Possibly Hacked 12 pro max

My son is convinced his phone has been hacked. He’s become incredibly paranoid to the point we are going to talk to his doctor. I’m trying my best to help walk him through this and figure out what’s a possibility and what is him spinning things. I could use some help please. He’s contacted Apple several times and we’ve paid for a subscription to look for spy and malware all have shown nothing.

his battery dies fast(though he’s on it a lot), there are no unusual apps though he says he’s been locked out of his Apple account. Tech walked him through and it seems ok. He hears static and swears he hears clicking and breathing on the phone. He says he doesn’t believe he was texting Apple support and that someone else was responding because they used ;) and he doesn’t think Apple would do that because it’s not professional. He manically switches screens and says the Apple icon won’t show up instead it’s a building image but maybe this is due to him constantly switching back and forth on screens?


he’s not sleeping which isn’t helping and now he says that his phone was powered off and charging and he heard breathing coming from his phone. Again I will be speaking to his doctor tomorrow when they open but for now can someone please tell me if there is any possibility that if a phone was hacked, can you hear them breathing? I am thinking there is no way, but I want to make sure I know what I’m talking about. Especially if the phone was powered off.


can you please confirm that if a phone is hacked, can they just view your info, location and listen to you but not communicate with you? I’m trying my best right now balancing a lot and I’m worried for his mental health but also for his safety if someone is truly spying on him. Do the malware detectors identify most if not all phones that have been hacked? We used the company Apple suggested. He also doesn’t believe the person we spoke to is actually from Apple. 😕. Thank you so much for your help. I truly appreciate it.

Posted on Dec 27, 2020 1:19 PM

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Dec 27, 2020 1:33 PM in response to Spat1079

This is a user-to-user forum, we don't work for Apple however I will try my best to help you, it sounds like you're in a tricky situation and I hope I can help provide information to put your mind at rest and help your son.


If you believe his Apple ID has been hacked/compromised you can take a look here, I would recommend enabling two-factor-authorisation on his account too (and changing passwords), this means that whenever someone tries to log into his account then it will send a notification to your son's phone, it will give him a pop-up when someone is trying to log-in which states their location and he'll need to approve that with a code, meaning he is in full control.

If you think your Apple ID has been compromised - Apple Support


You should look to contact Apple through the Support app on your phone if you have it or use Contact - Official Apple Support (UK)

Apple have some of the friendliest customer service staff around, they have used emojis to me sometimes too when contacting them, it's just adding the personal touch. If you still feel uneasy and want to speak to an Apple employee, you could make an appointment at your local Apple Store if one is open near you, then you'll know they work for Apple.


I haven't heard of that issue before with the noise, are you sure there isn't any videos playing or your son isn't on the call?

If you can record the noise, we might be able to help with that.


Based on everything you've said, I think it is unlikely your son's phone has been hacked but if you follow the steps above you might be able to check if his Apple ID has been, but as you've checked for unusual activity and found nothing, that might not be the case either.


If I can answer anymore questions, please reply to this and I'll try my best to help you, I don't want your son missing anymore sleep over this!

Dec 27, 2020 2:04 PM in response to Ijustwanttolookattheforums

Thank you so much for your response. I explained to him it doesn’t look possible for him to hear a hacker on his phone. He swears he heard breathing and gulping and at one point a phone ringing. I honestly think he is so convinced he is imagining some of this. He is obsessively looking through the analytic codes and even though I show him my phone which has the same or similar he doesn’t believe me. He sees data being used when he says he wasn’t in the app and we’ve tried to explain apps run in the background. And he’s says he shut them down and they shouldn’t be using anything.


I appreciate your help so much. I think he’s starting to come around. I just called Apple to confirm his appointment which he thought was all a fake person setting with him. So that helped too. He was convinced that the Apple support texts he had were all the hacker and not Apple. I don’t believe he was hacked but if he was, we’ve done all we could to wipe it with the malware subscription and he is going to have Apple wipe his phone. Thank you again!!

Dec 27, 2020 2:11 PM in response to Spat1079

There have been some reports of Iphone 12 making some noise (hissing, crackling but at very low level) while charging - even when off. I believe this to be due to the magsafe magnets in the phone reacting to electrical charging currents. (like the magnet in a speaker does). Doesn't happen to mine though.


This might explain the sounds he is hearing. Imagination will do the rest.

Dec 27, 2020 5:46 PM in response to frazzm737

Thank you. As I said above I will be calling in the morning. He has ocd which makes things like this worse. He’s just never been this bad. It’s upsetting to think someone is tracking your moves and phone, but it’s hard to tell what’s real and what is his imagination feeding which is why I asked here if anyone has heard of these issues or if it was even a possibility.


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Possibly Hacked 12 pro max

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