#Your Android Phone Tracking You and Listening. TURN THIS OFF

[hughescocksworthnews]

Your Android Phone Tracking You and Listening. TURN THIS OFF

[razziecat]

Your Android Phone Tracking You and Listening. TURN THIS OFF

[hellyeahheroes]

Your Android Phone Tracking You and Listening. TURN THIS OFF by Useful Things

[not-very-kawaii-of-you]

DO NOT WATCH YOUTUBE

use invidious invidious will show you all the youtube content without login, without tracking, and without any adds

IF YOU ON ANDROID

download newpipe from the web , it's forbbiden in the play store and it works the same way, it can work on the background and speed to 2x any video for listening, it works with the screen turned off as well, you can listen to music playlist or podcasts while doing anything else with your phone screen turned off in your pockets. they can also download videos or just the sound so you can get your songs there and download and edit any video you want on your phone, empower yourself

[vimusic-apk]

Don't Miss Out on ViMusic - The Must-Have App for Streaming YouTube Music

Do you wish you could stream all your favorite tracks from YouTube Music without ads interrupting your flow? Want to keep listening to playlists and music even when you switch apps or turn off your phone's screen? ViMusic makes this possible and so much more! 🎧

ViMusic is a game-changing Android app that lets you stream audio from YouTube Music videos in the background for FREE. No more annoying ads or having music pause when you exit the YouTube app.

🎵 Key Features:

Stream ad-free music with screen off or in background

Create playlists and queues of YouTube music

Download videos and songs for offline listening

Listen to high quality audio

Intuitive and easy to use interface

Absolutely FREE

This app has smart audio extraction technology that removes video and gives you a seamless listening experience. It basically takes the best features from music streaming services and combines it with YouTube's huge catalog.

Stop wasting time and data streaming music videos just for the audio. Download ViMusic now and unlock unlimited, uninterrupted music streaming from YouTube Music on your Android device!

It's hands down the best app for enjoying YouTube music offline and on the go.

Visit https://vimusic-apk.com to get it now. You can thank me later! 😉

#youtube #music #android #app #free

[sapphira-mydnyte]

Your phone's browser has a DESKTOP mode built into it, USE THE FUCKER & TURN THIS SHIT OFF! I have Firefox on my phone, but the Android phones are getting updated to have Gemini on it, so you really want to be careful with what you keep in your phone too. You've no idea what they're scrapping off your phone, but you can turn the sensors off on the Galaxy phones. (Yes, Firefox has a mobile version & you should be using it.)

Now, how to do you kill your phone from spying on you? Here's the list.

1. Go to your phone's settings, scroll to "About Phone" which should be at the bottom.

2. Go to "Software Information" & tap the "Build Number" 7 to 9 times, it'll unlock the "Developer Mode" menu.

3. Find the "Quick Settings Developer Tiles" option in the Developer Menu list & turn on the "Sensors Off" feature. That kills your microphone, camera & other crap that's running in the background. That's how facebook & google are tracking your ass & throwing ads at you!! They're listening & watching through your phone!

4. Also, there's a "Don't keep activities" switch in there too, so go ahead & turn that on so they can't track your activities.

5. You can check the services running on your phone in the "Running Services" menu & shut down what you don't want, but be mindful... b/c some of the stuff in that area is needed to run the phone normally.

Hey everyone, I know it's going to be a busy day for a lot of people, but Google enrolled everyone over 18 into their AI program automatically.

If you have a google account, first go to gemini.google.com/extensions and turn everything off.

Then you need to go to myactivity.google.com/product/gemini and turn off all Gemini activity tracking. You do have to do them in that order to make sure it works.

Honestly, I'm not sure how long this will last, but this should keep Gemini off your projects for a bit.

I saw this over on bluesky and figured it would be good to spread on here. It only takes a few minutes to do.

[buyhearingaids]

Discover The Future of Hearing Technology: The Phonak Lumity Series

With the era of high-tech hearing solutions, Phonak Hearing aids not only lead the way with every new innovation, but also continue to shatter boundaries and establish new benchmarks. From speech that is as crisp as possible to intelligent connectivity, Phonak is introducing quality and innovation into the market that has led to one of the most recognizable brands in the hearing market.

