Any smartphone already has built-in location tracking services. At the beginning location tracking was created for navigation, but it was later used for other purposes. This feature is very convenient in case of loss or when you forget where you put your smartphone. But there are times when you don’t want someone to see your location, or when you just accidentally activated that feature. The question arises whether your phone is visible when all the tracking services on it are off.
How Stranger Can Track My Phone?
A service tracks your location regardless of what operating system your mobile device (Android or iOS) has. The GPS module is responsible for the tracking function on your device. Therefore, you can determine your site even with the tracker turned off. If you are surprised at how possible, then read more.
So, to find an iPhone device, you need to use Bluetooth, even if the smartphone is not online. But if you are using an Android device with the “Find My Device” app, then you need to log into your Google account and use Google Maps to help you track your mobile device.
Four ways that could locate my device:
- Cell towers: To calculate the exact location of your mobile device, telecom operators can use cell tower triangulation. This geo-tracking method gives accuracy within at least 1,000 meters because cellular towers are often not closer. So if you have lost your mobile device, contact the emergency services, where operators will try to help you cope with this situation.
- Cell site simulators: Cellular simulators simulate cell towers. It forces the user to connect to them instead of connecting to legal communication towers and even transmit a stronger signal than those legal towers. This method is mainly used by law enforcement agencies to track suspects. But false cell towers are more commonly used for man-in-the-middle attacks than for geolocation tracking.
- Malware or spyware: Infected devices can track your location even if the tracking settings on your device are off. Malware can also record all your activities online and transmit them to an attacker.
Can You Tell If Your Phone is Being Tracked?
Using tracking features is not so bad; it is an excellent way to see where your child or a loved one is. But hackers here also got their benefit: they track users by trying to steal their data. Some benchmarks will help you check whether your mobile device is being tracked.
- Battery drain: Pay attention to how your battery works.The heating in the phone comes from the processor or from the screen. If they are noticeably warm, they consume a significant amount of energy and ultimately discharge the battery. If the user does not touch the phone, and it is hot and the battery is discharged, something is wrong. Either the app hung in the background, or this app did not stumble and something is busy in the background. Probably, stealing user data.
- Extra apps: If you notice new apps on your smartphone that you have not installed, then this is another proof that malware is distributed on your device.
- Unprompted activity: If your phone starts some new activities without your intervention, you have unexpected guests. These are applications that run in the background. In this case, there are several options for the outcome. You must reboot the mobile device to change settings or install new updates.
Protection of Your Mobile Security
In this matter, it is essential to understand that your privacy is your direct responsibility. Having read all of the above, you probably already understood that to protect yourself from pests, you need to use additional levels of protection. A free Trojan Scanner security tool will do just fine. With it, you will not have to be afraid to visit various websites and think about your digital security. With this app, you can safely use your device as you want.
