How do you know for an absolute fact that this isn’t happening on your phone? The truth is that you don’t.

There are many spy apps that are just a quick Google search away from being bought and can be installed and you wouldn’t even know it.  So let me show you a couple of signs, that may indicate that your phone is being tracked without your consent!

Two Phone Tracking Situations

Tracking your phone appears in two scenarios:

1. You track your own phone.
2. Someone tracks your phone.

Obviously, these are vastly different situations with very different outcomes so let’s look at both situations:

Situation 1: How to track YOUR OWN Android and iOS phones?

Both Android and iOS devices have this facility and they both work in roughly the same way.

On Apple, you enable the Find My iPhone and then if you need to trace your phone, head over iCloud.com/find or use the Find My app on another Apple device.

On Android, enable the Find My Device option. To track your own phone, head to either Android.com/find or just search find my device in google.

Both operating systems allow you to locate your phone on a map, lock the phone, play a sound on the phone (and yes that works even if your phone is set to silent), and also remotely erase the phone if there is no hope of getting it back. Of course, the phone needs to be on with an internet connection for this to work. If the phone is off, you will be able to get the last known location.

Important to note that when you track your device, you will see a notification on the device showing that Find My Device located this device. In other words, it is not hiding the fact that the phone is being traced.

Situation 2: How to tell if someone is tracking your phone without your knowledge?

There are many spy apps in the store that allow tracking for “safety reasons” and these will not show any indication that the phone is being tracked. Some people use these apps to ensure their kids arrived at their destination safely or keep an eye on their elderly parents so they don’t wander off their property etc. These apps are installed with consent.

However, some apps that can be bought, some not via the official app store, and these can be installed without your knowledge. They are not only constantly tracking your location, but can record your conversation, log your keystrokes, discover your banking info, and send copies of your text messages, photos, and videos. All this secretly.

These apps aren’t names something obvious like “phone tracker” but rather something that blends with the phone and makes it seem like its part of the operating system such as “System UI Advance.”