How to detect if someone is tracking your iPhone

If you’re concerned that someone may be tracking your iPhone, there are a few reliable checks you can perform. iPhones have strong built-in privacy protections, and most forms of tracking leave clear signs.

1. Check Location Services

• Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.
• Review which apps have access to your location.
• If you see an app you don’t recognize or don’t use, tap it and set access to Never.

2. Review “Find My” Settings

• Go to Settings > Apple ID (your name) > Find My.
• Make sure Share My Location is only enabled for people you trust.
• Tap Find My iPhone and confirm that only your devices are listed.

3. Look at Recently Installed Configuration Profiles

• Go to Settings > General > VPN & Device Management.
• If you see a configuration profile you didn’t install, remove it. (These can sometimes give someone extra control over your device.)

4. Check for Unknown Apps or Device Behavior

• Tracking apps generally can’t be installed without your knowledge, but if you see apps you don’t remember installing, delete them.
• Unusual battery drain, overheating, or mobile-data spikes can also be signs of a misbehaving app (not necessarily tracking), but worth reviewing. For example it could be a cryptocurrency mining thing!

5. AirTag and Accessory Alerts

• If someone tries to track you using an AirTag or another Find My accessory, your iPhone will automatically notify you.
• You can check manually by opening the Find My app > Items > Items That Can Track Me.

6. Keep iOS Updated

• Go to Settings > General > Software Update.
• iOS updates include important security protections.

If you’re still worried:

Resetting all settings (Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset) or performing a full erase-and-restore from official Apple sources can eliminate hidden configurations.

If you need further reassurance, Apple Support can also run diagnostics on your device.

[Edited by Moderator]

rain586 wrote:

How to tell if you are being tracked through your iphone

That’s an immensely open-ended question.

There are various possibilities here. Here are a few:

🔹How you come to the attention of or have you deeply annoyed somebody or some group with great wealth? If so, you’re outside the range of help can be offered around here. This requires some personal questions, and quite possibly device access, and possibly changes to how you operate your equipment.

🔹There is tracking within the device either using Apple Find My or using add-on apps, which means gaining access to the iPhone, and either approving tracking or loading apps. If your iPhone passcode has not been compromised, and if your iPhone has not been out of your possession, this tracking is unlikely. (Commonly-installed apps do track, though. How far the app vendors share that tracking data, and with who, varies.)

Here is what Apple suggests, using the built-in Safety Check:

Safety Check for an iPhone with iOS 16 or later - Apple Support

There are other suggestions and other tips in that personal safety guide that you will want to consider.

If you are unsure about your iPhone, wipe it and reload iOS and don’t restore, and change all your passwords, and enable two-factor authentication if that’s not already enabled.

If you are unsure about your Apple Account, change the password, and enable two-factor authentication. Here are some related tips:

• Better Securing Your Data, and Apple Account - Apple Community

🔹Another and usually easier (for the perpetrators) possibility is tracking without using the iPhone. Lots of gear available for that, including cellular tracking devices, GPS trackers, and the tracking that is inherently possible within the cellular networks (carriers were slapped for selling that location data a few years ago), and cameras and various devices in areas you might frequent.

🔹It’s also possible you’re not being tracked. You might simply be getting gaslit by somebody. People lie about tracking, and lie about how they are tracking. Or if they are tracking. Gossip and habits and simple misrepresentations and fear can all suffice. This the simplest and one the most effective approaches. It can cause immense (and unnecessary) effort by the target, too.

🔹This being the Internet and individual motivations can be left unstated or even misrepresented, you could be looking for assistance with tracking somebody, and I’ve just provided some suggestions.

So…. Why do you think you are being tracked? Some background, please?

Take your iPhone to someone that specializes in forensic IT. A regular IT service or a repairman does not have the training or experience to determine such things. I live in Tampa and because of proximity to McDill AFB there are several I know of. They charge about $200 an hour to examine a phone.

It takes extraordinary skills and extremely expensive devices to hack into an iPhone (think Israeli secret service). So, the odds of anyone hacking into your device is extremely remote. The highly trained IT people do not have the equipment or tools to perform such tasks.

I am curious about the same exact thing.

Started reading cybersecurity books to learn more.

Just happen to be very curious and want to learn more about cybersecurity and my privacy I expect to a certain degree.

I am curious about the same exact thing.

Additionally, see this section of Apple’s Personal Safety User Guide:

Find My and location sharing - Apple Support

Link to the “Top Level” of same document:

Personal Safety User Guide - Apple Support