Have you ever felt like your phone is listening to you? Sometimes, it has happened to many of us that, after having a conversation with someone, our cell phone launches advertising regarding what we said. Even when we have not carried out a search in relation to it. So, in this post we are going to analyze how to prevent your cell phone from listening to your conversations.
Every day we are more concerned about our privacy and security. And it is no wonder, since there is quite a bit of personal data that we store and share on our mobile devices. Fortunately, there are some steps we can take to protect ourselves and maintain control of personal information that others can use without authorization. Let's see what this is about.
How to prevent your cell phone from listening to your conversations?
Really It is possible to prevent your cell phone from listening to your conversations? Fortunately it is possible. There are some tricks we can do to prevent this from happening. In this sense, the root of the problem is in the mobile microphone, that useful little tool that allows us to communicate with others. And, if we are not careful, the microphone can do much more than allow us to talk on the phone or send audio notes.
Now, how do large companies use our mobile microphone to listen to us? The truth is We ourselves are the ones who grant these permissions and we open the door so that others can hear everything we say. As a result, search algorithms are altered and we are offered a more “personalized and individual” service.
However, we cannot deny that, instead of feeling privileged, we feel spied on and insecure. Now this can be solved simply removing access to the microphone that we have granted to some applications that we have on our mobile phones. Next, we will see how to do it from both an iOS and Android device.
How to stop your iPhone from listening to you?
The first way to prevent your iPhone from listening to your conversations is determine which applications can access the microphone of the mobile and which ones are not. To do this, follow the following steps:
- Enter Settings on your mobile.
- Tap on the Privacy entry.
- Now go to Microphone.
- Choose the app for which you want to disable the microphone.
- Ready. Do this with as many apps as you want.
On the other hand, you also have the option to prevent the voice assistant, Siri, from listening to your conversations. For deactivate the voice assistant on an iPhone mobile you must do the following:
- Go to Settings.
- Enter the Siri and Search section.
- Tap the option to turn on 'when you hear Hey Siri' or turn it off.
- Done.
Furthermore, in order to avoid sharing recordings with Apple what you have done on your mobile, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings – Privacy.
- Now click on 'Analysis and improvements'.
- Disable the 'Improve Siri and Dictation' option.
- To delete audio recordings go to 'Siri & Search', tap 'Siri & Dictation History' and delete it.
- Done.
And on an Android device?
If your mobile is an Android, you can also prevent it from listening to you if you remove the permission that some applications have to use the microphone. For disable microphone access on an Android phone, follow the steps below:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Privacy Protection.
- Now click on Microphone.
- Choose the applications from which you want to remove the use of the microphone.
- Done.
Please note that Android offers the ability to grant permanent microphone permission to some apps. But the most recommended thing is that no app has permanent access to this tool. Since this makes it more difficult for them to hear you. Rather, you can choose to use the microphone 'only with the app in use' or check the 'always ask' option before using it.
On the other hand, it is also important to control what the Google Voice Assistant can hear or store about your conversations. For the purpose of make sure your cell phone is not listening to you continuously, you can carry out the following trick:
- Go to Settings.
- Scroll until you find the Google entry.
- Click on the 'Manage your Google account' option.
- Now go to 'Data and privacy'.
- Under History Settings, select 'Web & App Activity'.
- Under 'Activity Controls' uncheck the 'Include Voice and Audio Activity' option.
- Ready. This will prevent Google from collecting information about what you say.
Now, what if you definitely want to disable the Google Assistant on your Android? This is also possible. Just keep in mind that by doing this you will no longer be able to do voice searches by saying 'Hey Google' or 'Ok Google'. To deactivate the voice assistant, Do the following:
- Enter the Google app.
- Tap your profile photo and choose Settings.
- Now select Google Assistant.
- Click on General.
- Uncheck the Assistant switch to turn it off.
- Ready. In this way you will have deactivated the Google Assistant on Android.
Other measures to prevent your cell phone from listening to your conversations
In addition to turning off microphone permissions in some apps, there are other steps you can take to prevent others from listening to you without your consent. One of them is keep your mobile software updated. In this way, it will be much more difficult for third parties to access your information and personal data. Because?
When we make periodic updates to our mobile, we help make it safer to browse a search engine and use social networks. Furthermore, generally These updates renew security patches, so they prevent our conversations from being heard by other people without our consent.
If you think your phone is listening to your conversations, don't worry! In this entry we saw that it is 'normal' if you have granted permission to your microphone to some apps. The only thing you have to do is remove the permission granted to these apps and have peace of mind from now on. In addition, we saw that it is important to periodically review the stored search history and also keep your mobile updated. If you do all this, you can prevent your cell phone from listening to your conversations without permission.