How to make your phone impossible to track | IPVanish (2024)

In this article, we’re going to tell you how to make your phone impossible to track (well, nearly impossible) through various digital and physical methods.

A lot of websites and applications track your phone activity and location. Usually, they ask your permission to do this, but even when you thoroughly consider application permissions, some still request more data than they need to operate. For instance, just why would this flashlight app need to know your GPS location?

While many companies provide legitimate reasons for phone tracking, like providing GPS navigation or recording health information, these businesses collect a lot of personal data in the process. Can they be trusted not to misuse that data? Will they properly secure that information from unauthorized interception?

Keep reading to learn how to make your phone impossible to track and for answers to the most common questions about phone tracking.

How to make your phone impossible to track

At any given time, your phone is being tracked by dozens of businesses. There are the apps that use the data you’ve permitted them to access, websites that use your information to tailor content to you, advertisers following you across the internet, and even the companies that manufacture and provide service to your phone. Not to mention the phone-tracking threats that a cybercriminal can pose.

By implementing these 10 methods below, you’ll make your phone impossible to track and much less vulnerable.

Lock your SIM Card

No app or disabled setting will help if your SIM card has been compromised.

When you have a SIM card in your phone, it connects to nearby signal towers to let you make and receive calls and SMS texts. But that signal can be used to identify your location too. And cybercriminals can crack your SIM card without ever physically accessing the device it’s inside. So, what can you do to ensure your SIM card isn’t hacked?

Lock your SIM card. This is a proactive measure to protect your SIM card from third-party interference. You’ll navigate through settings to secure your SIM card by using a PIN code. Just ensure you know your PIN-code and save it in a safe place. If you forget, you’ll lock yourself out of your own cellular service.

For Android Phones

1. Go to Settings
2. Select Lock screen and security
3. Choose Other security settings
4. Go to Set up SIM card lock
5. Toggle the slider to enable Lock SIM card

For iPhones

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap Cellular
3. Select SIM PIN
4. Toggle the SIM PIN slider
5. Enter your PIN to confirm

Limit ad tracking on your phone

Ad tracking is a catch-all term for the process of collecting user data to measure the performance of internet advertising campaigns. You’ve seen it in action: like when you search for a product on Amazon and you spot it advertised on Facebook shortly thereafter.

While ad-tracking is not always nefarious, between cookies, pixels, and tracking URLs, along with cross-platform tracking powered by Google and Facebook, ad tracking is everywhere. When it seems like any search, site visit, and clicked link could be exploited to sell you something, it can feel overwhelming.

By opting out of ad personalization, you can help prevent advertisers from tracking you across the web.

For Android Phones

1. Go to Settings
2. Select Google
3. Choose Ads
4. Go to Set up SIM card lock
5. Toggle Opt out of Ads Personalization

For iPhones

1. Go to Settings
2. Scroll down to tap Privacy
3. Select Location Services
4. Scroll down to tap System Services
5. Disable Location-Based Ads

Opt-out of carrier tracking

Much like Facebook and Google, your phone carrier likely operates a data-tracking program that they use to earn advertising revenue. Phone carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all maintain these programs with users opted-in by default.

Fortunately, you can stop your personal data from being tracked by your carrier. Some mobile phone providers let you opt-out of third-party data sales too, along with ways to delete the data they’ve already collected on you.

For Verizon phones

1. Log in to your Verizon account
2. Select Account
3. Continue to Account Settings
4. Select Privacy Settings
5. Choose Custom Experience and set it to Don’t Use
6. Repeat step 5 for every device in your account
7. Click Custom Experience Plus and set it to Don’t Use
8. Repeat step 7 for every device in your account
9. Select Save Changes

Verizon also lets customers from any state delete most of the data collected about them automatically, with no request required.

1. Log in to your Verizon account
2. Select Account
3. Continue to Account Settings
4. Select Privacy Settings
5. Click Manage Settings under Custom Experience Settings
6. Tap Reset
7. Go back and select Manage Settings under Custom Experiences Plus
8. Click Reset

For AT&T phones

1. Log in to your AT&T account
2. Go to this control panel
3. Scroll to Control How We Use Your Data
4. Toggle each option to disable all the phones on your account

Customers who live in California and Nevada can tell AT&T to stop selling their data by completing this Do Not Sell My Personal Information form. AT&T customers in California can also request their data be deleted, but requests from other states will not be honored.

For T-Mobile phones

1. Log in to your T-Mobile account
2. Go to My Account
3. Select Profile
4. Choose Privacy and Notifications
5. Click Advertising and Analytics
6. Select your name and disable the sliders
7. Repeat step 6 for every other user on your account.

T-Mobile customers from any state may fill out a form to request most of their personal data be deleted. T-Mobile also lets its customers stop third-party data sales through the “Do Not Sell” setting.

1. Log in to your T-Mobile account
2. Go to this control portal page
3. Scroll to Learn more about the “Do Not Sell” setting
4. Select Get Started
5. Tap which T-Mobile service you have
6. Tap the button under Do not sell my personal information to activate the “Do Not Sell” feature.

