7 hidden ways your phone tracks you without permission
Your smartphone knows more than you think. Discover 7 hidden ways your phone tracks your data, location, and habits — and how to protect your privacy.
By Tara Mier for SpokeoNov. 3 2025, Published 12:49 p.m. ET
7 hidden ways your phone tracks you without permission
7 hidden ways your phone tracks you without permission
Most people know their phone uses GPS and cookies to follow their movements online. What’s less obvious is the quiet, passive tracking that happens every day without you tapping “Allow.” From motion sensors that map your daily routine to Bluetooth beacons logging who you’ve been near, modern smartphones carry a suite of tools that can gather far more than a location pin on a map.
The Federal Trade Commission has already fined companies for misusing location data. At the same time, Google’s 2025 policy shift opened the door for cross-device tracking across phones, smart TVs, and even gaming consoles, according to Simple Analytics. Spokeo has put together this guide to help you understand these hidden methods and how to limit them, so you can regain control of your digital footprint.
1. Accelerometer activity recognition
Your phone’s accelerometer detects movement for features like step counting, but research shows it can reveal much more, such as daily routines and even PIN entries. For example, the “TouchSignatures” study demonstrated that motion and orientation sensor data accessible via JavaScript in a browser can be used to infer user PINs. Another research paper showed that small tilts affecting the ambient-light sensor could leak information, enabling the correct PIN (from a set of 50 possibilities) to be guessed within ten tries about 80% of the time, a huge improvement over the 20% success rate from random guessing.
Limit it: Monitor battery usage for apps running sensors in the background. Android research explores how to track access to zero-permission sensors like accelerometers and use network-monitoring tools like NetGuard to detect suspicious data transmission.
2. Wi-Fi network triangulation
Even with Wi‑Fi turned off, some phones continue scanning for nearby networks. Wi‑Fi triangulation and indoor positioning systems, which rely on databases of access point locations, can provide indoor accuracy much better than GPS in such environments, often within a few meters.
Limit it: Disable Wi-Fi scanning in location services and turn off Bluetooth scanning to avoid being passively identified via nearby networks and beacons.
3. Photo and file metadata
Images often carry EXIF metadata, such as GPS coordinates, device model, and timestamps. This information can reveal where and when a picture was taken.
Limit it: Turn off location tagging in your camera settings, and remove metadata before sharing.
4. Bluetooth proximity sensing
Bluetooth beacons and signals can be used to track proximity, even with no pairing. These systems are used by retailers and event organizers to map movements and interactions. If you ever receive calls or messages from unknown numbers after attending events or visiting public places, a reverse phone lookup can help you identify who’s trying to reach you.
Limit it: Simply turn Bluetooth off when not in use, and restrict Bluetooth access in app permissions.
5. App permissions
Some apps request access or permission for contacts, microphone, and/or location, which enables constant collection. Organizations like CISA recommend auditing permissions regularly and uninstalling unused apps.
6. Gyroscope and magnetometer exploitation
Sensors like the gyroscope and magnetometer, though not usually permission-restricted, can still be used by hackers in side-channel attacks; for instance, this includes inferring what apps are running or even capturing fragments of conversations. Research on motion‑based keystroke inference (via accelerometer and gyroscope) confirms this risk.
Limit it: You can't fully disable these sensors, so minimize app installs and use browsers or tools that limit sensor access by default.
7. Digital fingerprinting
By combining device-specific details like screen resolution, fonts, software versions, and accelerometer calibration errors, companies can build persistent device fingerprints that follow you across browsing sessions. A research paper demonstrated that accelerometer-based fingerprinting via JavaScript is powerful enough to uniquely identify devices among thousands.
Limit it: Use browsers like Brave or Firefox with anti-fingerprinting features, and add privacy extensions like uBlock Origin.
Final thoughts
Tracking technologies are becoming more discreet and pervasive. While it's nearly impossible to be invisible online, being aware of these techniques and consistently tightening your settings can significantly reduce the data collected. Privacy isn't a one-time fix but an ongoing habit.
This story was produced by Spokeo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
