- Is someone tracking your phone right now?
If they are,
your privacy and personal safety are in danger.
- They could be recording your screen,
spying on you through the camera,
or tracking you using a tiny Bluetooth device.
- We'll tell you about the real ways jealous lovers
and big tech companies track your Android
and how to shut them down for good.
- First, let's check if you've given anyone
or Google access to track your Android.
Let's open settings by swiping down
from the top of the screen,
tapping the settings gear, scrolling down,
tap location,
then tap location services,
and tap Google location sharing.
Check this list of names
and make sure you're not sharing your location
with anyone you don't want to.
And if you wanna stop sharing your location,
just tap stop to the right of their name.
Next, let's step back, upper left hand corner of the screen
and tap on Google location history.
When this is on,
Google saves a list of all the places you've been.
- It's a little weird,
but in terms of tracking the issue is
that if someone else gets access to this data,
they'll know exactly where you are.
- We recommend tapping, turn off,
scrolling down, and then tapping pause.
Now let's talk about the sign
someone is tracking you without your permission.
- The first is increased data usage,
meaning that your phone is sending
more data than it should be somewhere else.
- [Lynch] Let's go back to the main page of settings.
Scroll up and tap on connections,
and then tap on data usage,
then tap on mobile data usage.
And here you'll see a list of your apps
and how much data they've used.
- So if anything looks out of the ordinary here,
if you see Spy Tracker 3000 is using a lot of data,
that could be a red flag.
- Another sign is increased battery usage.
It could be a malicious app or some malware
running in the background,
draining your Android's battery.
Let's head back to the main page of settings.
Scroll down,
and tap on battery and device care.
Then tap on battery
and just take a look at your usage
over the past 24 hours.
Are any apps spiking that shouldn't be spiking?
- The next red flag is if your phone is heating up
even when you're not using it.
It's normal for your phone to heat up
when you're playing a 3D game for instance,
but if it's heating up all the time
that could be a sign that someone's tracking you.
- The next signer being tracked are screenshots
or screen recordings that you didn't take.
Somebody could be taking those
and sending them somewhere else.
The easiest way to check is to close out
of the settings app,
go to your apps and tap on gallery,
first tap on the screenshots album.
Look in here for anything suspicious.
Then tap back and check the screen recordings tab.
Make sure there aren't any screen recordings in here
that you didn't take.
- The next sign your Android might be being tracked
is if your phone is randomly waking up or making sounds.
Bear in mind, however, that Android has a feature
called Edge Panels that could be the reason for this.
- You can check at our video
about the Android settings you need to turn off
to learn more about Edge Panels.
- The next sign is if your phone is turning off
and turning back on again randomly.
However, this one and some of the other ones
we're talking about today could be just signs
of software issues with your phone,
not necessarily that you're being tracked.
- It's more likely it's a software issue.
You know, if your phone's heating up,
don't automatically assume
that you're being tracked
and somebody's spying on you.
The next sign is that your camera
or microphone are in use without your knowledge.
So when I set up the screen recording for this video,
we got a little tiny green dot
in the upper right hand corner of the screen
indicating that the microphone was in use.
But if that green dot is there
and you don't know why,
somebody could be listening to you.
- The next sign, you're hearing weird noises
or clicks when you're on the phone.
- It's a sign that somebody could be tapping
or listening to your phone calls
without your knowledge.
- But I think usually the technology today
is a little bit more sophisticated
than it was in the Crown.
- The next thing to check is email forwarding.
Almost every single email provider
has email forwarding as a service,
but if your emails are being forwarded
without your knowledge,
it could be a sign that somebody is tracking you.
- The easiest way to do this is using a computer.
Trust us, we've tried using a phone,
it's a pain in the butt.
So go to your computer and type in gmail.com.
I'm on gmail.com.
I'm gonna click the settings gear
in the upper right hand corner of the screen
and then click see all settings.
Then I'll tap forwarding and POP/IMAP.
