When the famous band in 1983 “The Police” released hit song “Every breath you take and every move you make. Every bond you break, every step you take, I'll be watching you”, I'm sure they had no clue the song's lyrics would so accurately reflect how smartphones can be utilized in the modern day.
Companies are tracking smartphone users in real time to provide "requested features, integrations, customer experience enhancements, and other laudable-sounding reasons" without their knowledge. Many users don't aware that their phone is sending out extensive information about their location and activities to a variety of firms who use this information to develop an user account that would make spy agencies and authoritarian nations drool.
Smartphones are a need and a convenience in today's culture. This post is not meant to encourage people to get rid of them. Because smartphones might have unanticipated privacy and security consequences, this article aims to shed some light on these issues. Although these suggestions are designed as an awareness and control tool, they don't go far enough in limiting the amount of personal information that may be disseminated. There is no guarantee that even if you implement all of the security and privacy settings specified below, you will still be monitored with complete accuracy.
Important Note: In today's world, being aware of cybercrime and how to avoid it is critical. If you don't know about it, contact a Cyber Crime Investigation Expert for assistance.
Aside from your smartphone, any device that emits a network signal, including cellphone, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and near-field communication (NFC), may be used to monitor your whereabouts. It is possible to use these network signals to construct a journal of your everyday actions for the world to see if you have a smartphone.
Your Smartphone Is Tracking Every Move You Make - Here are a few pointers for keeping your smartphone safe and private
Safeguarding Your Personal Property: Because smartphones are so easily misplaced or stolen, physical security should always be the first line of defence. Use a password, fingerprint, or face ID screen lock to keep your phone in your sight at all times and to safeguard its contents from prying eyes. This person now has access to all of your personal information.
Services for finding your location: Paper maps and the need to stop and ask a stranger for directions have all but disappeared thanks to smartphone mapping software. Map applications such as Google and Apple Maps, as well as Waze and others, use your phone's GPS service to pinpoint your location and deliver instructions to your desired destination. There are many applications that don't need to know your location, yet they nevertheless ask for access to your location data. If your free flashlight app requires location services, then you must be in the middle of nowhere.
There's no need for calculator applications to get access to your GPS since 2+2=4. If you want to know the weather, all you need to do is enter in the location of where you want to know the weather. For the purpose of selling your personal information, many of these applications — particularly the free ones — ask for a disproportionate number of permissions.
Users may choose which applications have access to their location settings through a variety of choices provided by both Apple and Google. A good piece of advice for smartphone users is to go over their phone's location settings and only activate those that are absolutely essential for third-party apps to use. The Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services page is where iPhone users may adjust their preferences for Location Services. To set your Android device's location services, slide down on your screen and hit the location symbol.
Ad Tracking: Website managers utilise cookies on desktop and laptop browsers to customise your experience. Cookies can also be used to monitor your surfing history and offer you with targeted adverts. Cookies aren't as effective on smartphones, so firms utilise your phone's Mobile Advertising Identifier to offer you tailored adverts. In order to identify and target mobile phone users, the Mobile Advertising Identifier (MAID) is employed. Unlike your name or address, the ID doesn't include any personal information about you; it just identifies your phone and sends suitable adverts depending on your app usage, activity, or location. Ads are one of the ways that free or low-cost apps are able to exist. Your phone and the marketers know exactly what you've been looking for when they show you ads for new automobiles after you've visited a car showroom.
In both Apple and Android devices, you may turn off ad tracking
To limit ad tracking on Apple IOS devices, go to Settings -> Privacy -> Advertisements and turn on the "Limit Ad Tracking" option. Activating the "Limit Ad Tracking" setting on all Apple devices linked to your Apple ID will activate this feature. Remember that this only affects ad tracking in the short term. Ads based on your activity and usage may still be served. Advertisers can't target you as easily if you don't allow your device's Advertising Identifier to be reset on a regular basis. Here, you may learn more about restricting ad tracking on Apple products.
Disabling ad tracking on Android devices is a similar process. Set the "Opt out of Personalized Ads" option to its default setting in the Ads section of your Google account settings. The Advertising ID of your device may also be reset from the same screen.
Additionally, some ad tracking providers allow consumers to opt out of having their personal information stored.
Time to Wrap Up
In this article, we have covered the topic Your Smartphone Is Tracking Every Move You Make. It's possible to reduce the chance of your personal information being collected and misused by disabling location services, controlling your mobile applications, restricting ad tracking, and configuring privacy settings in your device's browser. It's possible that the advice you get will reduce your smartphone's usability and functionality.