I think my phone is spying on me

[Cr00zng]

More specifically, my Facebook app.  I am very familiar with cookies, and how after I research tires for my car, there will be ads for tires on various websites I visit.

On the other hand, this was a bit more unsettling.  I wasn't researching home blood pressure cuffs, but I was talking to someone who was researching them.  A little while later, I go on to Facebook to acknowledge B-day wishes, and the first ad just happens to be "top 5 blood pressure monitors".  I am having a hard time accepting that was just an amazing coincidence

Rich, Facebook spying on you is a given, among other social network apps. For that matter any other apps are doing the same, that's their main source of income. Yes, I just beat up on apps for smartphone, but should do the same to the Android and iOS based smartphone as well. Google pays $8-10B/year to Apple to be the default search engine for Siri. Maybe Apple isn't spying on you, doubtful, but certainly allows Google to do just that for the yearly fee.

One way for cutting them off is only have apps installed that you actually need. In my case, that's 3-4 apps aside from the standard iOS apps that are left on my iPhone. The other way is to use NextDNS and block certain sites; I block google.com (shuts off Siri in addition to being disabled in iOS) among others and even some Apple domains, especially the one with telemetry reporting.

You could also disable WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS, if you don't use them. These are the services that define your exact location, valuable for advertisers. If the apps work without cell connections, disable their access to cell service. For example,I use the "MapmyRide" app, when going out biking. the app can have access to GPS, but not to cell and/or WiFi connections. It works just fine, records my route, speed, time etc., but no connection to the internet and as such, no uploading my data.

I am the first one to admit, that despite all of my trying to limit collecting my data, it's an uphill battle that I am loosing. When tracking is an integral part of the operating systems, the only thing one can do is not using any of them. That's really not an option in year 2022, is it?

If you want to see the domains that your iPhone has contacted to, go to:

"Settings\Privacy\App Privacy Report"

Tap on "Show All" under "MOST CONTACTED DOMAINS" to view the domains your iPhone had connected to. The chances are that you didn't initiate connection to roughly 30-40% of these domains, but your iPhone/apps did anyway...

[Ed Vette]

If you don't disable your digital assistant (Siri, Google Assistant, Bixby, or Alexa) they are always listening.

They are activated to engage when they hear their command words. But they are ALWAYS listening. Unfortunately what they pick up 'leaks' into other apps (Facebook/IG, Youtube) and you end up with ads based on what was heard.

If Siri is disabled, then I assume that Apple Car Play for navigation won't work for voice commands. Correct?

[DaveBrown74]

I'll be perfectly honest - I have certainly read/heard stories about this sort of thing but for some naive reason I never fully believed or really worried about them. This thread has really woken me up to all of this.

[Cr00zng]

If Siri is disabled, then I assume that Apple Car Play for navigation won't work for voice commands. Correct?

It is correct, albeit sometimes the car play doesn't even work with Siri enabled... 

I'll be perfectly honest - I have certainly read/heard stories about this sort of thing but for some naive reason I never fully believed or really worried about them. This thread has really woken me up to all of this.

I recommend you this book for further reading:

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

This quote is pretty much an accurate description of the current status for our the digital world:

"Surveillance capitalism transfers the digital infrastructure from what we have to a thing that has us"

Off or online doesn't matter anymore, they really got us...

[Bob In PA]

A while back my niece and several of her friends were sitting around the kitchen table, and as a test, they all set their phones on the table, screens locked. They began talking about something random, in this case wicker furniture. within 24 hours all five of them were getting ads for, you guessed it, outdoor wicker furniture. This was a year or two ago, so it's nothing new.

Steve: No doubt that is possible with today's technology.

I know a person I can ask about it (NSA-caliber super-brain mathematician/physicist/computer scientist).

I'll relay your post and see if I get confirmation.

Bob

[Bob In PA]

If you don't disable your digital assistant (Siri, Google Assistant, Bixby, or Alexa) they are always listening.

They are activated to engage when they hear their command words. But they are ALWAYS listening. Unfortunately what they pick up 'leaks' into other apps (Facebook/IG, Youtube) and you end up with ads based on what was heard.

Tim: You nailed it in your second paragraph. I think Rich is worried less about the "listening" than he is about whether the words "heard" by a digital assistant can be "poached" by other programs (whether for good or bad purposes). I'm still checking to see if that's a known problem. Bob

[Jolly Blue Giant]

"Surveillance capitalism transfers the digital infrastructure from what we have to a thing that has us"

Off or online doesn't matter anymore, they really got us...

Hmmm...and we thought Big Brother was going to come from a swamp inside the DC beltway 

[Bob In PA]

Hmmm...and we thought Big Brother was going to come from a swamp inside the DC beltway 

Jolly: Even if Rich is wrong, you can't rule out what you're talking about. LOL

[Cr00zng]

Hmmm...and we thought Big Brother was going to come from a swamp inside the DC beltway 

Well, the swap certainly has its integral role in this. Big Brother is the enabler for surveillance capitalism on one hand, pretty much refuses to create regulations to protect our privacy. Whatever they have created has so much hole it , that you could drive through an 18-wheeler. On the other hand, the government is also a user of the surveillance, most of the times for free. If you'd say that it is not really free, since they had sold out our privacy, I wouldn't argue much with you...