My Phone Started Recording Me While I Slept”

I don’t remember giving my phone permission to record me.
That’s the part that keeps me awake.
I noticed it in the morning, half-asleep and reaching for my phone out of habit. A notification sat at the top of my screen, calm and ordinary.
Sleep Session Saved — 6h 42m
I don’t use sleep apps.
I tapped it, expecting a glitch. Instead, a dark interface opened. A clean waveform. Timestamps. Everything looked intentional—professional, even.
Recorded: 2:11 AM – 2:24 AM
My stomach tightened.
I pressed play.
At first, it was just background noise. The refrigerator. Distant traffic. Then my breathing—slow, deep, unaware. Hearing yourself asleep feels wrong, like reading someone else’s private thoughts.
I was about to close it when my breathing stopped.
The silence stretched too long.
Then I heard footsteps.
Soft. Careful. Inside my apartment.
I sat up so fast I felt dizzy. The recording continued. A faint creak near my bedroom door. Fabric brushing against something. Movement that sounded deliberate, restrained.
Then a whisper, so close it distorted the audio.
“He’s still asleep.”
I dropped the phone.
I checked every lock, every window. Nothing was disturbed. No signs of anyone being there. I tried to delete the app.
It wouldn’t let me.
When I held the icon down, there was no uninstall option. Just a line of text beneath it.
Recording improves with familiarity.
That night, I turned my phone off completely. I left it on the kitchen counter, face-down, disconnected.
I still woke up at 3:00 AM to find it warm.
Powered on.
Another notification waiting.
The next recording was worse.
It started with a clicking sound—like a microphone being activated manually. Then a voice spoke. Calm. Clinical. Not mine.
“Subject is restless tonight.”
I heard myself shift in bed.
“Increased awareness detected.”
A pause.
Then a soft laugh.
“They always think it’s the phone.”
I didn’t sleep after that.
The recordings came every night. Longer. Clearer. Sometimes there were multiple voices. They talked about me like I wasn’t human—like I was data.
Heart rate. Fear response. Attachment.
One night, I heard myself speak.
I don’t remember waking up, but there was my voice, quiet and empty.
“Am I doing better?” I asked.
“Yes,” one of them replied gently. “You’re learning.”
That was when fear shifted into something worse.
Familiarity.
They started using my name. Mentioned memories I’d never shared online. Childhood moments. Private thoughts. Dreams I barely remembered myself.
They knew me.
On the final night, the app saved a video.
I didn’t know my phone could record video with the screen off.
The footage was grainy, green-tinted, like night vision. My bedroom, seen from the upper corner near the ceiling—an angle that shouldn’t exist.
I watched myself sleeping.
Then something stepped into frame.
Tall. Indistinct. Its face never fully focused, like the camera refused to understand it. It leaned over my bed, studying me with something almost gentle.
It reached out.
Touched my forehead.
In the video, my eyes opened.
And I smiled.
I woke up gasping.
My phone buzzed immediately.
Recording Complete — Integration Successful
I don’t try to delete the app anymore. I don’t listen to the recordings. I barely sleep.
But sometimes, late at night, when my phone grows warm in my hand, I feel calmer. Less alone. Like something is watching over me—learning me—handling things while I rest.
And just before I drift off, I hear a whisper that doesn’t come from the phone.
“Don’t worry. We’ll take over while you sleep.”