13 Creepy Things Your Smartphone Knows About You
Updated: Jun. 20, 2024
Smartphones collect hoards of data on users, but what exactly does your phone know about you? Here's what experts say. (Hint: It might be time to change some privacy settings.)
What your phone knows about you
Many of us carry around a phone 24/7. We use it to navigate the world, search for answers to questions we wouldn’t ask anyone else and communicate with loved ones. In light of all this, you might wonder, What does my phone know about me? Quite a lot, actually. To learn more, we talked to three cybersecurity experts and asked them to share iPhone privacy insights and the most up-to-date tech tips.
“Your phone is kind of this little mini supercomputer and personal data hub,” says Alan Butler, executive director and president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Luckily, there have been some important and relevant technological advances in how some phones secure that data, but the depths to which data is collected or generated through your phone go on and on and on.”
The length of time companies store that data can also go on and on. Apple says it “retains personal data only for so long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, while Google says “some data is deleted automatically, and some data we retain for longer periods of time when necessary.” Both are noticeably short on specifics.
Through location tracking and apps, our devices are constantly collecting information on us—and some of that data can be sent to data brokers who may buy, sell and share it with third parties like marketers, law enforcement and government agencies. Curious about the private information your device is privy to? Read on for 13 unsettling things your phone knows about you.
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Everywhere you’ve ever been
Both iPhones and Android phones have internal tracking devices that can see your location at any given point. And that can be a good thing—say, if you want to find local hot spots while using Google Maps or if you need to use the iPhone’s Find My feature. But if your location services are switched on, your phone has likely built up a pretty long list of places you’ve been: where you live, work, go to the doctor, socialize, protest and more. Luckily, you can turn off location tracking by taking the steps below.
How to turn off location tracking on an iPhone:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap “Privacy & Security.”
- Tap “Location Services.”
- Toggle off the “Location Services” switch.
How to turn off location tracking on an Android:
- Swipe down from the top of your phone screen.
- Tap and hold “Location.”
- If you don’t see “Location,” tap “Edit” or “Settings,” and drag “Location” into your “Quick Settings.”
Location tracking can be hard to escape since you have to turn it back on to reap the benefits of apps like Weather, Maps and Uber. And even if your GPS is turned off, features like the accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer can continue to track your movements, says Susan Landau, a professor of cybersecurity and policy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University.
What you’re doing second by second
Phone sensors have become very good at automatically capturing data, including whether you’re moving, walking, sitting or sleeping. “The machine-learning algorithm on your phone detects the phone screen hasn’t been turned on in two hours, no apps have been used, it’s after 11 p.m. on a weekday and the phone is charging. Therefore, we assume you’re asleep,” explains Dominic Sellitto, a clinical assistant professor of management science and systems at the University at Buffalo School of Management. “There’s so much that these phones collect about you, but they use this data to infer even more about you.”
Your phone can also log what apps you’re using and for how long, as well as how quickly you’re driving. If you crash your car while on your phone, these data points could be revealing.
Where the people you know are
You’ve been asking yourself, “What does my phone know about me?” But you should also be wondering what your phone knows about the people in your life. Take, for instance, apps like Find My on the iPhone. They have some major upsides: These apps don’t just make it easier to track down a lost phone; they can be helpful for your safety. If you’re traveling alone, for instance, you can use them to share your location with loved ones. They can do the same with you.
But the apps are also collecting scores of data on the people you know and care about, along with their movements through the world. This can complicate relationships—your loved ones may not appreciate you being able to check their location at any given time. And you might feel the same about their ability to check in on you. Some even argue it’s normalizing stalkerish behavior.
Your sexual orientation
Using a dating app can feel private—especially if you don’t share your real name or photos. But your sexual orientation is another sometimes very private personal detail that your phone can collect. Case in point: A Catholic priest was outed after a nonprofit organization gathered data from multiple dating and hookup apps, including Grindr, Scruff, Growlr, Jack’d and OkCupid.
“Phones are intimate in the sense that we act in ways with our phones that we would never do in public, and that includes doing something like creating a Grindr profile,” says Butler. “Data that the phone collects or generates in the course of using different apps and services can be used to identify you and these sensitive characteristics about you if it’s not protected or limited.”
Your religion
Another very personal detail that your phone might have on you is your religion. Someone—even a government—could use your location data to discover where you worship and, in turn, what your religious beliefs are. It’s no wonder 82% of Americans say their location data is sensitive.
