How to tell if your smartphone has been hacked: 10 easy ways to tell

A smartphone can do everything from banking to video calling to controlling your smart home devices. But that reliance can backfire if a cybercriminal hacks it.

Whether it's a high-end or budget Android phone, phishing links, malicious apps, SIM card swapping, man-in-the-middle attacks, and juicejacking can put your device at risk. Android Police writes about this.

Here's what to do to find out if your device is hacked.

Unfamiliar apps

If your phone has random apps, it could be the work of a hacker. However, not every unfamiliar app is malicious. Most phones come pre-installed with unnecessary apps, called bloatware.

Unusual settings

A clear sign that a cybercriminal has gained access to your device is unfamiliar settings or changes to familiar configurations. For example, if multiple apps have permissions to your microphone and camera, the hacker may be trying to track your online activity.

Battery drain

As smartphones age, battery performance decreases. Sometimes background updates can drain your battery faster than usual. However, if the battery is constantly draining quickly, even though it hasn't happened before, it could be a sign of a hack.

Suspicious login notifications

These notifications could be a sign that your device is compromised.

Once a hacker gains access to your device, they can try to log in to your social media and email accounts. This allows them to view sensitive information and send messages.

Unauthorized Play Store payments or bank charges

Unauthorized Google Play payments can indicate that malicious apps or cybercriminals have accessed financial data through your Google account.

Even if the payments are legitimate, it could mean that the hacker is using online subscriptions.

High data usage

If a hacker has gained access to your phone, high data usage could be the result of running apps or browsing. Additionally, malicious apps on your phone can consume data. The only way to detect this is to monitor your data usage. If data usage doesn't match your browsing habits, you should delete anything unfamiliar.

Spam Pop-ups

Pop-ups in apps are annoying, but they are usually harmless and sometimes useful. However, if your device is infected with malware, hackers can use adware to create pop-ups with phishing links.

Hardware or app crashes

While these problems can be caused by hardware malfunctions, software bugs, or outdated apps, this doesn't rule out hacking. It's easy to remove viruses and malware from your Android phone. If the malfunction is not the cause of the malfunction, necessary measures are needed to rid the phone of everything harmful.

Constant heating

During prolonged use, especially when playing games, streaming, or video calling for a long time, the phone will definitely heat up. If the phone usage has not increased, but the device still heats up and remains hot, the cause may be malicious.

Performance drop

It is natural for phones to become slower over time. However, it is not normal for the device's performance to drop suddenly.

You can try restarting the device and freeing up disk space. This usually helps if the problem is related to outdated software or bugs. If performance does not improve after troubleshooting, you can perform a comprehensive check to ensure that there are no unauthorized programs or processes running in the background.