5 Things Your Phone Is Secretly Doing Right Now

Listening for Wake Words and More

Voice assistant functionality requires the microphone to be in a low-level listening state to detect wake words. What happens beyond that is the subject of ongoing debate and research. Many users report experiencing targeted advertisements for topics they discussed verbally but never searched for.




Technology companies maintain that advertising targeting is based on other behavioral signals rather than ambient audio. The definitive answer remains contested, but users who are concerned have the ability to revoke microphone access for specific apps.