100 things your smartphone (probably) knows about you

“There’s probably more information about you on your phone than there is in your house,” Apple CEO Tim Cook once said.  “Our smartphones are loaded with our intimate conversations, our financial data, our health records. They’re also loaded with the location of our kids in many cases.”

100 things your smartphone (probably) knows about you

If Tim Cook is concerned, you should be too. So, if this list doesn’t convince you to support Apple’s stance on privacy, nothing will. No one should expect anything less.

Your smartphone (probably knows)…

Your telephone number, of course.

And all the ones you call,

And who calls you.

 

Your smartphone knows your name,

Your location,

It knows where you go most often.

 

It knows where you live.

Where you work.

Where your friends live.

Where you shop.

 

Your phone knows your social networks

And what you say on them.

All the websites you favorite,

And all the ones you visit.

 

It knows how often you pick it up,

And when,

And what you do when you do.

 

It knows how fast you walk,

And how fast you drive,

Even when you should be driving slower.

 

It probably knows your exercise routine,

Your favorite music,

And what track suit you bought last summer (and the summer before).

 

It has your address book,

Your photo library,

And knows where you take photos most of all.

 

Do you use dating sites? Your phone knows.

And which sites you visit in between dates,

It even knows which gender you prefer.

 

It knows your bank account of course.

It may know where and when you shop outdoors (and online).

It knows your passwords and internet accounts,

And how often they get used.

 

It knows you play games,

Which ones,

And where you grab the high scores.

 

Which Wi-Fi networks do you use? Ask your phone.

It knows your Bluetooth networks, too,

Some know your fingerprints or your face.

 

It knows the weather where you are,

Where you went on holiday,

And what plane you used to get there.

It knows how many steps you took today,

And yesterday,

And last week too.

It knows,

All your emails,

Text messages,

Your other messages too.

 

Of course, it knows your favorite coffee shop,

Might know what temperature you like to keep at home,

And what your last online order was.

 

It’s the keys to the smartlock in your home,

May track your habits (for insurance purposes).

Knows when you made it to the gym,

And how often you went to your favorite bar.

 

Your smartphone knows your mood,

How many calories your burned today,

And where your kids go to play.

 

Your smartphone knows what you ask it to do,

Where you are when you asked it,

And how you pronounce things, too.

 

It knows which apps you use,

What information you give them ,

And how often you use them.

 

It knows when you walk, run, jog or ski,

Your typical gait,

And gender, too.

 

It may know which books you read,

The movies you watch,

Podcasts you love,

And if you missed an appointment.

 

Where were you last Easter Weekend? Your phone can tell you.

It knows about your Christmas too.

And how much you spent and on who.

 

Sometimes phones listen when you make love,

especially if your lover is called Susie, Alex, Dougal or Tina.

But no one else hears that. Probably.

 

It knows when you went to bed,

When you woke up,

And everything in your diary to do today, or any day.

 

It knows the ads you click,

Some listen so they know what you’re looking for,

And that’s why you see more ads for those things then.

 

Your phone knows when you focus on part of an app or website,

How long you stared at it,

And what you did next.

So, it can give you more of the same.

 

Soon it will know if you’ve been vaccinated,

Who you spent time with and when,

And what you did next.

 

It knows when you visited your doctor,

Or your chemist or the hospital,

And may even hold your patient records, too.

 

It knows you always misspell ‘marsupial’,

Where you were born,

The names of your parents,

And that the password you use on all your accounts is 1234.

 

Blue or red, or yellow or green, it’s got your politics too.

Which goes nicely with your gender, sexuality and shopping habits,

To describe everything that matters about you.

This is why privacy is important. This is why any attempt to reduce that privacy should absolutely be opposed or at least constrained. This is also why Apple is working quite hard to make sure that as much as possible of all this information is held in a secure enclave on the device itself, rather than leaking online. But it doesn’t protect everything, and you should learn how to protect yourself, too.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.