How To Tell if Someone Has Tapped your Phone

Security is a huge issue right now with distrust of government agencies and big business at an all-time low. It isn’t just those that might want to know who you’re talking to, where you’re going or what you are up to on your phone though. With spy apps, PIs and spy gadgetry now more accessible than ever, it is very tempting for some to spy on you. But can you tell if someone has tapped your phone?

How phone taps work

In the days of analog phones, you could tell if someone had tapped your phone quite easily. It was only possible to physically tap into a call using a special port built into telephone switches. Using that port could cause an echo or noise on the line that could often be heard by those using it. The sound would manifest as a scratching or clicking as the line was joined. The echo was often because the line was essentially split in two which could reverberate.

Now we are in the age of digital communications, it isn’t so easy to tell if someone has tapped your phone. There are still signs but on their own are not definitive.

If a security agency or other arm of the executive wants to tap your phone they will do it from within the carrier network. The government has relationships with all carriers that allow access to your metadata and call data with an appropriate warrant. There are also suspicions that CIA and FBI also have less legal ways of accessing call data but nobody has yet proven that beyond reasonable doubt. Either way, if you are being monitored by a security agency, you will never know.

What we can often tell is whether your smartphone is being tapped by someone closer to home.

Has someone has tapped your phone?

There are a few telltale signs that more is going on with your phone than you may be aware of. The trouble is, many of these symptoms are also prevalent without spy software so you have to be careful to not jump to conclusions too quickly.

Possible signs of phone surveillance include:

GPS and data keeps turning itself on.
Increased data usage.
Faster battery drain.
Phone activity when there should be none.

GPS and data keeps turning itself on

For the daily routine, most of us will have GPS turned off to save battery and data off because we use WiFi. If you find your GPS and 4G keeps turning itself on without you doing anything, it may be time to check your phone. It could be app permissions messing with your settings but it could also be surveillance software.

Increased data usage

Once you have had your phone for a while, you begin to see patterns in behavior. How much you call, how much you text and how much data you use in a typical month. This will obviously not be a fixed amount but if you see a large increase in data that you cannot explain through your own usage, it may indicate something else is going on. Surveillance apps need to report back to base and will often use data to do it.

Faster battery drain

We know from normal use that the more apps we have running, the faster the battery drains. That’s why phone OS have introduced battery saving features to try to maintain at least a day of use between charges. If your battery suddenly starts draining much faster and you aren’t doing anything differently, something may be up.

It could just be a rogue app or failing battery. It could also be something else running in the background without your knowledge. This isn’t a sign in itself but it bears looking into further whatever the cause.

Phone activity when there should be none

If your phone seems warmer than usual it is busy doing something. If the screen lights up for no reason, notification lights flash when nothing seems to be happening, the phone lags when you’re using it or stutters when making a call, messages take a long time to send or the phone is generally acting strangely, it could be a sign someone has tapped your phone.

It could also be a sign of the phone needing a reset or something else completely.

As you can see, it is difficult to tell if someone has tapped your phone. If you think it possible that someone is tracking you, performing a factory reset on the phone will soon clear any nefarious programs and restore your privacy. If nothing else, it will stop any of the errant behavior that made you suspicious in the first place even if it won’t tell you whether you were actually being watched or not.