How to tell if your phone is tapped in Kenya

10 Aug

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How to tell if your phone is tapped in Kenya

Introduction

Most common warning signs you’ll notice if your phone has been tapped is, hearing a strange sound like clicking sounds or a static noise during a call.

Apart from the government, cellphones can be spied by other individuals such as your employers, hackers, your business partners, and your ex-partner.

Once you see your Android is being monitored, we’ve also explained different methods on how to get off the radar of the party keeping an eye on you.

There are various tell-tale signs you’ll notice if your mobile device is infected with spyware tapping your calls or monitoring your activity.

Here’s how to know if your phone is tapped:

Unusual or Strange Background Noise

When on a voice call, if you hear some strange background noise that sounds like a pulsating static or high-pitched humming or something similar, you may have malicious apps on your Android keeping tabs on your calls.

Other unusual sounds to look out for include clicking, beeping, or static sounds when not on a phone call.

While there could be other causes of these unusual sounds, once you hear anything like them and notice one or more of the other signs below, it means your activity on the phone is being monitored.

Your phone’s battery gets drained or hot often

If your smartphone has been infected with spyware that taps your voice calls and/or keeps an eye on your activity, it might make the battery feel hot to the touch or drain a lot faster.

This is the step to determine the specific applications taking up the highest battery on your Android: Settings > Battery Lab > Battery usage.

The procedures may be slightly different on your Android model, but you can view the battery usage settings generally under Phone Settings.

Increased Internet Data Usage and Higher Phone Bills

One of the first signs you’ll discover if someone is spying your smartphone is a abrupt surge in your data usage.

Also, you could notice your smartphone bills have shot up. The increase in data usage — and consequently your phone bills — is due to the fact that a majority of the dangerous applications that spy activities on Android devices use the Internet for data uploading.

Therefore, when you suspect your handset is being monitored, simply look at your data usage to confirm if there’s actually any spyware taking up your data in the background.

For TECNO, Infinix, and itel models, this step works for checking data usage on Android: Settings > SIM card and mobile network > Data settings and Data usage.

Here, you can see the data usage for mobile data and Wi-Fi.

Your phone takes a long time to shut down

Smartphones that are being monitored using a longer than usual time to turn off. This is another trick on how to know if your phone is tapped.

To see if your smartphone is being spied by your employer, business partner, hackers, and others, these are some of the methods that can sort you out.

What to do if your phone is tapped

When you’ve noticed the sign(s) that your mobile phone is being monitored, the next way is to undertake the procedures below to fix the issue:

Check for a spy app installed on your Android without your knowledge.

Carry out this step to check for such spyware: Settings > App management.

Here, navigate through all the applications on your smartphone to see if there’s anything suspicious, focusing on keywords such as malware, stealth, spy, and others.

You can as well search for the apps using any of the keywords.

**Make sure the Install from unknown sources option is disabled.**

If the setting is activated, you’ll be able to install apps from all sources — whether safe or not. This means apps that aren’t verified by the Play Store or the App Store can gain access to your smartphone.

If the feature is enabled without your knowledge, it becomes possible for anyone to install spyware on the device without your consent.

These are the steps to disable the Install from unknown sources option on Android: Settings > App management > Special app access > Install from unknown sources. Then, switch the slider to OFF from ON.

While this way works comfortably against less sophisticated spy apps, the more advanced ones will find a way to bypass this typpe of mobile security.

Switch on airplane mode.

To curb the tapping device of a hacker spying your phone or deny the operations of similar third-party apps, simply turn on airplane mode on your smartphone. This way can be implemented faster to get rid of the spy applications or reset your handset.

Dial certain numbers if your mobile device is being monitored or is tapped.

You can dial *#06# to check your phone’s IMEI number. To reveal whether spyware on your handset has been diverting phone calls, text messages, and data, dial *#21#. This code will help you clear the settings.

If your smartphone is tapped and a spy app is blcking your phone calls, dial *#62# to look for redirections and then ##002# to remove such redirections.

By dialing *#67#, you’ll be notified of phone calls and text messages that are diverted to specific other numbers when you decline a call or are on another line.

When you’ve applied the tips on how to know if your phone is tapped and have done some of the ways above to mitigate the threat, you can now use your smartphone with peace of mind.

In Conclusion

One of the key ways to bear in mind when you want to study how to know if your mobile phone is tapped is to look out for some indicators such as unusual background noise during a phone call, an increase in data usage, increased battery usage, and others.

When you’ve concluded your phone calls and activity on the handset are being monitored, you can do some of the procedures above to get off the radar of the spyware.

Credits: CarlCare.