If you have any kind of modern cell phone, you’re being tracked. The data is collected and stored for later use by a variety of commercial and government entities. The data may not be actively used right now, but it’s available if someone decides to look at it.
What’s worse is, patterns can be tracked. Your cell phone not only has a gps, it has an accelerometer. The accelerometer detects movement. That data may only be stored on the phone, or it may be reported, not sure which phones (if any) report movement data yet.So if your phone normally is riding around in your pocket all day, that pattern of movement is established. If it suddenly goes “still,” and that stillness corresponds with a suspected “undesired” activity on your part, then that pattern can be used against you.
So how do you prevent them from tracking you? Establish a pattern where your phone goes silent or still. When you come home, find a place to park it where you can hear it ring throughout the house, and leave it there. Make it the place where you charge it so it becomes a “normal” activity. This, of course, requires you to become untethered from a device that is designed to encourage addictive behavior. It may take some effort to break that addiction.
You can then pursue activities where you don’t want to be tracked while the phone is at its charging location. Just don’t talk about anything sensitive anywhere near the thing; have those conversations outside unless you have a really big house. Also lay it flat so it can only see the ceiling. With the right malware installed, the camera can be turned on remotely.
Basically, you’re establishing a pattern of phone non-use based on a good reason, like charging it a lot because its battery doesn’t last as long as it should anymore.