Do you ever wonder if someone might have been on your phone without permission when you’ve left it unguarded or while you were sleeping?
Experts have revealed seven signs that are a dead giveaway someone has been snooping on your phone without your knowledge.
While it isn’t nice to think someone may have been checking your messages or browsing history, at least with these steps it should be easier to spot sneaky intruders.
Modern smartphones record all kinds of data and statistics about how much they are being used, and even the most canny digital detectives might get caught out by some of these tips.
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Screen time usage
In the settings section of your phone you will be able to see all your screen time activity. This is even broken down to which apps were being used at which times in many cases.
So if your phone’s screen time monitor says you were on WhatsApp at 1am when you were actually asleep, then you might want to speak to anyone who might have had access.
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High data usage
If your phone is getting unusually high data usage this can be a clue that it is being used without your knowledge.
If you’re getting warnings that your data allowance is almost used up, and they are coming earlier in the month than usual, this could mean someone else has been using your data.
For this to show up in your data usage would mean someone is doing some pretty serious snooping, but it could still be a sign.
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Check browsing history
The first thing you might want to do if you’re suspicious that somebody has been using your phone without your knowledge might be to check your internet history.
Although it is easy enough to clear the browsing history on a phone, your snooper might have gotten careless and the websites they visit can give a clue as to who is using your phone too.
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Messages have been read
Another obvious sign that someone has been going through your phone is if you have messages showing as read when you haven’t clicked on them yourself.
Apps like WhatsApp clearly show when a message has been read, another telltale sign might be messages from friends asking why you haven’t replied to them.
This is a sure-fire way to catch phone spies as one of the things they are most likely to do is look through your messages and there is no way to un-read a message.
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Receiving strange texts
While messages can easily be checked to see whether anybody has read them, it is quite possible for a phone spy to have a whole conversation using your device and then delete it, leaving you none the wiser.
But if you start getting odd or offensive text messages it could be replies to deleted conversations and more proof of foul play.
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Check your app carousel
While a crafty phone snooper will be sure to delete their internet history or any chats they have had, they likely will have overlooked the app carousel.
On an iPhone you can access this feature by swiping up from the bottom of the screen and holding in the centre of the screen for a second. Double click the home button on older models.
This carousel will show you what apps have been most recently used and in what order, which means you should be able to tell if someone has been using your phone since you last put it down.
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Deteriorating battery life
And finally, a straightforward way to see if anyone has been using your phone is to keep an eye on your battery life.
If it suddenly drops from well-charged into the red then this could be a sign of unusual activity.
However this one is not conclusive proof, it could just mean that your battery is starting to wear our on you.