And if you see the forward a copy of this email
to anything is there that you don't expect,
just choose disable forwarding here
and then at the bottom, choose save changes.
- The next thing to be aware of are Quick Share
and Nearby Share.
Quick Share was developed by Samsung,
Nearby Share developed by Google,
the Android equivalent of AirDrop on iPhone.
- If Quick Share or Nearby Share are on,
they're effective tracking tools
to find out if someone's around.
- [Lynch] We're gonna open the quick settings menu,
two fingers swiped down from the top of the screen.
I'm gonna swipe right to left
and then tap on Quick Share first.
Here are my Quick Share settings.
Who can share with me?
No one, contacts only, or anyone nearby.
Anyone nearby is the dangerous one.
- It's interesting to me that Apple recently got rid of
their equivalent of anyone nearby,
and made it anyone nearby for 10 minutes.
And I wonder if Android will follow suit.
Contacts only is a safe one.
- [Lynch] Now step on contacts only.
Let's go back into our quick settings menu
and talk about Nearby Share, tap on that.
Everyone contacts only your devices.
There's also this device visibility switch,
anyone nearby can share with you.
Turn that switch off.
- The next setting is kind of scary.
Text message forwarding.
Someone could be forwarding your text messages
to another device that you're not aware of.
- Check if your messages are being forwarded somewhere else
by opening the messages app,
tapping the hamburger menu icon,
and then tapping device pairing.
Here you'll see a list of the devices
where you can send and receive text messages from.
If there are no devices, you're all set.
- Or are you?
This can get a little confusing and tricky
because on Android you can change the default messages app,
and you could have multiple apps that are called messages.
So how do we find out?
- Let's swipe down from the top of the screen
and go back into our settings.
Tap on apps and then tap choose default apps.
Here we have SMS Apple, let's tap on that.
And I have messages and I also have messages.
Right now my default messages app
is the Google Messages app.
And if you're just looking at this,
only way you can tell is that app icon.
The Samsung icon is the second one down there.
- It would be great
if you could uninstall one of these apps,
so that you could only have one messages app on your phone
which would then eliminate the possibility
of sort of a duplicate thing.
- [Lynch] Yeah. - But you can't,
so let's just all email Android about that.
Say this is stupid.
But until then, you just have to be careful.
- You also need to be careful
of third party message forwarding apps.
We'll show you how to check for those later in this video.
- Similarly, we need to make sure
that your calls aren't showing up on other devices
that you're not aware of.
- Even if someone isn't picking up those phone calls
they can see who is calling you and when they're calling.
Let's head back to the main page of settings.
Scroll up and tap on connected devices,
and then tap on call and text on other devices.
Make sure there aren't any devices
in this section of settings that you don't control.
- This leads us into call forwarding.
- [Lynch] Let's close outta settings.
Open the phone app
and tap on the three dots
in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Then tap on settings.
Scroll down and tap on supplementary services,
and then tap on call forwarding.
Right now, calls are always forwarding to this number.
It's not a real number. Don't try calling it.
- It's kind of scary,
but you may not see this section on your Android.
If you don't, your phone calls may be forwarded
but through your carrier.
- [Lynch] So if you go to the dial pad in the phone app
and we dial.
- [Payette] Star, pound, 61, pound, and tap call.
- [Lynch] Tap call.
MMI code started
and here you'll see call forward when no reply
and it says not forwarded next to all these items.
- So as you can see,
even though this says it's not being forwarded,
this just means it's not being forwarded
through your carrier,
not necessarily through the app
'cause we haven't turned it off yet.
- [Lynch] Yeah, let's tap okay.
Let's go back to our call forwarding settings,
tap settings,
scroll down, supplementary services,
call forwarding,
always forward,
and let's just tap turn off.
- The truth is that there are a lot
of different types of call forwarding
that may be available through your carrier.
For instance, forward calls from this specific number
or forward calls only if my phone is off.
But the best way to check to see
if call forwarding is enabled
through your account is to talk to your carrier directly.
Give 'em a call.
