There’s no arguing that the mobile phone is the most private device for most of us. This is why you would be pretty pissed and perhaps even worried if you were to find out that someone is controlling your phone secretly.
Mobile phones have the contact information of our loved ones, they help us engage in intimate conversations and most of us do business directly using them. It’s based on these reasons that the security of your phone truly matters.
Despite what phone companies will have you believe, mobile phones aren’t as secure as they seem. It’s very easy for someone to gain access and spy on you without you knowing.
The good news is that if you’re careful, you can detect some security lapses on your mobile device and even tell if somebody is in control of your phone.
Here are 10 ways to achieve that:
1. Battery Runs Out Unusually Fast
Don’t get me wrong. Mobile phones these days run out of power pretty quickly because we do quite a lot with them.
But if you have noticed that all of a sudden, your phone is losing power unusually fast, it could be because there’s someone tracking your device via GPS.
In fact, GPS is one of the most power-intensive phone features and it will drain your battery quickly. So, if you notice that you’re always charging your phone, consider doing a simple security check.
2. Phone Freezes and Takes Ages to Load Web Pages
You may also notice that in some cases, your phone takes too long to load pages and sometimes even freezes while at it.
This could in fact suggest that there’s malware running in the background, collecting data and sending it over the Internet to a third party.
When this happens, your phone becomes overloaded and is no longer able to process requests fast. As such, it will hang or perform routine tasks like loading a web page slower than normal.
3. Apps You Don’t Remember Installing
Now, most mobile phones come with pre-installed apps from the manufacturer. These are basic apps like the camera, dialer, and others.
They are also typically safe to use. Make sure you do some research and find the list of pre-installed apps for your device.
However, we also know that you need to install more apps to unlock the value of your phone. But it’s important to do a routine check on your app list just to be sure there isn’t something there you didn’t install.
If there’s an app that feels a bit unfamiliar, remove it. It could be the malware that third-parties are using to control your phone secretly.
4. Too Much Data Use
The people that spy on your phone will typically collect the information they need from your device using the Internet. So, it helps to pay attention to your data consumption more closely.
Ideally, everybody has a standard amount of data that they use at any given month.
If for some reason your data usage is going off the roof, it could be a sign that somebody is collecting crucial information from your device without your knowledge.
5. Phone Overheats Even When You’re Not Using It
Your phone shouldn’t overheat when at rest. If indeed this keeps happening, it’s a sign that there could be apps running in the background and overwhelming your processor.
Such apps are typically heavy since they are always sending packets of data remotely. As such, they will make your phone overheat massively.
6. Your Friends Tell You That Your Emails Are Going to Spam
Typically, if you’re emailing people in your contact list, you shouldn’t expect your email to go to their spam folder. If this keeps happening, then it could suggest that somebody is controlling your phone secretly.
Cybercriminals that want to read your emails will reroute them to a third-party server. Once they do that, they will read them and automatically send them to your recipients.
But when Google sees that indeed these emails are coming from an unauthorized server, they’re more likely going to mark them as spam.
7. You Can’t Close Apps
The process of closing an app should ideally be a very simple one. But it’s not uncommon to see phones that take ages to close an app. Some may even be forced to restart in order to close the said app.
In most cases, this is caused by an overload on the processor. And if an app is overloading the phone, it means that it’s doing way more than it’s expected.
It’s one of the clearest signs yet that someone is controlling your phone secretly.
8. Phone Takes Long to Restart
If your phone also takes too much time to restart than normal, then it could mean that somebody is controlling it using malware. When a phone loads for the first time, it must load all apps.
Since these apps are typically simple enough, the process of loading them takes a few minutes.
But the malware installed by hackers can be heavy and such it will take longer to load. This then makes startup for your mobile device longer.
9. Not Being Able to Make a Call Even with Excellent Network
Calling is the most basic part of any phone. So, if indeed your device cannot do something as basic as that, then something is wrong.
Of course, failure to make a call can be caused by many things including technical difficulties. But if it keeps happening, then somebody is controlling your phone secretly.
10. Camera Flashes for No Reason
As part of their spy game, hackers would typically gain control of your camera and use it without your knowledge.
So, if you notice that your camera is taking weird photos or that the camera is flashing for no reason, then it may be a sign that somebody is remotely controlling the device.
Well, have you seen any of the signs above on your phone? What did you make of them?
What else are you doing to protect your phone from third-party malicious access? Let us know in the comments below.