The apps you use could also be revealing in this way. As Vice reported in 2020, the U.S. military purchased location data from a prayer app.
Everything you’ve told Siri or Google Assistant
It can feel like you’re talking to a human assistant or pal when you call on Siri or Google for help, so you might ask any variety of intimate or personal questions—anything from “Why is my wound oozing?” to “How do I know if I’m pregnant?” And any time you do, you’re being recorded. Apple collects data from Siri to “understand you better and recognize what you say,” according to the software license agreement. Google Assistant also collects data to personalize your experience. While some people are OK with voice assistants knowing their most private questions, others feel more vulnerable knowing someone is keeping track of these conversations.
One security risk to keep in mind is that voice assistants are listening for trigger words—so it is possible to inadvertently create recordings that you wouldn’t want to create, says Butler. (Amazon’s Alexa can also “spy” on you in this way.) The good news: You can manage this data.
How to delete your Siri request history on an iPhone:
- Go to “Settings.”
- Tap “Siri & Search.”
- Tap “Siri & Dictation History.”
- Select “Delete Siri & Dictation History.”
How to delete your recordings from Google Assistant:
- Go to your Google Account’s Assistant activity page.
- Sign in.
- Tap “More” on the “Google Assistant” banner.
- Select “Delete activity by.”
- Select “All time.”
- Tap “Delete.”
Your passwords
Your phone might also know all of your passwords—if you give it access to them. While this might seem creepy, there’s an upside to letting your phone securely store your passwords. Using a built-in password manager is “widely seen as best practice in the cybersecurity and privacy realm,” says Butler. That’s because one of the biggest risks to compromising your accounts is recycling passwords (something many of us do for convenience). The problem with that tactic: If one account gets hacked, so could the rest of them.
Your menstrual cycle
Period-tracking apps on your phone can collect highly personal health data, including specifics about your menstrual cycle and fertility window, as you log these details day by day and month to month. Since laws related to abortion are rapidly changing across the nation, it’s important to consider the convenience of using an app versus your personal privacy and security concerns. Sellitto says the question you should ask yourself when you use any app is, “Does the benefit that I’m getting in my day-to-day life outweigh the risk?”
Consider this: The company could be hacked, and your data could be leaked. There’s also the possibility that your period-tracking app is sharing data you thought was private. According to research by the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps, 84% of period-tracker apps share data with third parties. Only one of those apps explicitly asked for permission to do so.
Finally, because period-tracking data could suggest when you stopped having a period and became pregnant before seeking an abortion, there’s the potential for an app to be compelled to share data with a prosecutor in a state where abortion is illegal. U.S. law enforcement has used information pulled from digital devices to build cases against people at least 50,000 times from 2015 to 2019, per a 2020 University of Baltimore Law Review article.
According to Consumer Reports, three apps store data locally on your phone: Drip, Euki and Periodical. The benefit here is that you (rather than the company) are in control of your data—and it’s harder to get a warrant to search your phone than it is to purchase data as a third party or subpoena a company for collected data. If you’re considering using a period tracker in an anti-abortion state, it’s best to opt for one of the few that offers greater privacy protections.
Your health status
Depending on the devices that you link to it, your phone could be collecting all sorts of health data: your heart rate, blood pressure, weight, medications and more. “There’s been an explosion of connected health devices, and one of the biggest risks is that a lot of people assume that health data is covered by privacy laws,” says Butler. In reality, HIPAA, which stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, applies only to very limited circumstances, like in-person interactions with your doctor. That means health data that you plug in to an app could still be collected and shared.
Many people enjoy the convenience of having connected health devices—and some health information, like your step count, might not feel so sensitive to you. In this case, it’s OK to reap the benefits of an app and not worry about the data that’s being collected.
But there have been cases in which much more private data has been shared. For example, some mental health apps have come under fire for sharing data about their customers with third parties. One of the most egregious examples of this was when Cerebral, a telehealth app, shared patients’ responses to mental health self-evaluations through the app with Meta, TikTok and Google, according to reporting in the Verge. You’d think that your responses to questions about your mental health would stay between you and your health care provider. In this case, they didn’t.
Your biometrics
What could be more personal than the individual details of your face or thumbprint? They’re part of what makes you you. If you use your face ID or thumbprint ID to unlock your phone, you’re also allowing your device to store this personal information. The good news? It’s pretty secure in there.
