What is spyware?

Spyware is software that secretly collects what a person does on their phone or computer, such as messages, location, photos or what they type, and passes it to someone else.

The word covers a wide range: apps that a criminal spreads to steal passwords, advertising tools that track more than they say, and apps that one person installs to watch another. Safety organisations use stalkerware for that last group. [1]

Spyware, stalkerware and “spy apps”

• Spyware is the broad word: any app that secretly collects what you do.
• Stalkerware is spyware that someone who knows you installs to monitor you, usually with brief access to your unlocked phone. The Coalition Against Stalkerware defines it as tools that let someone secretly spy on another person’s private life through their mobile device. [2]
• “Spy app” is the everyday name for the same thing. Many are sold openly as parental or employee monitoring apps, which is why Applore calls those watchware or monitoring apps when they come from an app store.

Why it matters on Android

On Android, an app can be installed from outside an app store (sideloading), so someone with your PIN can add one in a few minutes. Spyware of this kind often hides its icon and asks for powerful access: the accessibility service, notification access or device admin. Android shows that access in Settings, which is what a check looks for.

Removing a monitoring app can alert the person who installed it. If that could put someone at risk, it helps to talk to a support service first.

How Applore uses it

What Applore checks for is narrower than spyware in general. Its Suspicious App Checker compares installed apps with a reviewed list of known stalkerware and harmful apps, built from Echap’s public indicators [3] and indicators from the Mobile Verification Toolkit project and ESET, and flags apps from outside an app store that behave like hidden monitoring apps. The check runs on your phone. How to check an Android phone for spyware and stalkerware shows the manual checks too.