Battery power alone can be used to track Android phones

“We only assume permission for network connectivity and access to the power data.

 

“These are very common permissions for an application, and are unlikely to raise suspicion on the part of the victim.”

 

There are 179 apps currently available on Android app store Google Play that request this information, the team add.

 

Activity such as listening to music, activating maps, taking voice calls or using social media all drain the battery but this can be discounted due to “machine learning”, the report says.

 

“Intuitively the reason why all this noise does not mislead our algorithms is that the noise is not correlated with the phone’s location,” it says.

 

Read More: BBC News – Battery power alone can be used to track Android phones