Their latest innovation, Phonak Lumity Hearing Aid, is a game-changer one—especially for those who prioritize conversation clarity, wearability, and usability. Whether you're searching on your own or for someone you love, this blog will guide you through the incredible features of Phonak Audeo Lumity, how it stacks up against other models, and why it can be the perfect addition to your life.

What Makes the Phonak Lumity Series So Unique

Phonak Lumity is not so much an improvement but rather a leap towards intelligent hearing. Supported by SmartSpeech™ Technology, the hearing aid improves speech understanding in varied listening environments. Be it eating at a crowded restaurant or having dinner with the important people and some others, the Lumity series of hearing aids ensures you stay engaged with what is most important—people and conversations.

Unlike outdated hearing aids that only amplify, the Phonak Audeo Lumity molds the sound of hearing to your environment in the moment. Powered by a high-level operating system, AutoSense OS 4.0, it automatically picks up and responds to what's going on around you, so you never fall behind the beat. No adjusting volumes and parameters—just easy, uncomplicated sound.

Technology Designed for Everyday Listening

StereoZoom 2.0 is one of the most significant Phonak Lumity hearing aid technologies, and it is like shining a spotlight on your ears. Suppose you are trying to listen to someone in a noisy party. StereoZoom shines the speaker right in front of you with the spotlight and turns off the noise in the background. It is especially helpful in group or public settings where there is too much background noise to cut off speech.

Besides, Dynamic Noise Cancellation eradicates the drudgery of listening. It also clears voices by actively eliminating interference noises, and hence the drudgery of listening becomes more natural. Together with Speech Enhancer, even a faint voice or a whisper is now audible.

But hearing not just half-paying attention to sound—there's also a way you live, too. That's where universal Bluetooth connectivity comes in. Whatever you're doing—listening to a podcast, talking on the phone, or a video call—Phonak Lumity makes a seamless connection to your iPhone, Android, or TV. And it even has hands-free calls, so you can enjoy your hearing aids as high-fidelity wireless earbuds.

And don't even mention battery life. The Phonak Audeo Lumity has reliable rechargeable batteries. You get a full day of power from a single charge—hours of streaming as well. No longer do you have to work around finicky batteries or mid-day battery swaps.

Comparing Phonak Audeo Lumity with Other Hearing Aids

You might ask: how is the Phonak Audeo Lumity different from other Phonaks, say the old Phonak Audeo or the whole Phonak Lumity series?

The old Phonak Audeo has been highly recommended for years for its comfortable fit, strong amplification, and feature refinement. It remains a good choice for those with mild to moderate hearing loss who want a tried-and-true device.

But Phonak Audeo Lumity is the best of all. Its voice-specific and intelligence features are ideal for the individuals who need more help in listening to background noise. Restaurant dining, traffic sounds, or party chatter have no chance with the Audeo Lumity.

Unlike the original Phonak Lumity series, the Audeo Lumity also has more tailored features like advanced microphone direction and sensors to track your wellbeing (on certain models). It's not merely to hear you better, but to elevate your lifestyle to an even greater level of health and connectivity.

What People Say About the Phonak Lumity

Individuals are discussing the Phonak Lumity hearing aid for its great clarity and simplicity of use. Most comment that they are no longer having trouble with conversations, even in noisy environments. Transitions from manual volume to automatic situation adaptation have been a huge improvement, especially for older or tech-savvy individuals who value simplicity of use.

Others prefer the ease of having the Bluetooth function. Being able to listen to music or make use of the phone via the hearing aids is convenient and pleasant. For caregivers and loved ones, Phonak's MyPhonak app gives them reassurance—it includes remote adjustments and hearing aid monitoring using a smartphone.

Who Is the Phonak Audeo Lumity For?

The Phonak Audeo Lumity is ideal for severe to profound hearing loss in adults who want something more than amplification. It's for the businessperson who wants good sound for meetings, the grandparent who wants to enjoy every moment with the grandkids, and the music lover who wants better sound.

Its rechargeable nature makes it perfect for individuals who would prefer low-maintenance treatment, and the easy connectivity is perfect for technology users who use their smartphones, TVs, or laptops every day.

Final Thoughts: Is It Time for an Upgrade?

If you’re ready to experience truly advanced hearing aid technology, the Phonak Audeo Lumity might be your perfect match. From automatic noise cancellation to Bluetooth streaming and rechargeable convenience, it's more than just a hearing aid—it’s a smart companion that fits into your life effortlessly.

