Introduction
Have you ever been in the nightmarish situation where your phone got hacked? It is truly a very frightening situation if you don’t know much about this topic. So here in this article you are about to read, you can find out about 9 ways on how to fix a hacked Android phone. You might just have skipped these signs carelessly and now you are here wondering “My phone was hacked how do I fix it”. Not to worry, in this article you can find out if your phone is not functioning properly because of any type of hacking and will answer your burning question; how to fix a hacked Android phone.
You can find answers to your question how to tell if your android is hacked from here as well. Moreover. you will also get to know how to avoid these hackers and how to get rid of the malware that has been unwillingly installed, because of hacking.
What is hacking and who is a hacker?
If you ever have to wake up one day and find out that your phone is hacked, the first thing you might do is screaming “my phone was hacked how do I fix it”. You might panic and worry because you don’t know what to do in this situation and you don’t know how to fix a hacked Android phone. You might not have expected someone to hack your phone and now it has happened, you are worried that you will lose all your precious data in your phone.
It is always better to read and know about how to tell if your android is hacked and how to fix a hacked Android phone. Before learning about that, you should know what is hacking and who is a hacker. All these will prepare you for the situation where you will find yourself screaming “my phone was hacked how do I fix it”.
A hacker is someone who is very skilled in handling computers and electronic devices and has a piece of good technical knowledge. Hackers are mainly computer programmers who have a good knowledge of the technical areas in the programming of a phone or a computer. These hackers use their knowledge and will enter any electronic systems such as your computer or mobile phones. They are the ones who will make you wonder about things like if my phone was hacked how do I fix it, how to fix a hacked Android phone and how to tell if your android is hacked.
There are different types of hackers as well;There are different types of hackers, white hat hackers, black hat hackers, and grey hat hackers.
White hat hackers
A white-hat hacker is a hacker who does not usually do illegal work. In most cases, owner of the system they are going to hack will pay these types of hackers. White hat hackers hack the systems of the user willingly by the consent of the owner. So if you find yourself in a situation where you wonder if my phone was hacked how do I fix it and how to fix a hacked android phone, it might not be due to a white hacker.
These white hackers will also never leak the data of the system they are hacking. The white hat hackers tend to keep the data safe from the other types of hackers. Usually, the owner himself hires these white hackers to hack their own system, for security purposes.
Black hat hackers
A black hat hacker is a hacker who usually does illegal work. They hack the systems of people and they sell the data of one person to another and cause problems. Black hat hackers, will exploit a person’s system and sometimes threaten them for valuable, or if not they will sell the data. Black hat hackers often even steal the data off from a person’s system and will use it for their benefits.
Black hat hackers often do this without a person’s knowledge. Unlike with the white hat hacker, here the system owner does not know if their system is being hacked. If you are looking for answers to the question ‘how to fix a hacked android phone’ and ‘how to tell if your android is hacked’, then these kinds of black hat hackers might be the culprit behind it.
Black hat hackers often hack a system and demand money from the owner or so threaten them for the money. This is how they earn a profit from this. Certain people may pay money to the black hat hacker and tell them to hack another person’s system and sell the data.
Grey hat hacker
A grey hat hacker does not willingly do any illegal work. They usually hack a system for the fun of it. A grey hat hacker might not even earn money from the hacking they do. They simply do it for a fun time and since sometimes they do it without the owner’s consent it can be illegal.
They do not share the data of the system with any other hackers as well. If they do share the data and if they by any chance threaten the owner of the system for money, then a grey hat hacker also falls into the category of a black hat hacker.
Apart from the different types of hackers, hacking means exploiting a computer or a mobile phone system and retrieving the information in it. Then they either sell it or use it to restore security purposes depending on the cause of the issue.
What is the purpose of hacking?
Hacking was mainly just developed as a teenage culture and was indeed just initially for the fun of it.Eventually this can become illegal business and threatening. Something that was started for fun or as a culture eventually turned into cybercrime. The main four main purposes of hacking usually differ from situation to situation.
Criminally earn money
The first main purpose is to earn money but in a criminal way. A hacker could hack the credit card information of a person and spend the money. A hacker could even hack certain banking system codes and transfer money to probably his own account.
Increase their popularity as a hacker
The second purpose is to increase their popularity as a hacker. Since this is considered as a culture amongst teenagers, certain hacking is done to just increase publicity. They often even let the owner of the system know that they have hacked the system.
Corporate benefit
The third purpose is that certain marketers and corporate companies will allow hacking to see the current status of products of other companies and to see how the other companies’ profit is increasing or not.
Installing apps on your phone
The fourth purpose is to install certain apps and to add certain ads on your phone.. These ads appearing on your phone every time when you switch on data could profit the hacker or the company the hacker provides the service for.
8 ways on how to tell if your android is hacked
As stated above any type of these hackers could have hacked your phone and for any of these motives. There are no easy ways on how to tell if your android is hacked on the first look. But, there are some methods on how to tell if your android is hacked. If you notice the following signs in your phone, there is a high probability that your phone was hacked, leaving you wondering how to fix a hacked android phone.
