You may have heard of Nokia Spy Phones (or “Stealth” phones as they are sometimes known). Here are some examples. So how would you like to turn your own phone into a covert listening device? Here’s how….
Disclaimer
I will not be held responsible for any damage you may inflict on your handset, nor any consequences which result from you implementing the techniques you read here.
Please be aware that in many countries, the use of covert surveillence devices is illegal. You must check the legality of your proposed actions before you implement them!!!Useful information on international privacy laws and covert surveillance can be found on this page and also on the BBC website.
About the Device
There a few ways of doing it, but for this post I will focus on two low cost and relatively simple methods; the first can be used on almost any mobile phone, while the second is geared to older Nokia handsets. There are more complicated and covert methods which can be used on more recent handsets, but I will probably detail these in a later post. Once you have ‘adapted’ your handset to become a “listening device”, you will be able to call it remotely and listen to the sounds in the room where it has been left.
Method One
The first method is so simple you’ll probably wonder why you hadn’t thought of it before! It involves no “hacking” of your hardware, and all that is required is your handset and a handsfree headset.
Here’s what you do:
- Plug in your headset and activate it if required. You should notice on your screen that the “headset” profile has been activated.
- Go into your “profiles” menu.
- Set the ringer volume to “silent” (no vibration!) and activate the “automatic answer” function.
- Make sure this trick works by calling your handset from another phone and you should see that the phone picks up the call silently by itself, allowing you to hear what is going on near the handset.
Now all you have to do is experiment with placement!
Of course, there are some drawbacks with this method: with the headset in place, the phone is more bulky and cannot be so easily hidden. Also, attention may be drawn to it as the screen may still flash when another person calls. A similar menu is accessible when the handset is placed in a car handsfree kit. However, you cannot access the headset/car menus unless a headset/car kit is plugged in.
Method Two
So here’s another method which works with older type Nokia handsets (5510, 6110, 6210, 6310 are easier, though you can use 3210, 3310 amd 3330, etc). For the purpose of clarity, I’ll assume you’re working with a 6210 or similar handset on which the “pins” are visible at the base of the phone close to where the charger plugs in. Other models, such as the 3310, can also be easily adapted as I will explain later in this guide.
Please note: This method does involve “hacking” the hardware of your handset!
- At the base of your phone where the charger plugs in, you should see a row of ‘pins’ which look like the diagram below:
The “O” is where the charger plugs in to the phone. The grey lines are the long silver pins and the yellow ones are the shorter copper pins. - You need to short pins 3, 6 and 9 (highlighted in red in the diagram below).
- This will cause the handset to “hang” after which the “headset” menu will become available.
- You should then alter the profile settings as in the first method so that “automatic answer” is enabled and the phone is on silent mode.
If you are still concerned that the screen will flash when a call is received, thus drawing attention to the handset, you may want to consider replacing the screen with one which is broken or doesn’t work. Alternatively, you could put a thin piece of paper between the contacts on the screen and the phone so that the screen does not operate, though I wouldn’t recommend this as it could cause permanant damage to the handset! At the moment, I do not know of any other method by which you can stop anything appearing on the screen when a call is received, though I will update this post if I find one!
More information and legitimate uses
As I mentioned earlier, this guide is orientated for use with the 6210 or similar handsets which have the six pins visible at the base of the handset.
Other handsets such as the 3310 and 8210 can also be adapted though this would involve dismanting the handset with the use of a torx mobile phone screwdriver in order to access the “charging port” near the base of the phone.
The pins which you need to short on these models are different to those mentioned above!
Instead, you would need to short only pins 4 and 5 which are just visible if you look inside the hole where the handsfree kit would plug in. Once you have access to the pins, it is relatively easy to do. The screwdrivers themselves are not expensive and can be purchased readily on Ebay for a few pounds.
As I have already stated, the use of covert surveillance devices is illegal in many countries. As fas as I am aware, in the UK, it is not illegal to posess such a device, but it is illegal to use it to “spy” on another person without their express permission. Legitimate and lawful uses of the “spy phone” would be as a baby monitoring device, for example, or in experimenting with the transmission of sounds on your own property.
But whichever way you choose to use this method, I hope you do this lawfully and have fun!
