{"id":9252,"date":"2019-07-25T10:28:05","date_gmt":"2019-07-25T00:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/?p=9252"},"modified":"2019-07-25T04:55:22","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T18:55:22","slug":"how-to-find-secretly-installed-tracking-apps-on-your-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/news\/how-to-find-secretly-installed-tracking-apps-on-your-phone\/","title":{"rendered":"How to find secretly installed tracking apps on your phone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In today\u2019s increasingly digital and connected world, looking after your privacy and personal data has never been so important. Tracking apps and spyware can be an unpleasant invasion of your privacy &#8211; capturing data on your device, accessing text messages and phone calls, and even monitoring your phone\u2019s location in real-time.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, this kind of spyware can sometimes be installed onto a person\u2019s phone without their knowing. In this article, we\u2019ll take you through how to detect malware on iPhone and Android, how to remove mobile trackers and spyware from your phone, and how to stop someone from tracking your phone in the first place.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-does-mobile-tracking-and-spyware-work\">How does mobile tracking and spyware work?<\/h2>\n<p>Spyware and mobile tracking malware typically infiltrate a mobile device by installing software onto the device physically in order to give the app access to all the permissions it needs to run.<\/p>\n<p>There are also remote methods of installation that don\u2019t require physical access. These will typically employ the same tactics as cybercriminals, such as a malicious link or email attachment.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-do-i-know-if-someone-is-tracking-my-phone\">How do I know if someone is tracking my phone<i>?<\/i><\/h2>\n<p>There are a few ways you can tell if your phone is being tracked or has spyware installed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your phone\u2019s battery is dying more quickly than usual<\/li>\n<li>Your phone\u2019s screen lights up for no reason<\/li>\n<li>Your phone is randomly restarting or shutting down<\/li>\n<li>Your phone\u2019s performance is slower than usual<\/li>\n<li>Your phone bill is higher than usual due to greater data usage<\/li>\n<li>There are jailbreaking apps on your phone (for example, Cydia, Icy, Installer, Installous, SBSettings are some of the most common jailbreaking apps)<\/li>\n<li>You start receiving strange text messages from an unknown number (they might be \u2018instruction\u2019 messages sent by the remote controller of the tracking software)<\/li>\n<li>You hear a strange background noise when on a call<\/li>\n<li>There are strange files, often with suspicious names (names like \u2018stealth\u2019, \u2018spy\u2019 and \u2018mobilespy\u2019 in them) in your phone\u2019s folder and directories &#8211; you can use a file explorer app like ES File Explorer to check this.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-9254\" src=\"https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-770x513.jpg 770w, https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-360x240.jpg 360w, https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-380x253.jpg 380w, https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-1160x773.jpg 1160w, https:\/\/media.reckoner.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/27124448\/find_tracking_apps_2-scaled.jpg 2400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-can-i-prevent-someone-tracking-my-phone\"><b>How can I prevent someone tracking my phone<i>?<\/i><\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Because installing most tracking apps and spyware requires physical access to your phone, the best way to prevent unauthorised installation is to keep your phone secure. Since you can\u2019t quite take your phone everywhere with you \u2013 we\u2019ve all got to sleep and shower some time \u2013 be sure to also set a PIN on your phone that isn\u2019t too easy to guess, Further, install anti-theft mobile security software with handy features like app control and remote locking. ESET offers a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eset.com\/au\/home\/mobile-security-android\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> mobile security package for Android<\/a> \u2013 by far the more susceptible platform to malware and tracking apps.<\/p>\n<p>To stop remote hacking from occurring, a strong security app like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eset.com\/au\/home\/smart-security-premium\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ESET Smart Security Premium<\/a> will help to block any unwanted access across a range of mobile devices. Only install legitimate apps you know and trust, and be sure to keep your device\u2019s operating system up to date in order to get access to the latest security updates.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t jailbreak your iPhone, as this reduces the security of your device and makes it more vulnerable to cyberthreats. Finally, if you think your device has been breached, reset your phone completely by restoring factory settings. Just remember to back up any on-device data you want to save before doing so.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone has the right to the privacy and protection of their mobile data and personal location. These tips from ESET are a great way to stay protected against<\/p>\n<p>unwanted mobile tracking and spyware and unmask potentially unwanted applications.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For further support in your mobile security,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.eset.com\/au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> visit ESET today<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In today\u2019s increasingly digital and connected world, looking after your privacy and personal data has never been so&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":9253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"How to find secretly installed tracking apps on your phone \u2014 brought to you by @esetaustralia","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[10],"tags":[1427],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"reckoner_social_message":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9255,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9252\/revisions\/9255"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reckoner.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}