1. Power of the phone reduces quickly
One of the initial signs on how to tell if your android is hacked is that the charge on your phone reduces very quickly. If you notice your battery percentage decreases drastically in your phone, it can be due to hacking.Even if you are not using your phone you may notice that your battery percentage keeps on decreasing even without any usage. If this happens, then your guess ‘my phone was hacked how do I fix it’ is correct mostly.
2. Phone gets hot always
Another sign on how to tell if your android is hacked is your phone gets hot all the time. If the android phone is used for a few hours straight, there is a chance it might get hot easily. But if you notice that your phone gets hot all the time, even if you are not using it that much, then this may due to the extra apps working on your phone.These extra apps could have been installed due to hacking. Most of the time, these apps are beyond the working capacity of your phone. This is another sign my phone was hacked how do I fix it.
3. Changes happening automatically to your phone
Third sign on this list on how to tell if your android is hacked is the changes that automatically occur in your phone. Even If you did not do any changes to your phone, you will see some changes in it. This situation is happening when your device is rooted.Mostly, you didn’t even consent to those changes done to your phone.. These changes may leave you wondering ‘my phone was hacked how do I fix it’ and ‘how to fix a hacked android phone’.
Rooting of the phone gives the complete administration authority to the person who hacked the phone. This authority will allow the hacker to install and uninstall any apps on your phone without your consent. The hacker can alter certain functions of your phone even without your consent.. If your device is being rooted, that will cause functional problems on your phone.
4. Noise interference
Next sign on how to tell if your android is hacked is the noise interference. If someone hacked your phone and installed any apps, you will experience certain noise interference. It is said that many victims of hacking complained a lot about background noise interference.
If you notice a background noise when calling someone or getting a call from someone, it is a sure sign on how to tell if your android is hacked. You might experience a noise even when recording a voice note. You might be experiencing an echoing of sounds in your phone or an echoing of your own voice when in a call or when recording a voice note. This is another sign on how to tell if your android is hacked and if my phone was hacked how do I fix it.
5. Unusual problems in the phone
If there are unusual problems on your phone, then that is a sure sign on how to tell if your android is hacked. You will experience certain suspicious activity on your phone from time to time. For example, when typing a text, you might hit the send option, but your message never gets delivered. This can be due to the issue ‘my phone was hacked how do i fix it’.
When typing a text, you might type something and the delivered text might have something totally different from what you have typed, this indicates that someone else is also controlling your phone. Beware when typing messages that are very important and messages that contain personal information such as credit card information.
You might experience certain different behaviour on your phone. You might see some changes in your lock screen or theme, although you did not do them yourself. If you keep receiving a certain weird text from a number you did not know or if your phone automatically sends a text to a person or an unknown number when you did not send it, this could be a sign of how to tell if your android is hacked.
You might find yourself worrying about how to fix a hacked android phone and if my phone was hacked how do I fix it, because of these signs.
6. Higher data usage on the phone
Another sign on how to tell if your android is hacked is the higher data usage on the phone. You would notice that even though you are not using a lot of apps or surfing social media and other apps, you still see a higher wastage of your data. This could be because a third party who keeps updating apps on your phone without your consent. Moreover, they are installing apps through your data onto your phone and these newly installed apps are causing the drain of the data.
You would notice that your mobile data is updating apps you didn’t install. This could be a sign on how to tell if your android is hacked. If you worry about ‘my phone was hacked, how do I fix it’, I have got you covered. Keep on reading
7. Apps that you did not install can be seen in your phone
As already mentioned in the above six points, you will see apps that you did not install as a sign on how to tell if your android is hacked. You will see these unwanted apps that were not installed by you but are still present on your phone. This is another sign on how to tell if your android is hacked. You will also see unwanted Ads that frequently appear on your phone whenever you switch on data. These Ads sometimes may appear even when you are not using mobile data or any Wi-Fi source.
Certain unwanted Ads may appear very frequently not allowing you to even use your phone properly, leaving you wondering ‘my phone was hacked how do I fix it’.
8. Alterations to the Google Play Protect app
Next sign on how to tell if your android is hacked is the alterations in the Google Play protect app. The most important app that protects your phone is the “Google play protect app” which is considered as a system app and would already be installed when buying the phone.
This google play protect app controls the installation of apps and update of the apps. If you notice that someone has disabled this app, this is an indication that your phone has been hacked and that your hacker has disabled the google play protect app. They would have done this to install the apps they want to install and to control the update of those apps anytime they want to.
If you see that your phone’s Google Play Protect app has been altered, it can be considered as a sure sign on how to tell if your android is hacked and how to fix a hacked android phone. Don’t worry yourself about the problem ‘my phone was hacked how do I fix it’. We have mentioned how to fix a hacked android phone in the below section.
5 ways on how to fix a hacked Android phone
Now you know how to tell if your android is hacked. If you notice those signs in your phone, then there is a high chance that someone has hacked your phone.Now we are here to help you on how to fix a hacked android phone and put a fullstop to your constant worry ‘my phone was hacked how do I fix it’. It is better to follow the below-mentioned steps on how to fix a hacked android phone. Try them out and see if it works and if not, it is in your best interest to show your phone to a mobile phone specialist to unhack it.
