The 60-Second Check: Is Anyone Inside Your iPhone?
You do not need spyware for someone to be in your phone. Usually it is quieter than that: a number slipped into your iMessage, your location shared from a setup screen, call forwarding switched on, a second face enrolled in Face ID. Every one of those is a setting you can see and undo yourself. This is a self-check. Run it on your own device, and if anything looks wrong, the last step tells you how to shut it down.
Before you start
This is for checking your own iPhone, a device you own and control. Everything here is read-only until the final step, you are just looking at your own settings. Have your Apple ID password handy in case you need to sign a stale device out at the end.
1. Who receives your iMessages and FaceTime
If someone added their email or number here, your messages and calls can ring on their device too. Go to Settings, then Messages, then Send & Receive. Look at the list under You Can Be Reached By. Every address there should be yours. Do the same under Settings, then FaceTime. Anything you do not recognize, tap it and remove it.
2. Who can see your location
Open Find My, then the People tab. This is the exact list of who gets your live location, and people forget who they once shared with. Remove anyone who should not be there. Then check Settings, your name at the top, then Find My, to confirm Share My Location is set the way you expect.
3. What devices are signed into your account
Settings, then your name at the top. Scroll to the bottom for the full list of devices signed into your Apple ID. Every one can reach your photos, backups and iCloud data. See a device you do not own or no longer use? Tap it, then Remove From Account.
4. Is anything forwarding your calls or texts
Call forwarding can route your calls or messages elsewhere with no obvious sign. On most US carriers you can check from the phone dialer. Type the first code to see the forwarding status. If anything is on that you did not set, the second code switches all forwarding off.
Check status: *#21#
Turn all forwarding off: ##002#5. Is there a second face in Face ID
Face ID lets you enroll an alternate appearance, a second face that unlocks the phone exactly like yours. Go to Settings, then Face ID & Passcode. If you see Set Up an Alternate Appearance, only your face is enrolled, you are fine. If it instead shows that an alternate is already set up and you never added one, reset Face ID and re-enroll just your own face.
6. Check for a configuration profile
A configuration profile can quietly control settings or route your traffic, normally only a workplace installs one. Go to Settings, then General, then VPN & Device Management. If there is a profile there you did not knowingly install, that is a flag worth removing.
If something looked wrong
Do these in order and you close every door at once: 1. Change your Apple ID password. This alone kicks out every signed-in device and breaks any account access. Use a long unique one. 2. Remove the unknown devices and message addresses you found above. 3. Turn off any forwarding with the code above. 4. Turn on two-factor for your Apple ID if it is not already, under your name, then Sign-In & Security. If you are dealing with someone who has had physical access to your phone and you feel unsafe, change your passcode to something they do not know, and reach out to a domestic-safety resource. The technical fix and the personal-safety side are both real.
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