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?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaretj401d 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_jones721d 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.