Behind The Screen: How Your Phone Tracks Your Moves.

         Bukola Fatoba

I'm shocked, how does my phone know this is exactly what I'm thinking or planning to do? Why are all these ads recently correlating to what I thought or spoke about to my friends? Have you ever pondered on these questions several times, knowing your phone is not human.

Now, let's delve into it properly, the fact remains that you constantly give your smartphone your personal information willingly, meanwhile, you are ignorant of the “behind-the-screen” functions of watching, gathering, and learning performed by your phone.

In this era of smart gadgets, smartphones have evolved beyond mere texting and calling tools, they are now data magnets that fit in your pockets, and underscore your locations, interests, habits, feelings, impressions, to mention a few.  

Now, the question is, to what extent does your phone truly know who you are?

The Information You Willingly Give Out

Ask yourself this question, “how often do I check the terms and conditions before clicking "Agree and continue" in the process of installing a new app?” 

The majority of smartphone users don't bother to read these conditions, however, every time you do this, you may be giving your device access to:

When you sleep: How is this even possible? Anyways, through motion sensors, screen and app usage, as well as sleep tracking apps, your phone can detect when you sleep. It can monitor your sleep schedule, for instance, if you stop touching your phone at 10 p.m. and resume at 7 a.m. daily, it assumes you are asleep because it stayed still for hours. 

Where you go: This is not magical, your phone can actually detect where you go through common options you use without thinking twice before using it. Through Global Positioning System (GPS), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks, Cell Towers and Google/Apple location history, your phone can detect where you are. Even when your GPS is off, your phone can use your Wi-Fi network to track your movements based on the networks you've connected to before. The record of the places you visit are kept on Google account or Apple ID if turned on. 

Have you noticed that people can detect where you are currently when you turn on your location on some apps like Snapchat? 

Where you live: Your frequent location tracking, Google location tracking, and saved addresses can make your phone detect where you live by tracking your routine and location pattern over time. If you spend most of your time in a certain place, your phone assumes that's where you live. Also, apps like Maps, Uber, or food delivery apps may have your address saved or auto-filled. When you turn on your location and stay in a particular place for a long time, your phone will definitely know where you live.

What websites you visit: With your browser history, tracking cookies and scripts, as well as synced accounts, your phone discovers the websites you visit. Cookies and tracking scripts are often placed on your browser by websites, and this tracks your activities across multiple websites and reports them to advertisers or analytics services. Why do you think your phone pops out the exact information you are searching for, when you click on the search option, even before you completely type what you want? 

Your credit card number: To save your time, auto-fill features are designed to remember your details. Your phone can know your credit card number through auto-fill and saved cards, mobile wallets, banking apps and third-party apps. Some shopping or payment apps may save your card info if you allow it. Sometimes, you even press the “save for future time” option without realising the implications, don't you?

Anyone you are related to: Have you ever thought of how your phone brings up suggestions of people related to you. That looks scary, right? You need to understand that your phone merges puzzles from everywhere to form what it suggests. Through contact labels, frequent communication, shared calendars or events and shared location, your phone can easily know anyone you are related to. If you save someone's name as “Mum,” “Sister,” among others, your phone will know they are family. Some people even put relationship tags in their contacts, your phone monitors this.

Basically, everything about you, including how you look, your gender, occupation, to mention a few. Interestingly, your phone knows even the things you may not know about yourself. Even if businesses deny active "listening," algorithms keep track of a lot of information, including your location, interests, browsing history, and search terms, so they may anticipate your needs before you even express them.      

The Science Behind It: Reality Mining 

Beyond basic tracking, your phone is part of a process called “reality mining.” This technique examines data from your phone, including contacts, day-to-day activities, and locations visited, to ascertain your behaviour. It is absolutely as if your phone is watching everything you do live, and then writing your story for you. 

Think about this: In every phone conversation you make, in every places you visit with your phone, and for every notification you receive, it all contributes to the creation of a digital image of you. These data are used by researchers and businesses to forecast your behaviour, personalise your ads, and even influence your decisions, sometimes without your knowledge. "There is probably more information about you on your phone than there is in your house." — Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, once said.

Reality mining raises significant concerns, such as how much privacy is being sacrificed, even if it can customize your online experience. Are you or the algorithm in control?

How To Protect Yourself 

To be in control of the algorithm, measures like — thorough checks on permissions on apps, turning off location tracking when not in use, using browsers with privacy concerns, frequent clearing of search history, refraining from the use of  public Wi-Fi without a VPN, and finally think before you click, not everything requires access to your information.

Smartphones are incredibly useful tools that facilitate communication, education,  exploration and creativity. Bear this in mind that, great convenience also means great vulnerability, and when you know what is happening behind your screen, you can consciously have a little control over your phone. Hence, consider this the next time you unlock your device: Who is in control, your phone or yourself?