In this digital era, the most important thing has become protecting our privacy. With every other app asking our permission to access the microphone and camera, it’s getting tougher to fish out the bad ones. So, you’re not the only one wondering if can someone watch you through your phone camera.
The answer is yes. Someone can hack your phone camera and watch you through it without you knowing. So, it’s important to learn how to boost the security of your phone if you want to protect your privacy.
Let’s dive a bit deeper into the issue.
Can Someone Watch You Through Your Phone Camera?
Hackers can not only access your phone camera but also record you and keep the video. You will be surprised to know what a hacker can do when they access your camera. You can also check our article on can someone hack my Ring doorbell.
Let’s take a brief look at these activities to give you an elaborate idea.
Capture Images
The minimal damage of this aspect is to capture images. Once the hacker gets access to your phone camera, they can capture images and upload them to the cloud without you knowing. It can either be the front or back camera of your phone.
Record Videos
Advancing to the next level, the hacker can record video on your phone too. They can remotely access the cameras and use them to record videos and leak them on the internet.
Live Monitoring
The most dangerous thing that a hacker can do using your phone camera is to monitor your life. Once they get access to your phone camera, they can use it to watch you live by activating the camera.
How To Prevent Someone From Hacking Your Phone Camera?
Getting your phone camera hacked sounds like one of the most dangerous things. The bad news is that you may not even realize that your phone has been hacked. The good news is you can boost the security of your phone camera. Let’s see how.
Avoid Suspicious Apps
If you feel like an app is suspicious, it probably is. Be careful not to download any app that’s been reported by other users. There’s no certain way to identify a legit app. However, you can reduce the risk by filtering your sources.
Make sure only to download apps from the official store of your device. This reduces the chance of becoming a victim of a harmful app. Even though it’s not foolproof, it’s a lot better than downloading an app from an unknown website.
Don’t Allow Access
One thing we all need to be careful about is allowing access to our camera to all apps. Most of the time, it doesn’t even make any sense, yet we do it anyway. A beauty camera will require access to the camera. However, why does a game require access to your camera and microphone?
Suspicious permissions should be avoided to protect your privacy. Even if you’re downloading an app from a trusted source, think twice before allowing the app to access your camera. If you think that there’s no need for the app to access the camera, decline the permission.
Get An Anti-Virus
Getting anti-malware software will detect suspicious entries on the phone and give you a warning about it. Whenever a virus is detected, the software will recognize it, and an additional layer of security will be added to your device.
It will also clean your phone from time to time to increase speed and boost performance. So, consider getting a good-quality, trusted anti-virus app for your device.
Remove Unnecessary Apps
Search your phone for apps that are entirely unnecessary. Remove all these apps. If there’s an app, you barely use, remove the permissions of this app from settings. Make sure that no shady apps have access to your mobile camera.
The same goes for your microphone and local storage. Accessing the local storage will risk the privacy of the files you want to keep private.
Avoid Questionable Links
Don’t enter any suspicious link sent by someone. In addition, do not put your password on a site that you don’t trust. Sometimes, a click on a link is all it takes for a hacker to access your device. As a precautionary step, avoid clicking on a link and sharing sensitive information on those sites.
Browsers will often work as a protective barrier between your device and malicious links. If you notice your browser warning not to enter a site, it’s best not to access that site.
Keep An Eye Out For Suspicious Activities
Prevention is better than cure. The methods described above will prevent your device from getting hacked. Now, let’s talk about caution in case your device is already hacked. So, how to know if someone is watching you through your phone camera?
You may be able to identify it if you’re cautious enough. For instance, if you notice weird sounds during a phone call, this may be caused by a spy app. Some malicious apps can record audio on your phone. These will be responsible for such noises.
Also, check if your phone has a record of something that you haven’t done. For instance, it can be a trace of a call in your call history that you didn’t make. It can also be a search history on your browser that you didn’t access. All these can be a sign that someone else is accessing your device.
Final Words
Can someone watch you through your phone camera? They absolutely can. So, you have to be as careful about your device as possible. In an era where privacy is the most difficult to protect, our devices become the thing to make us vulnerable to threats.
Nonetheless, you can boost your phone’s security by being cautious about the apps you download and by limiting access to all apps. Also, protect your device from malware and viruses. And if you notice your device doing anything out of the ordinary, check which app started this in the first place.
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