Disable Bluetooth

Anyone who doesn’t use Bluetooth devices may want to turn their Bluetooth radio off permanently in exchange for some protection and a little more battery life. If you want to shut off Bluetooth entirely without disabling the other signals to your device, you’ll have to start from the Settings app.

For iPhones

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap Bluetooth
3. Toggle to disable Bluetooth

For Android Phones

1. Go to Settings
2. Select Connected Devices
3. Choose Connection Preferences
4. Go to Bluetooth

Activate airplane mode

Need to quickly block most of the signals to your phone? Try activating airplane mode.

Airplane mode disables cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth functions. This is because airplane mode turns off all the radio transmitters and receivers of your device, preventing your phone from communicating with cellular towers.

It may also disable GPS on some devices, but that’s not always the case. GPS, unlike the other radio signal functions, does not need to be disabled by airplane mode as it does not produce any interference to other devices.

Disable GPS location services

GPS is how your phone identifies your location, and this data powers many utility, restaurant, and shopping apps. You can authorize and revoke access to this information within your phone’s application settings.

But what if you want to prevent your GPS data from being used completely? Most phones have this as a standalone “Location” setting that can be disabled to turn off GPS for your whole device. Be warned, however, that you’ll be unable to use your GPS navigation or locate your device remotely if it’s misplaced.

For Android Phones

1. Swipe down from the top of the screen.
2. Touch and hold Location to disable all GPS access.
   If you don’t see ‘Location’ in your Quick Settings:
   • Tap Edit or Settings.
   • Drag Location into your Quick Settings to complete the steps above.

For iPhones

1. Go to Settings
2. Scroll down to tap Privacy
3. Select Location Services
4. Toggle to disable Location Services
5. Select Turn Off to confirm

Try a GPS spoofing app

Perhaps you don’t want to completely disable your GPS, but you still want to hide it from third-party apps and websites you’re using. Try a GPS spoofing app.

Simply install the app and select the region you want to spoof your location to. From there the spoofing app dupes the GPS receiver of your phone into showing a different location.

On Android, you’ve got plenty of options to spoof your GPS. Apps like Fake GPS location and GPS Emulator are popular Play Store apps for this. Unfortunately, GPS spoofing is almost impossible to do on iOS, but there are some programs you can use to spoof your GPS while your iPhone is connected to a computer.

Enable a VPN connection

While a VPN can’t hide your GPS data, it can help make your phone impossible to track online. VPN providers like IPVanish conceal your internet location data by masking your identifiable IP address with a decoy. This makes any website or app that tracks your IP address believe you’re located in the region your decoy IP address comes from.

Using a VPN helps disrupt cookies along with IP-related ad-tracking tools. And IPVanish IPs are shared among users, so your activity can’t be pinpointed back to you.

Use a Faraday bag

A Faraday bag looks like any other carrying accessory you might see, except the bag contains material meant to protect its contents from outside signals. It’s named after the scientist Michael Faraday who invented the first enclosure used to block electromagnetic fields.

It works fairly simply: by preventing radio frequency or electromagnetic pulse waves from passing through the material, any devices in the Faraday bag will be unable to reach an outside signal.

They protect electronics from location tracking, hacking, and interference by blocking all incoming and outgoing electromagnetic signals between 200 MHz and up to 40 GHz. This includes GPS, 5G cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

Faraday bags come in many different styles with varying degrees of signal blocking which can be purchased anywhere from Amazon to military supply shops. Or if you’re pretty handy, try building your own Faraday enclosure at home.

Turn Off Your Phone

This is the easiest way to make your phone impossible to track, but it comes at the very demanding price of not being able to use your phone at all. If you’re going to need access to any data on your phone, back it up to a computer or the cloud before you shut down your device.

Frequently asked questions about phone tracking

Is my phone tracking me?

Yes, your phone is tracking you. While you’re connected to the internet, both your device manufacturer and your mobile network carrier can potentially see your browsing activity, cookies, and overall data usage. Additionally, the apps you use will collect all the data you permit them to. Even more, most phones come with an advertiser ID, which can pinpoint and monitor your unique activity to improve targeted advertising.

Can my phone be tracked with location services off?

In short, yes. By shutting off Location Services, you can eliminate GPS and keep tracking to a bare minimum. But your phone relies on other variables to determine location, too, such as your IP address, SIM card, and phone carrier. Unfortunately, you’ll never be completely untraceable unless your phone is powered off.

Does my phone carrier really track and sell my information?

Your mobile carrier tracks your location, internet activity, app usage, and in some cases your biometrics. And despite facing regular FCC fines for the invasive practice, all of the major mobile providers in the USA collect and sell customer data.

There’s no denying that phone tracking can be an incredibly convenient technology. There are numerous situations where it can come in handy, such as when you misplace your phone or want to request a ride share. By implementing some of the methods above to nearly make your phone impossible to track, you can find a better balance between the convenience of phone tracking and its inherent data privacy risks.