our smartphone knows more about you than you think. A new study by NordVPN suggests it may even be listening to your conversations without your knowledge. The study’s results were published by HR Portugal.
Ads Appear Based on Conversations, Not Searches
According to the experiment, many people have experienced strangely accurate advertisements appearing on social media or websites — despite never searching for those topics online. This raises concerns that smartphones might be actively eavesdropping on their users.
Modern phones are equipped with always-on microphones to enable voice assistants like Siri and Google Assistant to respond instantly.
But researchers suggest that these microphones may also be picking up conversations that aren’t directly addressed to them.
To test this, NordVPN researchers asked subjects to talk about topics they had never discussed before — such as rare animal species or obscure travel destinations.
Within a few days, ads for these exact topics started appearing on their social media feeds, despite no prior online searches or interactions related to them.
Is It Legal?
Legally, this type of data collection isn’t outright illegal, as many users unknowingly agree to it by accepting app permissions and privacy policies.
Still, the experiment raises serious privacy concerns about how much information smartphones gather — even without direct user consent.
Test It Yourself
Curious to see if your phone is listening? You can try this experiment at home:
Pick a topic that you have never searched for or discussed before.
Talk about it several times near your phone over a few days—but don’t search for it online.
Continue using your phone normally, paying attention to whether ads related to the topic suddenly start appearing on social media or websites.
If unexpectedly relevant ads show up, it could suggest that your phone is indeed listening to your conversations.
