No point in worrying about listening devices if you've got a cellphone on you. I think there are ways to detect bugs with some hardware that can be purchased though.
Yeah but even if I clear my phone, I still am unsure about being tapped. I’ve searched my car already, there’s no bugs as far as I can tell.
One thing to remember is that microphones require power, so if you're gonna look for bugs check in places where they could hide a wire to power, or a large enough battery to last quite a while. They usually get put in like light sockets and appliances and stuff.
Listening devices can be passive, getting their energy from radio-waves beamed at them. A clever invention by the soviets that was actually used. It's also the concept behind RFID.
Most likely, these days, they will bug your phone though.
ah that's cool. a recording device would still need some kinda power right?
Devices that record to some kind of medium don't seem like a practical choice, since you'd have to regularly have access to it to get out the sd-card or whatever it records to. And once you're down that rabbit hole, it might just as well be battery powered.
'Clearing your phone' is not likely to be effective against it being properly compromised. The bootloader could be rooted, auto-compromising any fresh installs you do. Or there could be undocumented bugs in the modem firmware that allow a fully secure phone to be compromised over the air. If you have sufficient reason to be paranoid about being bugged, turn off your phone, and remove the battery if you can.
Yes, but at the same time, I don’t know if I can handle being fully isolated
I don't know about your situation, so I can't really tell how much opsec is even warranted for you. Like, if you're having specific conversations that you don't want people potentially listening in on, that's when your phone should be off.
I promise you nobody wants to listen to Adam Sandler these days
Because I’m a leftist conspiracy enthusiast with already existing mental illness?
It’s also because I have very controversial opinions on things like 5G that might be considered a threat
Do you say all your thoughts out loud? Have many conversations in your room? Maybe have those conversations outside and leave your phone.