What your smartphone knows about you (and how to stop it)

What your phone knows about you and what it tracks

Most modern mobile phones these days know a lot about you in terms of location, the websites you track and more. One of the most alarming things is that most phones are very accurate in terms of location, being able to track you within metres. That’s because most phones these days have highly accurate Global Positioning Systems (GPS) inside them, which is used for mapping apps like Google Maps.

Another thing that might be alarming is that, depending on your settings, apps like Google Maps can identify exact places that you visited as well and record them.

Some phones also have an accelerometer and pedometer, meaning it knows when you are walking, running, driving, or sleeping. It can even record your commute times from one location to another and how often you visit stores or homes.

Moving away location, phones actually collect other data about you as well. Like many other web browsers, It can collect the websites you visit, how much you spend with apps like Google or Apple Pay and the websites you’re buying things from.

This can impact what ads are being sent to you due to the cookies that are logged on your phone.

Apps also often collect your battery level, screen brightness, and signal strength. This sounds boring, but it’s used for device fingerprinting.

Things you can do to stop it, including how a VPN can help

There are many ways to prevent your phone from tracking you in terms of GPS usage and stopping apps from tracking your activity. Many phones – both iOS and Android – give users the choice to decide whether or not apps can track their activity. This can be turned off, and most apps ask you if you want it to track your usage.

Most phones also have a privacy dashboard that shows the apps that use things like your location, camera and microphone and allows you to customise what you see, letting you turn them off.

However, if you don’t want to delve into the depths of your phone, there’s one way to help stop it: using a VPN.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is software that protects and anonymises everything you do online. VPNs can conceal your online activities by routing traffic through an encrypted tunnel that connects to secure servers worldwide.

The most reliable VPNs use the same encryption standards as governments in the United Kingdom and the United States, ensuring that even your Internet Service Provider (ISP) on Wi-Fi cannot record the websites you visit, the duration of your sessions on each site, or your current location. This protection extends to advertisers, trackers, and hackers, preventing them from monitoring your online behaviour.

Furthermore, personal information entered into online forms and sensitive data transmitted to and from your device will be safeguarded from hackers using strong encryption provided by a VPN.

Which VPN should you use?

There are plenty of VPN subscriptions out there, but it's critical to choose a premium service that values your privacy – and one of the best out there is ExpressVPN. This is an award-winning service with gongs from the likes of Techradar, CNET, and Tom's Guide, with praise for its servers dedicated to fast, reliable streaming from anywhere in the world. In our ExpressVPN review, we praised its minimal impact on download speeds.

Prices start from £1.74 a month, and unlock ExpressVPN across up to 14 devices. Once installed, connect to a UK server from ExpressVPN's network of over 3,000 servers across 105 countries.

The service uses proprietary Lightway protocol for enhanced speed and reliability, ensuring smooth streaming of festival performances. The service works across all your devices – Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Smart TVs and streaming devices like Fire TV Stick. You can even use ExpressVPN's MediaStreamer feature to watch on devices that don't normally support VPNs, such as PlayStation or Xbox.

ExpressVPN includes a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to watch the entire festival risk-free and recover your investment if you're not satisfied with the service. VPNs are not illegal and are often mandated by companies to improve online security for employees. However, it's your responsibility to ensure that you're using these popular apps for legal use. Always check the terms and conditions of the streaming service.

Benefits of ExpressVPN

ExpressVPN is particularly well-suited for streaming as it boasts VPN server locations in 105 countries, providing access to global coverage. It offers ultra-fast speeds on a 10-Gbps network, essential for high-quality streaming without buffering.

With military-grade encryption, a strict no-logs policy, and features like split tunnelling and a kill switch, your online activity stays private. Based in the British Virgin Islands — outside Five Eyes jurisdiction — it avoids mandatory data retention laws, which means that even if the company were collecting data (it's not), law enforcement from the UK and US would be unable to compel ExpressVPN to hand over any information about its subscribers.

ExpressVPN supports a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart TVs, and routers. There's no limit on the number of ExpressVPN apps that you can download on your devices, and with a single subscription, you can connect to the VPN on 10x gadgets at once.

It also has a dedicated team that optimises the service for major streaming platforms. Round-the-clock customer support is available if you encounter any issues during race weekend.

ExpressVPN isn't the cheapest VPN. However, its 30-day money-back guarantee makes it a risk-free choice for privacy-conscious users and frequent streamers. It should also give new customers the confidence to subscribe to one of its longer contracts, which unlock the biggest discounts.