Whether you are a newcomer to the process of enjoying improved hearing or replacing an existing device, Buy Hearing Aid offers Phonak's family of hearing aids—the Phonak Lumity and Audeo Lumity—as a personalized solution that will result in your having confidence, conversation, and enriched living.

[mongorevera]

Your Android Phone Tracking You and Listening. TURN THIS OFF

[jennyfromthebes]

this got wayyyyy too long for a reply and also I wanted to add links for convenience so I'm making it a reblog lol. but, hell yeah, I gotchu!!

For a music player: You said you don't have an iPhone and that's actually great because the local file music player app that I like, Musicolet, is Android-only. It's an excellent ad-free open source app that I like to describe as brutally functional, and I highly recommend it if you listen to music that you have actually downloaded on your phone.

As was mentioned in the replies you can also add local files to Spotify, but you can only listen to them on the device that has the actual file so if you add it from your phone you won't be able to listen to it on your computer unless you also have the local file on there. (ETA: I've been informed that you can sync files across devices but that it's a bit unreliable, and I don't know how to do it just that it's possible.) That option is in settings -> scroll all the way down and under "local files" toggle "show audio files from this device" on. That'll add a folder in your Spotify library for local files - it will just toss all of your local audio files into this folder without albums or subfolders so if you have a lot you'll have to manually organize them into playlists. I have playlists for some of the live tapes I listen to a lot, as well as for albums like Moon Colony Bloodbath and Black Pear Tree.

For the actual audio file: First off, here's my gdrive of a few unreleased/not on streaming tMG albums as well as the Deserters compilation which is a fanmade album of over 100 unreleased songs (to be clear, I did not make Deserters, it's just a great way to get into the unreleased stuff). All the albums in there are as zip files so you'll have to unzip any of them after downloading but you should be able to do that inside your phone's default file explorer. I've also tossed just the individual mp3 of Heel Turn 1 from the Deserters comp in there so if that's the only thing you want you can just grab that one! I also have a massive mediafire folder of all of the tMG music that I could find, and if anyone wants the link for that just send me a dm or ask :)

For getting specific songs yourself, there's tons of YouTube to MP3 converters available out there and any one should do the trick. I mostly do audio stuff on my computer rather than my phone so my personal preference is a desktop app, MediaHuman YouTube to MP3 Converter, but a good friend of mine uses the web-based y2mate which you should be able to use on your phone. You can also use NewPipe, which is basically a cracked version of the YouTube app (I've been using it for like a year and it's great), to download just the audio of a YouTube video. I sometimes download full albums as one long MP3 and then chop them into tracks, which I just use Audacity on my PC for. You can edit metadata like album, track number, track title, cover art, etc when you export something from Audacity or in Windows Media Player on a computer, or you can do that in Musicolet on your phone!

I'd also like to link the Live Music Archive as a great resource - there's literally hundreds of tapes of tMG concerts on there! You can stream them in your web browser or download any of them that you want, whether full concerts or just specific tracks. I've got a good dozen full concerts downloaded on my phone and listen to tapes regularly and I've barely made a dent in the archive. This is also a great way to directly find mp3s of specific live-only songs, on the tMG wiki it lists every concert that a song has been played at on the song's page and you can go search for those shows in the archive to try and find a recording of it.

I have no idea if you mainly/only operate on a phone, so I tried to make this crash course as accessible as possible for either a phone (Android, I don't know iPhone at all I'm sorry iPhone users) or a PC. If you have any questions at all I am absolutely happy to help out! I operated on only a phone for like 6 years before I got a PC so I know my way around this kind of stuff. And if you or anyone else wants an mp3 of an unreleased/not on streaming album that I don't have in that drive, feel free to drop me an ask and I'd be happy to make one for you :D good luck with your music endeavours!

kicking and screaming bc I need to listen to heel turn 1 one million times per day and I don't know how to make songs on YouTube on my phone

[hashtagloveloses]

i don't know who needs to hear this but you can bypass most newspaper (and some other) paywalls using this browser extension. it has versions for chrome, edge and firefox.

you can block most ads online (doesn't work for youtube or in-feed social media ads) on iOS with this app. there's a paid version but you don't need it. if a website starts to act funky, you can toggle the VPN on and off. for android, all you have to do is change one setting (read how in the first section here and toggle this on and off if something isn't working right as well).

