Is your phone secretly listening to you? Here's how to find out

Your phone might be listening to you, but it probably doesn't need to.

- BY SAM SINGLETON

If you're a smartphone owner—and chances are that's everyone reading this—you've probably encountered an eerie but all too common scenario: One day you're talking about a random topic while your phone is next to you, and the following day you notice ads start popping up related to that same topic. It's unsettling. How do these ads know what you were talking about?

Your smartphone may be the culprit. Every smartphone has its built-in microphone constantly turned on in order for the virtual assistant to hear your voice commands. So could it be that these devices are also secretly eavesdropping on your conversations (fave.co/3RZTrxR) in order to serve you ads? Here's everything you need to know, plus a simple test to find out.

FIND OUT IF YOUR PHONE IS LISTENING TO YOU

To test if your phone is listening to your conversations, start by openly discussing a unique topic that you've never searched for or discussed previously while your phone is turned on next to you. It's crucial that this be something that isn’t related to your usual interests or search queries.

Spend a day or two discussing this topic out loud with your phone next to you the whole time. Make sure that you don’t search about this topic on any of your devices—not just your phone.

You can also try talking about specific things related to this topic. For example, if you're discussing traveling to Spain, you can discuss learning Spanish or what the best restaurant is for paella in Madrid.