Reboot the Android Phone
First thing you can try out on how to fix a hacked Android phone is to reboot or restart the phone. You can long-press the power button in your phone to get the boot pop-up window and then select the Restart option. Wait for a few minutes until the process finishes. After the reboot, check if the signs you notice still occurs or not.
Turn off Spam Notifications
Spam notifications is another easy way to get your phone hacked. So it is best to switch off the spam notifications in your phone and it is the next step on how to fix a hacked android phone. To turn off unwanted notifications from a certain app, hold the notification until specific notification action shows on screen. You will see the toggle switch which can be turned off to stop getting notifications from the app.
Not only from apps, spam notifications from websites also can be a cause for hacking. They also can leave you wondering ‘my phone was hacked how do I fix it’ and ‘how to fix a hacked android phone.’If you want to turn off the notifications from a certain website, you can go to Google chrome app in your phone. Open the chrome app and press the three-dots menu button and go to the settings tab. Head over to site settings and go to the notifications tab. Under the allowed tab, you can see the website URL, which you can disable in order to stop getting unwanted notifications from websites.
Uninstall Unused Apps
Uninstalling unused apps is another way on how to fix a hacked android phone. This is another sure way to help you stop worrying about, if my phone was hacked how do I fix it.There are many apps that we install in our phones, but only a handful of them are used regularly. Some apps are installed for one time use and leave them without using again. Such apps are always vulnerable to hacking. It is best to uninstall those apps you didn’t install or don’t remember installing from your phone. It is one of the most important solutions on how to fix a hacked Android phone.
Wipe the Device Cache
Cache in your android device can make your phone prone to hacking. If you see the signs we mentioned in the above segment on how to tell if your android is hacked and wonder ’my phone was hacked how do I fix it’, you can try out this solution on how to fix a hacked android phone.
First power off your phone and when the device is turned off, hold the power button and volume up button simultaneously to get the stock recovery mode on your screen. Using the volume buttons scroll down to the tab ‘wipe device cache’ which enables you to erase your device’s cache. After the device reset, restart your phone and see if the signs of hacking are gone. This is another way of how to fix a hacked android phone.
Factory Reset the Device
If none of the above-mentioned solutions doesn’t help you on how to fix a hacked android phone, the last resort you can try is factory resetting your phone. To do this, you can follow the same steps mentioned in the above solution and at the end select Yes — delete all user data. This will help you reset your phone. This might surely help you on what to do if my phone was hacked how do I fix it and how to fix a hacked android phone.
The ways in which your phone could be hacked
1. When you enter certain websites you will see that they ask you to “allow” or “block” to send notifications. This if you accidentally click allow will certainly allow the hacker to hack your phone much easier after all. Certain websites or apps may ask for your location access and such.
You may think it is not a big deal, but this allows the installation of “spy apps” onto your phone and using this, the hacker will hack your phone. So you have to stop allowing these kinds of notifications if you don’t want to worry about how to fix a hacked android phone and if my phone was hacked how do I fix it.
2. By a simple alarming text message, a hacker can hack your phone and leave you worrying about how to fix a hacked android phone. You may receive a sudden message saying you have won the lottery or if your bank details has some error reply to this text message to resolve.
If you reply to such text messages you are willingly falling into the trap of the hacker. This is one of the malicious ways to get your phone hacked and worry about ‘my phone was hacked how do I fix it’.
3. We all adore free Wi-Fi don’t we? Often when we are outside all we want is free open area Wi-Fi. What we often fail to realize is that this could be a hacker that has set up the Wi-Fi. The moment you connect to this open Wi-Fi the hacker will hack your phone system and will likely retrieve information from your phone.
When you are using this free open Wi-Fi, the hacker will hack into all of your social media accounts as well. At the end, you could be left to worry about how to fix a hacked android phone.
4. The next most possible way is your google and cloud accounts. You may think these are the most protected apps but in reality, when you are using another app to add information to your google account or cloud account a hacker who is lurking on that website can take information from your phone and can also, therefore, hack your mobile phone.
How to protect your phone from hackers?
1.Yes, we always look for free Wi-Fi and would always use open free Wi-Fi, but this is where a great risk is. Therefore, avoid using open free Wi-Fi in public, if you don’t want to wonder about things like if my phone was hacked how do I fix it, how to tell if your android is hacked and how to fix a hacked android.
2. When filling out forms, always check if the website is secured, since you are giving your personal information be mindful about it.
3. Do not accept cookies from unknown websites, no matter how good the content is this could be hacker lurking so definitely avoid these.
4. Always make sure you have cleared cache from your phone and always make sure you have deleted your browser history. Each app will also have cache, therefore, make sure that is deleted too.
Conclusion
If you have a mobile phone and if you are not careful about what you accept to be on your phone, your phone is prone to hacking. Here in this article, we have given you the answers to your burning question ‘my phone was hacked how do I fix it’.
Furthermore, it has all the information about how to tell if your android is hacked and how to fix a hacked android phone. Hope you got what you came looking for.