for your desktop browser, try ublock origin. it has versions for chrome, firefox, edge and opera. (on any website you can click the red shield icon and turn it off and then refresh the page if it's acting up as well). bonus: having a good adblocker like this makes 🏴‍☠️ movies and TV by streaming from sites like watchseries much safer.

your local library probably subscribes to a service called overdrive, which operates an app called libby. and yes, i don't just mean in the U.S. it is VERY popular in many countries. before you go straight to amazon or audible for a book or audiobook, get a library card/figure out your library account login and download the libby app. the interface is great and has a lot of good features. in some countries, you can send the ebook versions to your kindle/kindle account. the libby app can be accessed on your phone, browser, or tablet app to read or listen from, too. if you download the main overdrive app, you can see what movies and TV your library has available. your library might also use a service called hoopla (hoopla often has more comics, too). it depends on the library system which one (or both) they use. if your library doesn't have the book you want, the main overdrive app has a button to "recommend", and your library probably has a request form.

there's an alternative to goodreads called storygraph. it has twice the amount of features, is updating with more all the time, and is not owned by amazon. you can easily import your goodreads library, too. it has mobile apps, too.

stop listening to podcasts with apple podcasts, google podcasts or spotify. the interface is terrible and the companies are even worse. try pocket casts, which has both a mobile and desktop version. it's compatible with chromecast so you can use it with google home devices, too.

if you live in or near a city in the U.S., you may have noticed uber/lyft/rideshare prices have risen a lot lately. the "it's a startup we're disrupting the business" bubble has popped and now it costs just as much as the established system, just like most other gig apps. you'll be surprised to learn that the taxi apps now cost about the same (or lower, depending on the time of day). the curb app is available in a ton of cities (in new york for example it works in all the boroughs) and you can order a taxi with a fixed fare just like an uber now.

can you never remember when your TV shows are on or coming back? can you not keep track of all the shows and movies you watch or want to watch? the TV Time app is a literal lifesaver.

[gilmore-gossip]

How to use your phone less

1. Track your screen time. This can easily be accessed through your settings whether you have an android or iOS.

2. Turn off ALL notifications, even the messages. My rule is that if they don’t call, then it’s not important enough. But of course you can keep the notifications on if you really need it for some messages. Personally it helped a lot in reducing phone use. You don’t need to reply to someone within thirty seconds. You have a life. And you clearly don’t need to constantly check your social media. Same for turning on notifications for YouTube videos, Instagram accounts and even tumblr blogs. It makes you spend so much more time even when you didn’t plan to. You will see those posts once you access the app anyway. I recommend the “do not disturb” feature for iPhone and if you use it remember to turn on the calls from important people.

3. I recommend the r/nosurf subreddit on Reddit, many people share useful tips and success stories of them using the phone less! It’s motivating.

4. Change the location of your apps often. It’s insane how we mindlessly click on apps when we don’t want to open them yet, but we do it anyway. I did this with TikTok and I even hid it from recent apps, it helped a lot until I ended up deleting it. Best decision ever.

5. Delete apps. Do it. Even if you have to access Instagram through the mobile browser, it will help you to use it less and you can still answer messages there. You can’t add stories, though. This can also apply to other apps. You should delete the most addicting ones that make you feel unproductive and miserable.

6. Don’t use the phone first thing you wake up in he morning and before you go to sleep for at least an hour. It will both improve your day and sleep.

7. It’s okay to sometimes not have your phone on you. You don’t need to go to the bathroom and mindlessly scroll through useless posts. Pick up a book or just be alone with your thoughts for a bit. Listening to podcasts isn’t a bad idea, though. Take more walks and just observe the world around you. Our phones are making us live too digitally and we often forget what the real world is like. Appreciate the nature. 🍃

8. If you have to use your phone more than necessary, at least use it to do something productive. A new language, responding to your family, partner and friends, podcasts, taking care of your social media if you are a content creator, news, any other skill you can cultivate on your phone.

Thank you for reading and I hope it helped you as much as it helped me! 🤍 Remember that while it’s even better to not use phone at all, sometimes we need it. Whether it’s for your safety, information or simply just a bit of entertainment but it’s crucial to reduce your phone use if it’s more than 3 hours a day, and let’s be honest, most of us spend more than 7 hours daily which affects our mood and health.

