India, Nov. 15 -- It's a digital coincidence that we've all had. You shop for a pair of running shoes or mention a weekend getaway in passing, and minutes later you're inundated with ads for those same shoes, and that same weekend getaway, on Instagram, in Google searches and in your mobile news feed.

Contrary to popular belief, seeing these ads does not necessarily mean today's smartphones are secretly listening to every word you say. Apps and advertising platforms can use a tremendous amount of behavioural data, including your search history, browsing activity, location and app interactions, to build advertising profiles.

The good news is that Apple iOS 26 and Google Android 17 give you privacy controls to limit some of this data acce...