7 Ways to Tell If Your Phone Is Being Tapped

All smartphones are vulnerable to tapping, especially if a device is jailbroken or rooted to take advantage of third-party apps. It can take some sleuthing to find out if you're dealing with a phone tap or just some random glitches.

If you've only noticed one of the signs listed below, especially randomly, then you probably are not dealing with a spy app or other tapping device. But if you encounter several, especially consistently, then you could indeed have someone listening in on your calls.

Unusual Background Noise

If you hear pulsating static, high-pitched humming, or other strange background noises when on voice calls, it may be a sign that your phone is being tapped. Hearing unusual sounds like beeping, clicking, or static when you're not on a call is another tell-tale sign of a tapped phone.

That being said, strange noises do crop up from time to time on cell and landline calls, so this isn't a surefire indicator that something is wrong.

From a different phone, check for inaudible sounds on your phone by using a sound-bandwidth sensor on a low frequency. A sound-bandwidth sensor is a noise detector app that could be used to measure sound on a potentially tapped device. If it finds sounds several times in one minute, your phone may be tapped.

Diminished Battery Life

If your phone’s battery life is suddenly a lot shorter than it used to be, or if the battery warms up more than usual while it's in use, it’s possible that tapping software is running silently in the background and consuming battery power.

However, if your phone's battery is over a year old, it may just be less capable of holding a charge. Also, consider how often you've been using your phone. Have you been making more voice calls or using apps more often than usual? If so, that may be the reason your phone's battery is draining at an unusual rate.

If you can't think of anything you've been doing differently, you can use your phone's settings to get detailed information about what's hogging the battery, or download an app to get a clearer picture of what's going on.

• On an iPhone, go to Settings > Battery. Alternatively, you can download the Battery Life app from the App Store or get the Coconut Battery app from coconut-flavour.com.
• For Android devices, search Settings for battery usage to see which apps are pulling the most juice.

Finally, check your app usage with the techniques mentioned, and then check again a few days later to see which ones have changed the most. If you used those apps often, then your usage is likely why they're using so much battery. But if you didn't use them a lot, then something strange may be going on, like a virus that has tapped your phone. Deleting the app is recommended.

Trouble With Shutting Down

If your smartphone has suddenly become less responsive or has difficulty shutting down, someone may have gained unauthorized access to it.

When shutting down your phone, check to see if the shutdown fails or if the backlight stays on even after you've completed the shutdown process. If so, the culprit could be malicious software or a glitch due to a recent system update.

Suspicious Activity

If your phone begins turning on or off on its own, or starts to install apps without your input, then someone has likely hacked it with a spy app and could be attempting to tap your calls.

Weird Text Messages

A major sign that someone is trying to tap your phone is if you receive weird SMS text messages containing garbled letters and numbers from unknown senders.

Pop-Up Ads

Strange pop-up ads and unexplained performance issues could also point to the presence of malware or a tapping app. However, a more common explanation is that an annoying ad is trying to push products on you.

Moving Icons

When you're not using your phone, the network activity icons and other progress bars at the top of the screen should not be animated. Moving icons that indicate activity, or random mic or camera access indicators, could mean someone is remotely using your phone or sending data in the background.

Personal Info Shows Up Online

Another way to tell if your phone is being tapped is if private data that's stored only on the phone has been leaked online. Notes, emails, pictures, or any other data you've secured on your phone should remain there unless you intentionally release it to the public. If your phone is tapped, a hacker could remotely extract your data and post the personal files online.

Electronic Interference

It's not uncommon to encounter interference with your phone when it's around other electronic devices, such as a laptop, conference phone, or television.

It shouldn't happen when you're not actively using your phone, so check to see if you notice any static or interference when you're not on a call. Place your phone close to another electronic device and, if you hear unusual sounds, that may be a sign that someone is listening in on your calls.

Some tapping devices use frequencies that are near the FM radio band. If your radio emits a high-pitched sound when it's set to mono, and dialed to the far end of the band, your phone might be tapped and interfering with it.

The same is true for TV broadcast frequencies using UHF (ultra-high frequency) channels. You can check for interference by bringing your phone close to a TV that has an antenna.

Higher Than Usual Phone Bill

If your phone bill shows an unusually high spike in text or data usage, this is another sign that someone may have hacked your phone. 

If you just downloaded a new app that uses a lot of data, that could be a legitimate reason for the sudden uptick. Similarly, if you've allowed children to use your device while you're not around or not connected to Wi-Fi, that may be another cause for the increased data consumption.

But spyware and other malicious apps can use your cellular data plan to conduct their secretive transactions without your knowledge. If you see a sudden burst in data activity on your phone bill and don't have a good explanation, promptly turn off mobile data and call your carrier for help.

Third-Party Apps

Third-party apps are a potential source for malware and spyware. If you've recently downloaded apps from anywhere other than the App Store or the Google Play Store, that's another cause for alarm.

Even if you're using the appropriate channels to download your apps, some scammers copy well known app names and icons when creating fake apps. So, before downloading, it's a good idea to run a Google search of both the app and its developer to make sure they're legitimate.

Be cautious with any apps, particularly games, that request permission to access your call history, address book, or contacts list. If you have children, you may also want to leverage a parental control app to keep them from accidentally downloading malicious apps.