[foone]

Yeah! So GPS fundamentally is listening to several satellites broadcasting a weak time signal. You can do that on its own, and it'll work, but it's slow. It's slow because you need to know where all the satellites are, so you can calculate how far you are from them.

The GPS satellites are constantly broadcasting that information, but in a very low-speed manner, with a weak signal. Your GPS device has to wait until it can download a full ephemeris (precise orbital information) and almanac (list of satellites and rough orbital information). This could easily take 12 minutes even with good reception: if the signal is bad, it's gotta wait for the next re-transmit, which takes a long while.

So, how do we speed it up? Well, they do some tricks. Your GPS unit usually saves the old info, so at the beginning of session it can use the old data, which hopefully helps it get started right away... But it's still going to be slow the first time, and if it's been too long since you last used it, the set of satellites visible might be completely different, because of varying statuses and new satellites being launched. So that helps, but it's not great.

So enter A-GPS: Assisted GPS. Basically you solve this problem using your cellphone's data connection. When you open the navigation app on your phone, it starts listening for satellites, but it also talks to your telco and says "hey give me the GPS almanac and also where am I?"

Because the almanac takes 12 minutes to download from the GPS satellites, but it's only 14 kilobytes. Your 5g connection can transfer that in milliseconds. And your telco knows where you are, roughly: that's how the "cellular" part of "cellular phone" works: the world is divided up into cells defined by which cellphone tower is closest.

So with AGPS, your phone gets a quick almanac and a rough fix on your location from the cellular network, then switches to using regular GPS. This means you get a quick initial position, then you get your later movements from the GPS satellites as usual.

So it's active in the sense that you're already being tracked by your telco, and then your phone has to send a "HEY I NEED TO NAVIGATE, HELP" signal to get started.

But if you're not doing AGPS, like you're using a standalone receiver with no network connection, or you have turned off AGPS (I think some android phones have an option?) , it'll be fully passive and untrackable.

[definitelynotdamiano]

How to add your files to your Spotify playlist?

Spotify has a lot of songs. Like... A LOT. But not all of them.

If the artist or a song that you want to listen to isn't there, you can add them yourself.

First, you need an audio file(s),  e.g .mp3, .mp4, .m4a.

I suggest putting the files in a separate folder on your desktop before you go any further, because if you move the files later, you'll have to go through all the steps once again.

Then you have to add local files to Spotify. This is a desktop instruction, but you can read about iOS and Android here.

To activate Local Files on your Desktop:

1. Click your username in the top-right and select Settings.

2. Scroll to Local Files and switch Show Local Files on.

3. Turn on or off the folders you want Local Files to have access to.

4. Click Add a source to select another folder.

5. Find your stored tracks in the Local Files folder in Your Library.

Remember that you are adding local files, so if you add them on desktop, they won't be available on your phone and the other way around.

[ms-demeanor]

Stressed Computer Anon:

Hi friend!

You’ve actually given me the idea for a very helpful book I want to write but it’s pretty clear you’re not going to be okay waiting that long so here’s a very, very basic primer for people in similar situations

SO YOU THINK YOU’RE BEING CYBERSTALKED

If you’re worried about being tracked online by people who have somehow accessed your computer or phone and/or you’re worried about your computer being taken over FEAR NOT! This is VERY fixable!

So the thing is the only way that people can track you like this is by having some kind of network access to your devices. I can’t track your cellphone if it isn’t connected to the cell network (at least not without a pretty serious amount of legwork and a warrant) and I can’t track your computer if it’s not connected to the internet.

The absolute easiest, fastest, most guaranteed way to fix this problem is by disconnecting all your devices. I know that doesn’t seem great because what’s the point of having the devices if they’re not going to be connected, but don’t worry you’ll get this settled and get back online eventually.

What you are going to do FIRST is get on a device that you’ve never used before, get on a computer or phone network you’ve never used before, and you’re going to change your passwords. While you’re at it you may want to get yourself set up with a password manager. Here’s a step by step of the ideal way this would work:

Go to someplace with public-ish computers where you can use the computers for a while (school or public library works well)

Open up a private session of whatever browser is installed on that computer

Create a protonmail email account

Log in to each of your online accounts, change the recovery email to the protonmail account, and reset the passwords

(do the rest of the stuff that i’m going to tell you about)

Install a password manager AFTER you’ve sanitized your network and change all your passwords AGAIN using the password manager generated passwords.

