Why did my phone do this and should I be paranoid?
March 9, 2017 5:23 AM Subscribe
My phone just took off on it's own and now I am a bit flipped out........
I was driving to work this morning listening to Pandora and the song quit, which is not unusual for my rural area, and in about 30 seconds a new song came on, then the weirdness began. My Snapchat app came on and began focusing the camera on various places of the dash where the camera was facing in its place in the holder. Then, my messages app came up with a text thread. Several pictures from that thread were opened and moved from landscape to portrait. Finally my camera was opened and a subset called " collections" was opened and pictures began to come up from this location. At this point I unplugged my phone and put it in the bottom of a basket I had beside me. Had I not been driving I might have watched longer just to see if there was a pattern of sorts.
So, what do you make of this? Is an exorcism required?
I was driving to work this morning listening to Pandora and the song quit, which is not unusual for my rural area, and in about 30 seconds a new song came on, then the weirdness began. My Snapchat app came on and began focusing the camera on various places of the dash where the camera was facing in its place in the holder. Then, my messages app came up with a text thread. Several pictures from that thread were opened and moved from landscape to portrait. Finally my camera was opened and a subset called " collections" was opened and pictures began to come up from this location. At this point I unplugged my phone and put it in the bottom of a basket I had beside me. Had I not been driving I might have watched longer just to see if there was a pattern of sorts.
So, what do you make of this? Is an exorcism required?
My phone did something like this when I had a charger cord that wasn't properly grounded or possibly not well insulated. Charge was building up on the screen. Which would be worrying in the car. Was it plugged in to charge?
posted by mai at 5:36 AM on March 9, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by mai at 5:36 AM on March 9, 2017 [5 favorites]
That happened to me recently! It happened soon after I dropped the phone and cracked the screen. I've had the screen replaced, and since then, zero paranormal activity.
posted by Ziggy500 at 5:39 AM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Ziggy500 at 5:39 AM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: It's been pretty dry here, static shocks putting on sweaters and such. It was not plugged in to the charger but the cord connecting it to the FM transmitter is a bit frayed maybe that's it! I have dropped it plenty but so far the Otterbox has done it's job. Oh, and if it matters this is an iPhone.
posted by haikuku at 6:24 AM on March 9, 2017
posted by haikuku at 6:24 AM on March 9, 2017
I've had issues with false touches/touch going nuts on devices that all ended up being grounding issues.
Take a few drives with it plugged/unplugged and see if the behaviour correlates.
posted by quinndexter at 6:26 AM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Take a few drives with it plugged/unplugged and see if the behaviour correlates.
posted by quinndexter at 6:26 AM on March 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
What phone is it?
Anyway, it sounds like touchscreen issues.
posted by My Dad at 6:33 AM on March 9, 2017
Anyway, it sounds like touchscreen issues.
posted by My Dad at 6:33 AM on March 9, 2017
Best answer: Just in case you've got your tinfoil hat ready, if someone wanted to steal the data on your phone, they'd crack it silently without you knowing. They'd download the internal file system rather than blunder around with the user interface. Otherwise, this is totally a faulty screen, or moisture on the screen. My iPad does this some times - I should get a new one.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 6:55 AM on March 9, 2017 [11 favorites]
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 6:55 AM on March 9, 2017 [11 favorites]
I believe it's called 'ghost touching'? I've had it happen on my iPad. Just took it to the Apple Store and they fixed it. It is pretty bizarre to watch.
posted by Vaike at 8:33 AM on March 9, 2017
posted by Vaike at 8:33 AM on March 9, 2017
The fact that this stopped when you unplugged the phone leads me to believe that it has nothing to do with someone having access to the phone. The power cord isn't at all related to the network someone would use to hack your phone.
posted by cnc at 9:04 AM on March 9, 2017
posted by cnc at 9:04 AM on March 9, 2017
Response by poster: Cool, I am feeling so much better now, ( removes hat and places tentatively in recycle bin). Thanks everyone!
posted by haikuku at 12:26 PM on March 9, 2017
posted by haikuku at 12:26 PM on March 9, 2017
My classic ipod would change volume and various things because of some grounding issue on the audio line to the car, not even plugged in to power. I got a filtered cable and it stopped.
posted by bongo_x at 11:32 AM on March 10, 2017
posted by bongo_x at 11:32 AM on March 10, 2017
Is it a iPhone 6+? Sounds like: Touch Disease.
If that's what it is and your phone is out of warranty, Apple should fix it for their $149 iPhone service price. If still under warranty, they should replace the phone.
posted by sideshow at 10:54 AM on March 13, 2017
If that's what it is and your phone is out of warranty, Apple should fix it for their $149 iPhone service price. If still under warranty, they should replace the phone.
posted by sideshow at 10:54 AM on March 13, 2017
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posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:31 AM on March 9, 2017 [8 favorites]