’s too loaded with apps and needs a “clean up” of the ones you never use, or the phone is bugged. It may mean that spy software has been installed to save the device data when turned off or on.

A valid check, in this case, is to uninstall the apps you no longer use, which can slow down your phone. If, after doing so, the cell phone still takes more than 15-20 seconds to switch off or on, it means that someone may have touched it remotely and that it is better to carry out other checks to ascertain whether the cell phone is intercepted.

Check For Interference Or Strange Noises

Another way to realize that the phone is being tapped is to check for interference or strange noises. There is no mention of the noise that is heard when the signal is slightly lost during a conversation, that is, when one enters an area with a “little field”, as they say.

Clicks “tinny” or rare interference may be felt when close to a television, radio, or electromagnetic field. If you turn off your cell phone and interference persists on the radio or TV, taking into account that spy software is running even when the phone is off, it means that something is wrong and that you need to do all the necessary checks.

Verification Of Credit And Data Consumption

Using spy software is not free. Except that, it’s you who pays, of course, not whoever installed it for you. For this reason, it is important to keep credit and data under control to determine if any abnormal consumption could make it clear that you have the phone under control. With particular attention, when you have a tariff plan with unlimited gigabytes, you tend not to control your consumption as you surf the web or make phone calls without worrying about running dry.

Spy Software Removal

If, through one or more of these checks, you realize that you have the phone under control, you should do these two operations. The first: save all data (including contacts) on an external hard drive, having first ascertained with an antivirus that you are not also exporting any malware. After that, you should reformat your phone to bring it back to factory settings and reload the data you previously saved elsewhere. A trained technician can help you do this procedure more accurately and safely.

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