Once you have reset all your passwords (steps 1-3) it is time to sanitize your network and your extant devices.

Start by doing a backup of your phone and your computer. This is a FILE BACKUP ONLY, you DO NOT want to restore from backup.

Make sure you’ve got the manufacturer installation discs and activation keys for any software that you have on your computer (or the online equivalent - you don’t use a disc to install MS office these days, you use a Microsoft account and you should have already changed your password for that) because you are going to have to REINSTALL your computer. This means you ALSO need an installation disc for your operating system.

Connect to your router and change the password, select the most secure security settings you router allows.

Reinstall your operating system on your computer and factory reset your phone (make sure you’ve written down all your contacts and saved all the files on your computer or phone to an external device because you will lose them with the reset/reinstall).

(Windows, Mac, Android, iOS)

Make sure that the only things you plug into your computer are things you’ve purchased - remove all wireless dongles for mice or keyboards, make sure the chargers for your phones are all ones that you’ve purchased and not any that were given to you, and only plug stuff back in if you’re 100% sure you know what it goes to.

AFTER REINSTALL/RESET TURN OFF ALL THE WEIRD WIRELESS CONNECTIONS YOUR PHONE AND COMPUTER MAKE. Turn off bluetooth, turn off network discoverability, turn off anything that lets shit talk to your computer or phone.

(This will break/disable things like smart speakers, activity trackers, and a bunch of other IoT tech. If you’re paranoid enough to be doing all of this stuff you should NOT be using those things anyway)

Once you’ve reinstalled your OS on your computer go online and set yourself up with a VPN. If you are feeling EXCEPTIONALLY paranoid you can do this using a mobile hotspot instead of your internet connection. Also if you are feeling exceptionally paranoid you can encrypt your devices.

Now that your traffic is encrypted go back into your router settings and reset your password again. You may want to consider purchasing a better/more secure router or one that has an included VPN (from that list I like the Synology router).

Since at this point your computer should be pretty much completely taken care of you can follow the steps in my other post on the issue to secure your phone.

At this point if you connect to the internet through a secured router and a vpn, and if you are using a VPN on the phone and don’t have any weird mystery apps installed and have shut down app permissions, and if you’re doing all of that carefully and well and you’ve changed all your passwords a couple times, nobody should reasonably be able to snoop your traffic.

That isn’t to say I’d consider this setup safe to plot against the government or anything or to prevent a subpoena to your wireless provider if someone filed one, but for the average weirdo on the internet who wants to creep on your traffic you’ve pretty much locked them out.

After that be careful about what you post online (because a SHOCKING amount of what people think has come from someone spying on their network is actually just stuff that’s reasonably extrapolated from your socials) and if someone approaches you in person about your online activities don’t be alone with that person and publicly challenge them about what they’re saying (maybe take a video of them and post that online). Also do not allow other people physical access to your phone, computer, or router.

Based on the descriptions you’ve given me in your asks it seems reasonably possible that you’re experiencing some upsetting coincidences and that nothing is happening, but there’s also a possibility that someone is remotely accessing your computer. If so, doing everything that I’ve described will close off their access.

If you continue to have these upsetting experiences after going through all of these steps I’d say to have a conversation with a reasonable friend and get a reality check. Unfortunately people are often very scared of computers and because they don’t understand them sometimes innocuous things can be upsetting.

There have been several people who have visited our hacker meetups over the years to beg us to stop the hackers attacking them when there is nobody attacking them or they’ve got things set up in such a way that it would be impossible to do what they think is happening. Fixating on the belief that you’re being attacked and tracked can be very upsetting and can make you more likely to misinterpret nonthreatening happenstance as a cohesive and intentional plan.

I’m not saying that’s what’s happening to you, your circumstance is in a gray area where I don’t want to tell you that someone is watching you and you should be paranoid because that’s not what it sounds like, but the things you’re describing reasonably COULD be because of intruders on your computer so there’s no harm in hardening your network. HOWEVER if you DO harden your network and that doesn’t make you feel any better it’s time to ask for some assistance from people in your life.

