Spy apps, also known as stalker apps, track and monitor devices secretly. Once installed and hidden on a phone, you can track someone's location, monitor their web search history, receive alerts for specific web search terms, remotely control the camera and microphone, read all incoming messages, and more.
While spyware's impact on national security frequently hits the news headlines, the hidden world of spy apps also allows people to track each other's phones, raising serious privacy concerns.
Antivirus company Avast reports that mobile stalkerware encounters have increased by a staggering 239% worldwide over the past three years. According to a European Parliament survey, approximately 1-3% of European women have been victims of cyberstalking. Additionally, 30% of respondents believe that it is acceptable to monitor a partner without their consent in certain circumstances, such as suspected infidelity, safety concerns, or suspected criminal activity.
Spy app promotion strategy
Many of these apps are advertised as tools for covert phone monitoring, often by hiding their icons or disguising themselves as other apps on the victim's device.
Although these apps are primarily used by couples to spy on each other, many promotional websites claim that they are primarily aimed at parents who want to track their children's phone usage and location.
This is because in most countries, it is illegal to install applications on someone else's phone without their permission. However, the rules are different for minors: parents, who are the owners of the device, can install apps on their children's phones without their consent. By selling apps this way, developers are trying to distance themselves from illegal uses of their products.
Another tactic spy apps use to comply with the law is to claim that users must comply with the law. They may even require users to fill out certain forms to verify that they have permission to install the app. However, this often contradicts their marketing, which touts the app as undetectable and covert.
Why and how spy apps are used
This type of marketing is necessary for spy apps because they are linked to crimes such as child pornography, identity fraud, blackmail, domestic violence (including partner, child and parent abuse), human trafficking, and in some cases, serious violence, including murder.
People spy on their partners for a variety of reasons: to gather evidence of infidelity, to check their partner's loyalty, to understand changes in their partner's behavior, etc. Additionally, some people monitor their partner's device data and accounts to track their activities.
Signs your phone may be being monitored
If someone has access to your device, if you receive a device from someone else, or if you leave your phone with someone who you don't think knows the password, your phone could be at risk of being monitored.
These apps are designed to blend in with the normal functions of your device and are often advertised as undetectable. They may appear under different names in your app list. For example, an app may be listed as “iPhoneInternalService” on an iPhone and “Update Service” on an Android device. Some apps disguise themselves as games or calculators.
To detect a spy app on your phone, look for the following signs:
- An unusually high bill.
- There was a problem during shutdown.
- Storage space has been reduced.
- This will cause the battery to wear out faster.
- Overheating.
- Your mobile data usage has increased.
- Your messages can be read and opened without your knowledge.
You can investigate further by:
- Check your browser history and App Store/Google Play for unfamiliar search terms.
- Look for changes in settings, especially if a legitimate app has unusual permissions.
- Identify unknown apps in process on your Android device.
- Make sure that the built-in security tool, Play Protect, isn't disabled on your Android device.
Steps to keep your phone safe
To keep your phone safe, you can take precautions like monitoring who has access to your device. Other steps you can take include:
- Set up face and fingerprint authentication to prevent unauthorized access.
- Track which apps are accessing your camera or GPS tracking, and limit these permissions to a few necessary apps.
- Use apps created to detect spy software. Be careful when installing anti-spy apps, as they may notify the person who installed the spy app on your device. Specialized solutions are available that can detect spy apps without notifying the person behind them.
- Use iOS Lockdown Mode to thwart spy apps.
Safety measures in the face of spy app-related crimes
If you find a spy app on your device, don't immediately remove it or restrict access to it, as this could alert the person spying on you and put you at risk. They may resort to other means of control or even violence.
Police may meet with victims via regular mail and in familiar, neutral locations, such as their workplace or a local grocery store. During the interview, the victim's phone can be placed in a Faraday bag, a special bag made of conductive materials such as metal mesh that forms a shield to prevent electromagnetic fields from entering or leaving the bag, blocking all wireless signals such as GPS and Wi-Fi, making the device appear temporarily turned off to anyone attempting to spy on it. This allows the phone to be quickly examined using spy apps as evidence in a court case.