- Next, let's talk about some settings you should change
prevent your Android from being tracked.
The first is pretty simple.
Keep your Android up to date.
Let's head back into the settings app,
scroll down,
and tap on software update.
And if an update is available, tap download and install.
- And then after that installs,
come back in here to see if another one's available
because sometimes you have to go month by month,
in my experience.
- That's a pretty basic step.
These two are a bit more in depth
and a lot more important.
The first is install unknown apps.
- Sounds scary.
It's like inviting somebody to a party at your house
and telling them that they can also invite
all of their friends and then telling those friends
that they can also invite all of their friends.
And before you know it, there's no more house left.
You don't want this setting to be on.
- Let's head back to the main page of settings.
Scroll up,
and tap on security and privacy.
Scroll down,
and tap on install unknown apps.
When the switch is on next to an app,
that app can install other apps
without your permission.
You really should just turn this off
for every single app.
Right now for example,
a Galaxy Wearable can install unknown apps.
Just tap that switch, turn it off.
- Device admin access is a setting
that allows certain apps
to control everything on your phone.
So we need to be especially careful of those.
- [Lynch] Let's tap back upper left hand corner
of the screen,
one below install unknown apps, other security settings,
tap on that, and then tap on device admin apps.
Right now I have two, Find My Device
and Outlook Device Policy.
- We wanna say that if it's a school or work phone,
they may have installed an app that needs this access,
so don't just go turn it off
without talking to your boss first.
- However, if it's your personal phone,
you can really turn this off
for pretty much every app.
And you might be wondering, Find My Device,
I definitely need that on, right?
No, since Android 10 Find My Device
doesn't actually need it
to remotely lock or wipe your device anymore.
So let's tap a switch next to Outlook Device Policy.
Tap deactivate.
Tap okay.
Do this for all the apps on your Android,
but be especially careful
if there's like a really sketchy app
that found its way in here,
that's where he really run into trouble.
- Next up, two step authentication makes it much harder
for someone to hack into your accounts.
- [Lynch] To set this up for your Google account,
tap back to the main page of settings.
Tap Google,
and then tap manage your Google account,
then tap security.
Scroll down,
and tap on 2-step verification.
Walk through this process and turn it two step on.
- Next up, check to make sure
you trust your account recovery contacts.
- In your Google account,
tap the Data and Privacy tab
and scroll all the way down until you see
make a plan for your digital legacy,
tap on that.
And if this is set up on your Android,
you'll see a list of the people
who can receive some of your data
after your account becomes inactive.
- If for whatever reason
you can't access your account anymore,
like you're dead, your family needs access to your data
or at least they should have it,
this makes it possible.
- Next, a bit of a lighter topic here.
Turning off read receipts.
Read receipts allow people to see
when you've read their text message.
Close outta settings, open messages,
tap on your account icon on the right,
tap messages settings,
tap chat features,
and then turn off the switch next to send read receipts.
- [Payette] We know we go through
these settings pretty fast.
That's why we create PDF walkthrough guides
for our channel members.
- Joining our channel is one of the best ways to support us.
Click that join button right below the video.
- The next way to prevent yourself
from being tracked is to use a private browsing window
when you use Google Chrome.
- [Lynch] Let's close out the messages app,
tap on Chrome, and tap on the three vertical dots
in the upper right hand corner of the screen.
Tap new incognito tab,
and congratulations, you're in incognito mode.
- With private browsing mode,
none of your history gets saved
or other website data that people could use
to then track you
and see what you've been doing online.
So it's a good one.
- Let's talk about those small Bluetooth devices
we mentioned at the beginning of this video,
like the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag.
Really great if you lost your item
and you need to find it quickly.
Unfortunately, they've been used to stalk people,
however Samsung has made it very easy
to automatically detect SmartTags near you
that don't belong to you.
Let's close out of Chrome,
swipe up to get to our apps.
I'm gonna go into my Samsung folder
and open the SmartThings app.
