How Was My Safari History Viewed?

My girlfriend recently confronted me about a couple websites I'd visited. I don't know how she could have found this out so now I'm paranoid about how someone can see my browsing history without having access to my phone.

I have an iPhone 5s. Sometimes I'm on her apartment's Wifi, other times I'm not. I likely would have used a private tab at the time, but I don't know for sure. I had iCloud turned on at the time, but it should not have been set to sync with Safari. At any rate, I've never logged into iCloud on a computer other than my work computer, so I don't know why my phone's activity would be visible on her MacBook, which is the only computer in the apartment, or her own 5s.

I know when I visited the sites I was at her apartment. She didn't give any specifics about what I was looking at, just what sort of sites they were. I have no idea if she was going by pictures, site names, or something else entirely.

My thoughts are she's able to see websites visited over her WiFi or there was/is some connection between my phone and her MacBook/5s.

I'm also worried this is something that isn't unique to her apartment, but something she can see even if I'm at my own apartment, or that someone else could see if they wanted.

She's not a technologically savvy person, at least no more than me, and I'm just a regular guy who goes with factory defaults, so I really don't know how she could have found this out.

I know this isn't something she would have gone looking for but would have more than likely just stubbled upon. I hate going behind her back like this, but I also can't stand not knowing how I, apparently, have no privacy.

I'm posting this from my work computer and I'm even paranoid this can be seen too...

theapplefanboyj said:

Maybe she looked at the search history on her router?

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I've read online that's not easily done. Are there ways to view the router history as quickly and effortlessly as in a web browser?

cbreze said:

Sorry I'm not tech savvy enough, but had a GF once that did similar things and didn't notice the "red flag" this raised in the relationship till later. She was doing other snooping I hadn't realized and bottom line there was no trust, hence no relationship can survive without that. Maybe take this as a "heads up" , just sayin', be aware.

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I can appreciate the way it looks to an outsider but I know it's not a recurring issue. There's no lack of trust or snooping going on. She was hurt, not mad, so it's not information I expect her to be actively seeking out.

I want to know what's going on just so I can feel less paranoid in all facets of my life/internet usage.

cbreze said:

Just relaying my personal experience, no offense meant. Scary tho what your saying is being done. Ive often wondered how safe WiFi is from anyone who knows how to snoop. One reason I never use public WiFi. Hope you get it sorted out, keep us posted. I'm as curious as the next guy as to how this can be done.

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No offense taken. Hopefully someone can shed some light on what's going on.

It's the kind of thing I'd suspect my dad would have been aware of when I was living at home. He knows his way around a computer like no one else I know, so even if it wasn't as obvious as looking at a list of site names he would have known where to go for the information, or at least said something even if he didn't seek it out.

That's why I'm most suspicious of iCloud right now. I'm guessing the browsing history was shared somehow, but I don't know why it would have happened if I'd never been logged in. I'm worried there's a connection between the WiFi and the computer where it shares mobile information/screen activity regardless of which phone is in use, and that the connection isn't lost even when away from that WiFi source, but just saved as a connected device.

Is it possible for an iPhone on WiFi to be mirrored on another device (computer or second iPhone) that's using the same WiFi connection?

Example:

My iPhone is on MacRumors while using ABC WiFi
A Macbook which is also on ABC WiFi displays the MacRumors activity of my iPhone (or creates an entry in the Safari browser history)

Would this be possible? Or is the only way it's possible for my phone to transmit information to another device through iCloud or direct connection (lightning cable)?

AronDraws said:

a shot in the dark, but I was looking at wireless routers today to replace ours that died, and some of the cheapest ones offer a basic dashboard you can view on a computer-- and that includes this feature:

Broadband Usage Meter – Monitors Internet traffic and sends customized reports to help keep costs under control

ANY chance she could have been looking at this kind of data via her router or modem? Maybe it was giving her a list of visited sites?

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Possibly. I don't know why it would have come up or how she would have come across it, but if it's the sort of thing she might have just stumbled across that'd be a better explanation than an iCloud glitch. A lot less stressful to think about, that is.

Ken Kaniff said:

OP's gonna be REALLY freaked out when he realizes the NSA is snooping on him I think...

EVERYTHING you do, say, calls, texts, emails... ALL stored on a server.

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Haha, I've accepted that. It's the face-to-face that's got me stressed.