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How dangerous is a regular smartphone in 2025? (lemmy.world)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by deadymouse@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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Qualification:

I've heard various rumors, some of which seem to be true, such as that the phone works even when it's turned off and maybe records all the time you're talking, and with neural networks you can find out what you said, even if you were ten meters away from the phone and in another room, you can use the neural network to improve the sound quality and still know What did you say.

There is also information that the phone can see through objects, so gluing something to the camera will not help.

I don't know what to do, I'm scared. Do you have any ideas on how to save myself from this if I live in the city and use my smartphone?

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[–] Zak@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago

In any case, modern Android phones and modern iPhones do display an indicator when an app (or the system) is accessing your microphone. I do not know if this can be disabled.

It can't, for certain values of can't.

On Google certified Android, the feature is required; apps cannot disable it, and there isn't a UI toggle for it. A phone manufacturer who added a way to disable it would be breaking its contract with Google and could owe money or lose the ability to ship Google certified Android. As for Google's own devices, "just trust us". If you have a normal threat model, that's probably good enough.

If someone very sophisticated and resourceful is targeting you directly, that may not be good enough. It can be disabled with ADB, and it's possible to run ADB commands on-device. It would be hard to make that happen without physical access to your unlocked phone, but if your adversary is sophisticated enough and the stakes are high enough, it would be unwise to rule it out.