Is your phone listening to you? What is actually going on with ads
MIXEDMixed: useful for some people, depends on how you use it.
PHONESMany people notice an ad for something they only talked about and assume the microphone is recording them. The reality is less dramatic but still worth understanding.
What really drives those ads
- Your searches, app activity and location history
- What people around you, on the same Wi-Fi, search for
- Coincidence: you see thousands of ads and remember the few that match
How to take back some control
- Check which apps have microphone permission in your phone settings and remove the ones that do not need it
- Turn off ad personalisation in your Google or Apple account settings
- Review location permission and set it to while using the app
Android and iPhone both show an indicator dot when the microphone or camera is in use. If you see it when you are not using an app, check which app is responsible.
Do this today: go to Settings, Privacy, Permission manager, Microphone on Android, or Settings, Privacy, Microphone on iPhone. Most people find at least one app that has no reason to be there.
