What is watchware?

Watchware is monitoring software that does not try to hide from the person using the phone, such as a parental control or family safety app.

Echap, which maintains a public list of indicators for both kinds of app, separates watchware from stalkerware. Both are built for surveillance, but watchware does not try to conceal what it does. [1]

Why it matters on Android

Watchware and stalkerware can use the same Android features: location, notification access, the accessibility service or device admin. What separates them is how they are used. Watchware is meant to be visible and used with the knowledge of the person being monitored, for example a parent and a child who have agreed on it.

An openly installed app can still be used in a controlling way. If a monitoring app is on a phone without the owner’s agreement, the owner may want to review it calmly and talk to a support service before removing it, because removal can alert the person who set it up.

How Applore uses it

When Applore’s Needs your review check finds a family or parental app installed from an app store, it labels it a monitoring app, not spyware. That lets you check whether you know about the app and agreed to it. Sideloaded apps that behave like hidden monitoring apps are flagged at a higher level. The guide to parental and family apps vs stalkerware explains the labels, and how detection works covers the signals.