How to Prevent Your iPhone from Being Tracked

You may not be aware of it, but you’re constantly being watched; if not physically, definitely virtually. Everywhere you go and most things you do are all tracked, thanks to the digital age we live in. Earlier, where such technology only rested in the hands of the governments, today, any lay individual can also gain such information thanks to how accessible technology is; sometimes, it’s as simple as just signing up on a website!

Though iPhones are the harder nuts to crack when it comes to tracking phones (hail Apple for not giving into numerous government demands for the same!), this only applies to accessing private information stored in the phone, and not physically tracking it. In the latter’s case, all phones are the same and can be easily tracked via cell phone towers, your fancy new iPhone included.

Prevent Your iPhone from Being Tracked

Therefore, whether it’s a crazy former lover you want to keep away or whether you just don’t want to be tracked, thank you very much, here’s how to prevent your iPhone from being tracked.

How to Check If Your iPhone Is Being Tracked

A lot of tracking software is designed to be low key and unobtrusive, often invisible to cellphone users but letting spies and crazy stalkers effortlessly track you. Here are the different parts of your phone you can check to see if you’re being tailed:

  • Battery Life: One of the most obvious indications of tracking software being on your phone is your battery life. Since tracking software needs to constantly run in the background, it takes up a lot of battery life. Therefore, you may notice that your battery isn’t lasting as long as it used to. You may also notice that your iPhone is suddenly heating up—sure, this could be because of you running multiple applications at once, but one of those could very well be tracking software.

iPhone Battery Life

  • Phone Display: If you’re seeing weird notifications or info boxes on your screen, it could be a sign that you’re being tracked as sometimes, tracking apps request permission from your phone to access certain features.

iPhone Display

  • Data Pack: Tracking apps only work if the information gleaned from your iPhone is transmitted to an external service, where parties can make use of it. For this, an internet connection is required. A spike in your data usage or depletion in the pack could mean that your iPhone is victim to tracking software.

In most cases, stalkers are people that victims know. Therefore, think back to who could stand to gain from tracking your phone and you may find your tracker.

How to Check Your iPhone for Spy Software

To track an iPhone, it needs to be jailbroken, which means removing the standard restrictions placed on the software and features of the phone by the company.

This means that you’ll also be able to install apps that Apple doesn’t recommend for its software or are not available in the App Store. Though this is great and allows you to download a wider range of apps, it also throws your iPhone open to an equally wide (if not wider) range of security threats.

How to Check Your iPhone for Spy Software

Apps that you install may have in-built keyloggers or location trackers, which leaves your iPhone unprotected. Additionally, if your phone isn’t jailbroken but you see apps such as the Cydia app on your iPhone, it could be a sign of being tracked.

Another way to check if you’re being tracked, apart from jailbreaking, is to go through the files that are saved on your device. A good file manager will greatly help here, letting you easily identify any suspicious files.

However, these two measures excepted, not many, clear ways exist to check for tracking apps on your phone. This isn’t a failing of your iPhone but the superiority of these apps that are designed to install themselves invisibly in a variety of ways.

Protecting Your iPhone

If you’re unable to recognize whether you’re being tracked, don’t worry—there are a range of measures that can protect your phone. Here’s all you need to know on how to prevent your iPhone from being tracked:

Using Anti-Virus Software

One of the simplest and most obvious ways to keep your iPhone safe is to make use of anti-virus software, the most effective bouncer for the party inside your phone that trackers are trying to get into!

Use Anti-Virus Software

Anti-virus software keeps out potential threats, such as malware and tracking apps, by constantly being on the lookout for suspicious activity.

Factory Reset

Another simple way to keep your device clear is to take it back to its factory settings by doing a factory reset. Though this will wipe your iPhone’s memory clean, it’s an extremely effective way to keep your iPhone from being tracked and nothing a good data backup can’t solve.

Keep Your iPhone Updated

Keep your iPhone updated at all times, as many tracking apps look for loopholes in the software—loopholes that may have been straightened out in later software. Therefore, always ensure that your iPhone is at its most updated self.

Keep Your iPhone Updated

In fact, keeping your iPhone updated will also reverse any jailbreaking that has been done and is affecting your device. Bottomline—keep your iPhone updated for a range of security and software benefits!

The Bottomline

The above measures, few and simple as they are, are extremely effective when you’re looking for answers on how to prevent your iPhone from being tracked. In extreme cases, you can also disable location tracking entirely, either for specific apps or for the whole phone.

Remember, don’t give in to the seduction of jailbreaking—you may get more than you bargained for.

Above all, stay educated and up to date with new threats that keep plaguing the digital world. Learn why tracking apps are harmful.

The list of measures we’ve mentioned are in no way foolproof, so read up and research as much as you can on any other measures that you can also employ—you’ll be thankful in the long run for these measures.

Ultimately, keep a good eye on your phone and the activities that go on, on it, as well as the people around you, and you won’t have to worry too much about being tracked!

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