IN GENERAL to avoid having people remotely access your computer you should:

Make sure that you are very cautious about what programs you install

Do not open unexpected email attachments and do not click on mystery links

Use unique passwords across your accounts

Do not allow people physical access to your devices

Use encryption on your web traffic through a VPN or a secured router

Do not grant people permission to access your computer or allow people to talk you through the process of setting up access for them (so if someone calls from “microsoft” and says they need access to your computer to fix it just hang up)

Use a strong antivirus program

And in general if you think that something FUCKING WEIRD is going on with your computer you should

document every instance of it being fucking weird

take a photo or video of the fucking weird thing on your phone

think about what someone has to gain by accessing your system

think about the ways that someone could plausibly access your system

check in with someone who knows more about computers than you do (like me - this is the right thing to do! and similarly the people who come to the hacker meetups are doing the right thing! But it’s important to listen to these folks and learn from the conversation instead of dismissing the information they give you - that “what do they gain” question applies here too. I have nothing to gain by misleading you, so it’s very unlikely that I’m lying to you)

And in your life in general:

If you’re scared about something you should ask questions and learn more. Everything is much less scary when you know how to fix it or are able to identify the source of a problem. This is true for computers, it’s true for auto repair, it’s true for plumbing.

So I’m really glad you asked, and good luck. I hope this helps.

[oliviajames1122]

8 Signs That Someone Is Tracking Your Phone

Hackers can use your mobile phone to track your whereabouts or spy on your personal information. While using your phone's GPS to track your location may appear innocent, hackers can use this information to learn where you live, your shopping habits, where your children go to school, and more. They can sell your information or use it to steal your identity once they have it. That why being aware of these subtle signals that your phone is being followed is crucial many business listings.

1 - Your phone becomes really heated

If your phone has become unusually hot recently, it could be a sign that it has been hacked. Spyware operating in the background can make your phone work harder and so produce more heat. Of course, there could be other causes for this, so if tracking isn't the problem, have a technician check out your phone for any faults.

2 - Your battery is quickly drained

Keep an eye out for abrupt variations in the time it takes your phone's battery to die. A tracked phone will constantly communicate data from the phone to the hacker, causing the phone to use more power and consume the battery far faster than normal.

3 - Your monthly data usage has increased unexpectedly

Every month, check your phone bill to see whether you're suddenly using more data than usual. Because it is constantly transmitting information back to the hacker's phone or computer, a taped phone consumes a lot of data.

4 - Unexpectedly, your phone reboots

"If your phone starts rebooting out of nowhere, it could suggest its being tracked. Your phone's virus is interfering with its normal operation, causing it to crash and restart at unpredictable intervals.

5 - It takes a long time for your phone to shut down

Another symptom of spyware could be if your phone takes longer than usual to shut down. Any actions that are currently in process must be completed when a phone shuts off. This might include data being transferred remotely to a hacker, extending the time it takes to shut down considerably.

6 - Your phone has been rooted or jailbroken

The practice of eliminating manufacturer limitations in order to obtain access to portions of the phone that would ordinarily be protected is known as jailbreaking (for iPhone) or rooting (for Android). It's a technique that hackers frequently employ to install spyware. It's not always easy to identify, so keep an eye out for a strange programmer called Cydia (for iPhone) or Super User (for Android) that appears unexpectedly on your home screen business listings.

7 - Hearing background noise or electrical interference

If you hear echoes, static, or clicking sounds coming from your phone, it could be a clue that someone is listening in on your conversations. This is a rare occurrence because most contemporary surveillance software is absolutely silent, but it is still worth keeping an eye out for.

8 - Your cell phone is operating at a slower rate than usual

Frustrated by how sluggish your phone has suddenly become? Over time, every phone slows down. If you're having this difficulty in addition to the others on this list, it's possible that your phone is being tracked. If this problem isn't caused by anything else, try these quick fixes to speed up your phone free business listings.

What should you do if your phone is being hacked?

Restarting your phone is the first thing you should do. As basic as it may appear, tracking apps and malware rely on the phone being left on for extended periods of time.

By simply rebooting your phone, many of them will be unable to monitor you. After that, perform a scan with a reputable malware removal app, such as Malwarebytes or Bitdefender Total Security, and turn off location sharing when you're not using it to ensure you're not unintentionally revealing your location with a third party.

Finally, if your phone hasn't been updated in a while, make sure it has the latest security patches and uninstall any apps you don't Recognise.