“There’s been a lot of concern about biometric data over the years, just in terms of what that actually means—you know, can somebody get in and copy my fingerprint or face information? And it’s been proven that it’s pretty difficult to do that,” says Sellitto. “But we’re rapidly approaching a case where, technologically, this could become more and more problematic.” For instance: Could bad actors use your face ID to create a more convincing deepfake of you? Or could biometric data become more valuable to hackers 20 years from now? We don’t know what the future could hold.
Your mood
Your smartphone can learn a lot about your mental well-being too. On one hand, there’s the information that you may provide yourself, like journal entries and mood ratings on apps like Bearable and Daylio, which you can use to track symptoms of chronic health conditions. But other details—like your sleep habits, physical activity and phone usage—could also be revealing. One study found that these metrics, among others, could help reveal whether or not you’re depressed. Some researchers believe that collections of digital biomarkers could someday be used to track mental health symptoms. Still, they say, we’re a long way off from that becoming a reality.
All the information you’ve given to Google
Androids are powered by Google apps (think: Chrome, Play Store, Gmail and the like). As soon as you sign in to your Android with your Google login, your phone is linked to all of your other Google accounts. Once you’ve logged in, Google has access to everything your phone does, including the length and type of your phone calls, specifics of your device, where you are and more.
All of the information you’ve given to your apps
In the end, “What does my phone know about me?” may not be the right question. More appropriate: “What doesn’t my phone know about me?” Your location, health information, religion, sexual orientation, contacts, voice recordings, photos, phone calls, search history and behavior—these are just a few examples of the data apps collect on you. There are a slew of apps that cater to both Android and iPhone devices that track hefty amounts of data from their users.
The good news is that the Google Play store and Apple Store have both taken steps to provide information about the data apps collect, and you can review this before downloading them.
“I think the main point for any consumer right now is just to pause, take a couple of minutes and think about what it is this app that you want to use is giving to you because, just like any service, it might be free monetarily, but you are paying for it somehow, either with your advertising habits or with your data,” says Sellitto.
Here’s a smart place to start: Go into your smartphone settings and review the information your apps are receiving. The Federal Trade Commission suggests turning off unnecessary permissions or deleting apps that ask for data they don’t need in order to function.
About the experts
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Why trust us
Reader’s Digest has published hundreds of articles on personal technology, arming readers with the knowledge to protect themselves against cybersecurity threats and internet scams as well as revealing the best tips, tricks and shortcuts for computers, cellphones, apps, texting, social media and more. For this piece, Lauren Krouse tapped her experience as a longtime journalist, and then Chuck Brooks, a globally recognized cybersecurity and technology expert, gave it a rigorous review to ensure that all information is accurate and offers the best possible advice to readers. We rely on credentialed experts with personal experience and know-how as well as primary sources including tech companies, professional organizations and academic institutions. We verify all facts and data and revisit them over time to ensure they remain accurate and up to date. Read more about our team, our contributors and our editorial policies.
Sources:
- Alan Butler, executive director and president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center; phone interview, May 22, 2024
- Susan Landau, professor of cybersecurity and policy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University; phone interview, May 20, 2024
- Dominic Sellitto, clinical assistant professor of management science and systems at the University at Buffalo School of Management; phone interview, May 21, 2024
- IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy: “Inferring User Routes and Locations Using Zero-Permission Mobile Sensors”
- The Washington Post: “Catholic group spent millions on app data that tracked gay priests”
- Policy Commons: “Public Perceptions of Privacy and Security in the Post-Snowden Era”
- Vice: “How the U.S. Military Buys Location Data from Ordinary Apps”
- Orcha: “84% of period tracker apps share data with third parties”
- Law Review: “Surveilling the Digital Abortion Diary”
- Consumer Reports: “These Period Tracker Apps Say They Put Privacy First. Here’s What We Found.”
- The Verge: “Cerebral admits to sharing patient data with Meta, TikTok and Google”
- Pervasive and Mobile Computing: “Mood ratings and digital biomarkers from smartphone and wearable data differentiates and predicts depression status: A longitudinal data analysis”
- The New York Times: “Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret”
- Federal Trade Commission: “How Websites and Apps Collect and Use Your Information”
Originally Published: July 15, 2020
