3 common smartphone myths you probably thought were true

Our smartphones are often the first thing we touch in the morning, and they come with us everywhere we go. You probably think about your phone a lot, whether you like it or not. 

It makes sense, then, that there are all kinds of phone myths in our culture. People suspect their phones are eavesdropping on  them, believe folk tales about how to make them run faster, and maybe even wonder if they can start fires. Here are three common myths about phones, fact-checked for accuracy. 

Your phone can’t blow up a gas station

This is an extremely old myth, about as old as cellphones themselves. It’s also prevalent enough that, to this day, some gas stations have signs warning people not to use their phone while refueling. The idea is that your phone might emit a spark that could ignite gasoline vapors. 

This has seemingly never happened, though. The Petroleum Institute says on their website that they “have not documented a single incident that was caused by a cellular telephone.” And if that’s not enough, TV’s Mythbusters tried to blow up a gas station with a cellphone back in 2003—they couldn’t manage it. 

Which isn’t to say that it’s a great idea to be staring at your phone while refueling the car. It’s always a good idea to pay attention during the refueling process, if only to make sure you’re not accidentally pouring fuel on the ground (or yourself). If your phone rings, though, you can answer without worrying about starting an explosion. 

Your phone (probably) isn’t always listening to you

Many people believe that phones are constantly listening to our conversations and using that information to serve us ads on social media.. Most people have some kind of story that convinces them this is the case—they mentioned a particular product in a conversation only to see an ad for it on Instagram the next day, for example. It’s an intuitive explanation for the very real privacy invasions we all experience, but no researcher has ever conclusively demonstrated it’s happening. 

Consumer Reports stated in 2018 that “researchers have failed to find any evidence of such snooping,” and there’s still no definitive study showing this is the case. While it’s true that both Android and iOS phones listen for their trigger words (“Hey Google” or “Siri”), there’s no evidence that they’re recording everything and sending out transcripts. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that would absolutely yell loudly about this issue if they could find any evidence, says the real problem is even worse: 

Generally, the data isn’t coming from your microphone—it’s coming from the shady “data broker” market and giant ad platforms that track you across the web, then make very educated guesses about your buying habits.

It’s understandable if you’re paranoid—advertising can be uncannily accurate. But tech companies are more than capable of disturbingly accurate advertisements without recording your everyday conversations. 

Closing apps doesn’t improve performance or save battery life

Your phone is about to die so you manually close all the applications you’ve left open. It seems intuitive enough, but it isn’t actually helpful—and it might actually be slowing you down. 

Closing apps on your phone doesn’t work the same way as on a computer, something I mentioned in an article about battery myths. Both the Android and iPhone operating systems suspend applications that aren’t actively open. These apps are basically suspended, meaning that closing them doesn’t free up any resources. 

You don’t have to take my word for this. Neither Google nor Apple suggest closing apps in order to save battery or system resources on their websites. Craig Federighi, SVP of Software Engineering at Apple, has publicly said closing apps doesn’t help with battery life. If anything, closing apps might make things worse, because your phone will have to fully reload the application the next time you launch it. 

If you’re concerned about conserving battery life, there’s a better option: the battery saver mode on your phone. It’s found in the system tray of both operating systems, and it turns off background processes. You’ll get notifications a little more slowly, but your battery will last a lot longer. Try that next time you need a little more life out of your phone instead of wasting your time closing applications. 

 

More deals, reviews, and buying guides

The PopSci team has tested hundreds of products and spent thousands of hours trying to find the best gear and gadgets you can buy.