Shhh….. Someone’s Listening

Do our phones listen to us ? Can they really listen to our daily conversation and then feed the apps so that they can bombard us with targeted ads ?

Yes, this is the bitter truth and not any myth. Our smart phones are way smarter than we give them credit for. Our phones listen to our daily conversation and give them to social media apps and advertising giants to target their audience better.

I read about this a few years back by chance on my Facebook page(irony at its best!). But at that time dismissed the article as something paranoid.

Truth Surfaces

A few days later, I was discussing with my husband about which dishwashing tablet to buy for our dishwasher. After the conversation I opened my fb app and after scrolling down a little saw the ad about dishwashing tablet! Suddenly I remembered the article and for the first time believed it. It might have happened in the past too but I might not have noticed.

I coundn’t believe it! So it’s true that our phones listen to us. Once this fact was established in my mind, I started researching and keeping watch. I came to know that our phones listen to us not only when we are connected to internet but also offline!

This I realised when one day after picking up my daughter from school, she complained about the bitter taste of lime which I kept a slice of in her water bottle. I told her that it was maybe because this time the lemon was big one and not the smaller variety which we normally buy. At that time both our phones were offline. But for sure, after coming back when she logged into her Instagram account, a post about difference in lime and lemon was waiting for her!

I was baffled and shocked at the same time. So, its not only when we are connected to net that we are vulnerable but offline too.

Just yesterday, I was talking to a friend on call about some exam in India and even while the conversation was still going on, I got notification from YouTube of a video for sample paper of same exam! All the apps are doing this to target their audience.

It was high time I decided and started to research for ways to protect our privacy which is our right. These companies can’t just intrude into our personal space like this. We all know to use incognito or private mode in our browser to escape these intrusions but this was whole new level of violation of our rights!

Upon researching extensively, I came to know that this is a very prominent problem and not just my imagination. But thankfully, there are ways to combat it and restore our privacy.

What You Can Do

Unknowingly, we ourselves have given too much freedom and permission to various apps on our phones. In this age of internet and smart phones, we have become used to all types of apps which ease our lives. Be it social media which keeps us connected to our friends and loved ones, or convenience apps used for banking, shopping, paying our bills etc, we download and use any app which promises to make our lives easier. But we pay a price for this convenience because its a known fact that there are no free lunches.

And this price is in form of our data which is a prized commodity in today’s competitive world. With so many companies in market, it’s always a competition to capture the attention and eyeballs of consumers and these companies go to any lengths to get data.

But still we have right to protect our data and details if we don’t want them to become public. Now we’ll look for ways to protect us and our loved ones from this intrusion.

Switching Off Microphone

This is the first and foremost thing which you can do. After downloading any app we just start using it without giving any thoughts to what it’s doing in our phone without our notice.

Many people don’t know that these apps use our phone’s microphone to spy on us. Yes, microphones are the ears through which our phones listen to our day to day talks. So, first of all we need to switch them off for all the apps which are using them.

iPhone Users

Go into Settings then scroll down to app for which you want to switch off the microphone. Click on it and then switch off microphone from there. For eg I’ll demonstrate switching off microphone for Facebook.

When you will go to Settings and then click on Facebook icon it’ll look like this

Here, we can see that Microphone is on so just toggle the switch to left to put it off, like this

Now do this for all the apps which are using microphone. If needed switch them on when required and then again switch them off.

Another thing which you can do to safeguard yourself is switching off Hey Siri setting. Siri is not just sitting idle when you are not using it but is eavesdropping continuously.

Android Users

Open Settings, then choose Applications and Application Manager. Look for Facebook, and tap App Permissions, then toggle the microphone off.

Keep in mind that turning off microphone access for fb will affect and disable certain features like Live Video. If you’re going to use these features, you should switch them on and then again switch off after use.

Bonus Tip

Amazon is known to use Alexa for recording and then using the information to target the ads. If you are using Alexa and all your digital devices are connected to it you should take these extra measures to make sure your data is not getting public:

1.Ask Alexa “Why?”

If Alexa seems to activate at an inappropriate time, you can simply ask her “Alexa, tell me what you heard” or even “Alexa, why did you do that?”

With these prompts, Alexa will inform you of the recordings she has made or will explain the process or words that led to her activation.

2.Tell Alexa to forget what she heard

Just tell her “Alexa, delete everything I said today”. And poof! everything will be gone from her memory.

If asked on the daily, this will keep your Alexa recording history clean and will prevent anyone from being able to look at private audio that may have been captured.

So, take some measures today and safeguard yourself and your children from these intruders. Its not that difficult too.

Keep Safe Friends 😊