I thought my phone was listening, but a test last month proved me wrong

For years, I was sure my phone's mic picked up on things I said out loud. I talked about needing new hiking boots with a friend, and ads for them showed up an hour later. So I set up a test where I only said the words 'cat food' and 'trip to Iceland' out loud near my phone for a week, but never typed or searched for them. Not a single related ad appeared. It made me realize the tracking is way more about my online connections and search history than a live mic. Has anyone else tried something like this and gotten a different result?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaretj401mo ago

My cousin did a similar test but with dog toys. She got ads for them after three days, but she also follows a bunch of pet accounts on Instagram. It's all that connected data, like who you talk to online.

julia_jones721mo ago

Yeah, the connected data thing is so real. I once just texted my friend about needing a new vacuum and ads for that exact model were in my feed by the next morning. It's not just what you search, it's everything.

brooke47510d ago

Did your cousin look at dog toys on any other devices before the test? Curious if just talking about something is enough to trigger ads or if you have to actively search for it somewhere.