Then tap on the life tab,
scroll down to find, tap on that,
and then tap the three dots
in the upper right hand corner of the screen
to go to your settings.
- How good is David Lynch?
Like that was like seven steps right there.
- Yeah, Samsung is, their phones bury settings deep.
Next we're gonna tap on unknown tag detection.
First, turn on the switch next to unknown tag alerts.
If an unknown tag is moving with you,
you'll get an alert.
For this to work,
you do need to turn on offline find.
Let's tap turn on.
And then if you wanna search right now,
you can just tap search for unknown tags near you
and then tap start.
If no tags are around you,
it'll say finish searching for unknown tags.
No unknown tags found.
- What about those jerks at Apple?
Those people with iPhones and AirTags?
Oh, look at my AirTag.
Well, they could have taped one
to the bottom of your car and you would have no idea.
- Well you do now,
because Apple built an app called Tracker Detect
which you can use to find unknown AirTags
using your Samsung device.
So first we need to install the Tracker Detect app.
- [Payette] Yeah.
- [Lynch] So simple.
Open Play Store,
come up here to the search,
and just type in tracker detect.
Tap on the first item there.
Make sure it says Apple here.
That's how you know it's Apples.
If it doesn't say Apple there,
it's a totally different app
and you're in the wrong spot.
- The question you may wonder is,
do I need antivirus software on my Android?
- Probably not.
- If you're downloading your apps
from the Google Play Store,
not some other third party app store,
you don't have to worry
because Google scans every app in there for malware.
- But that doesn't mean
they're not going to try to sell it to you.
So if you go into the settings app, for example.
Scroll down, and tap on security and privacy
right here at the top.
One suggestion, turn on device protection.
- Looks innocent enough,
until you discover they're trying to sell you McAfee
for a hundred bucks a year.
- If I tap on, go to device protection,
turn on device protection to get additional defense
against viruses and spyware,
McAfee End User License Agreements
and McAfee Privacy Policy.
- [Payette] Yeah, forget it.
- In addition to being expensive,
antivirus software can also slow down
your Android significantly
'cause it's just scanning everything all the time.
- But that doesn't mean not to worry
about everything, right?
You should not root your Android.
Rooting gets rid of all the security precautions
that are built into Android,
it's kind of like jail breaking on an iPhone.
Kids do it for fun.
But it's also just, you know, open the jail doors.
Let out all your personal information.
- There's an app called the Root Checker app,
link that in the section below the subscribe button,
which you can use to check if your Android has been rooted.
- And if it has without your knowledge
that is a huge red flag that you might be being tracked.
- If you think you're being tracked,
there are several things that you can do.
The first place to start is to check your list of apps
and make sure nothing malicious is in there.
Let's head back to the main page of settings.
Scroll down and tap apps.
and just check through this list of apps,
make sure nothing bad is in here
like SMS Forwarder which is a real app,
which can forward your text messages somewhere else.
- Next, always be ready to take a screenshot
or a screen recording
'cause that could be used as evidence later on.
- This varies from device to device.
We have the S22, side button, volume down button,
press those simultaneously to take a screenshot.
To take a screen recording,
we'll open quick settings by swiping down, two fingers,
open that quick settings menu,
look for the screen recorder option,
press that button.
- Next up, you can always reset app preferences
to factory defaults.
It's not gonna delete your data,
but if there's some hidden setting
that's screwed up your phone,
this will fix it.
- [Lynch] In the main page of the settings app,
tap on apps,
tap three dots upper right hand corner of the screen,
then tap reset app preferences, then tap reset.
- And if all else fails
factory reset your device,
make sure your data is backed up.
- In the main page of settings,
scroll down, tap Google,
tap back up, and make sure the switch
next to backup by Google One is on.
If you want to, tap back up now.
You're all set.
Now that your data is backed up,
let's tap back to the main page of settings,
scroll down, and tap on general management.
Scroll down,
tap reset,
and then tap factory data reset.
- Now that you've protected your Android from trackers,
watch our next video to find out
if your Android phone is spying on you.