Your phone is not reading your mind, and it is not listening to you without permission. The bigger story is more subtle: apps can collect activity signals, connect them to a specific device, and use them to build a profile of how you behave.
That profile can include the way you scroll, the network your phone uses, and how you found an article. These signals do not require an app to understand your thoughts. They reveal patterns in your activity, giving data harvesters more information to connect with an advertising profile.
Tracking Starts With Signals You Create
Every device has a unique identifier. Data harvesters can tie that identifier to an advertising profile, linking activity to one specific phone or other device. Tracking permissions make that connection possible, while sensor permissions open access to data from onboard sensors such as GPS, a camera, or a microphone.
The activity signals can be simple. Scrolling speed can contribute to user profiling, as can the Wi-Fi or cellular network connection a device uses. The way an article was found can also become part of the profile, adding another detail to the picture apps and data harvesters build.
That does not mean your phone is secretly reading your mind. Max Miller puts it directly: “No, your phone isn’t listening to you without your permission.” The claim is clear, but permissions still matter because they control access to device activity and sensor data.
Consider the difference between tracking permissions and sensor permissions. Tracking permissions link activity to specific devices. Sensor permissions provide information from hardware inside the device, including GPS, the camera, or the microphone. These permissions describe different paths to data, but both shape what apps can learn about activity.
Android And iOS Take Different Paths
Android uses identifiers to track ad performance and user behavior, with users opted in by default. Android users can delete their advertising ID through the settings under Ads, giving them a direct way to remove that identifier.
iOS uses Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, known as ATT. The framework requires apps to ask for permission before accessing the ID, putting the choice in front of iPhone owners instead of allowing access by default.
That choice had a major effect on Meta. After Apple implemented an ATT pop-up that allowed iPhone owners to opt out of device activity tracking, Meta incurred a $10 billion loss in 2022. Most iPhone users chose to opt out of activity tracking when Apple gave them the option.
Max Miller describes the event this way: “Meta’s admission in 2022 that it incurred a $10 billion loss after Apple implemented an ATT pop-up that gave iPhone owners the option to opt out of device activity tracking when an app is launched.”
The contrast between the two systems is direct. Android users can delete the advertising ID in Ads settings, while iOS asks apps to request access through ATT. On iOS, users can also lock down the ID by turning off “Allow Apps to Request to Track” and “Personalized Ads” in settings.
Permissions Can Change What Apps Learn
Sensor access can support a clear app function, but the same access can also connect with other data uses. Google Maps uses location data to show relevant ads, making GPS information part of the advertising experience.
Instagram needs camera access to take photos, yet it also scans data for other purposes. That example shows why a permission request deserves attention: access may begin with a feature users want, while the data can also support other purposes.
The important question is not whether one app knows everything. The question is what signals an app can access, how those signals connect to a device, and whether the resulting activity becomes part of an advertising profile.
The most effective solution for preventing device-level tracking is to block it. On Android, that means deleting the advertising ID under Ads. On iOS, it means turning off “Allow Apps to Request to Track” and “Personalized Ads.” Those settings address the identifiers and permissions that connect activity with a device.
Published Aug. 17, 2026, this picture leaves users with a practical choice: allow access, or block it. Apps can still offer features such as photos and maps, but the permissions behind those features determine how much activity and sensor data becomes available for tracking and profiling.
Your phone is not reading your mind. It is responding to the signals your activity creates, and your permission settings decide how those signals connect to a device and an advertising profile.
