HomeReviewsApps & SoftwaresCan one really track a cell phone without one’s consent?

Can one really track a cell phone without one’s consent?

Due to the improvement in Global Positioning Systems (GPS), spying on someone’s phones without their consent has become quite easy nowadays. The cloak and dagger activities are carried out using an inexpensive spy app usually purchased online.

Although the apps can be put to good use when placed in the right hands, they are often misused by stalkers, or are they? They are mostly used by spouses who want to track their partner’s or children’s GPS location and phone activity.

Hand Holding a Mobile Phone

To actually bug a cell phone, you have to install the app on the device. After installing it, you are able to remotely monitor the other person’s GPS location, text messages, calls, videos, and photos just like any government detective agency would do. You can even use the front or back camera to take a photo of the user or use the microphone to live feed the surrounding audio to another device.

The spying apps have been brought to the limelight mostly by divorce cases. Surprisingly, over 80% of marriage annulment cases are initiated by phone activity monitoring using this kind of software.

Why the apps were designed in the first place?

The first tracking/ spying apps were developed for very moral and innocent reasons including keeping tabs on the elderly, protecting children from worldly dangers and locating a missing phone. These apps were a bit inconvenient and costly. To install them to the target mobile phone, one had to consult a specialist who even had to disassemble the device to make the whole process functional.

The advancement in technology has made it possible to store virtually every piece of useful information on your mobile phone. According to a popular cell phone tracking blog, mobile phones are susceptible to modern spying apps which render mobile devices as an open book for stalkers.  Modern pieces of tracking software are relatively cheap, easily accessible to everyone, easy to install and use, and quite functional too.

The brighter side of it

Secretly spying on employees to track how they use mobile phones provided by the business for productivity purpose could go a long way in improving the overall productivity. It also ensures that you don’t incur additional expenses when the employees use business mobile phones for private purposes.

How can you protect your phone from spy app installation?

Someone has to be in possession of your mobile phone to actually install the tracking apps. There is no other way around it. You can use the following tips to outwit stalkers:

  • Second-hand phones

Thieves could have the spying app pre-installed before offering a good deal to a target customer. If you buy a second-hand device, be on the lookout for red flags that could indicate that a spy app has been installed such as receiving weird text messages and calls. Making a factory reset on a second-hand phone to erase all data could help a lot.

  • Never leave your phone lying around carelessly especially at work

Keep your phone with you at all times. If you are careless with your phone, then it can be compromised easily. If you just can’t carry your phone with you every day, install an anti-spyware app on your phone and check it daily for any alerts. Also turn off installation of apps from unknown sources from your phone’s settings. Alternatively, you could install an app notifier which notifies you whenever a new application is installed on your mobile phone.

pauljackson
pauljackson
Paul Jackson is a content writer and a social media specialist. A writer by the day and a reader at night.

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