Someone had your phone? What to check when you get it back

Before you change anything

Situations this covers

Phones change hands for ordinary reasons. This guide is for any of them:

• the phone was at a repair shop or with a courier;
• you lent it to a friend, colleague or family member;
• you share a home, and the phone was left unlocked or someone knows your PIN;
• the phone was lost for a while and then returned.

In most of these cases nothing will have changed. The checks below take a few minutes and tell you what is set now.

What to check first

Menu names differ between phone makers and Android versions. If you cannot find a screen, open Settings and use the search bar.

If you find something you did not set, note what it is and when you noticed it before you decide what to do.

Before you hand your phone over

When you know in advance that someone will have your phone, a few steps limit what they can reach. Menu names differ between phone makers.

• Back up first. Especially before a repair, back up photos, contacts and anything else you want to keep.
• Use app pinning for a quick lend. Android’s App pinning (search Settings for it) keeps the phone on one app until it is unlocked again. It suits handing someone your phone to make a call or look at a photo.
• Ask about a repair mode. Some phone makers offer a repair or maintenance mode that hides your data while the phone is being serviced. Check your phone maker’s help pages.
• Change your PIN afterwards if you had to share it.
• Note the date. If something changes later, knowing when the phone was out of your hands helps.

Next time: take a snapshot first

“Someone had your phone?” is an Applore Pro feature. Before you hand your phone over, you take a snapshot. When you get it back, you tap Check my phone, and Applore compares the two moments and lists what changed, most serious first. It can show:

• new, removed, replaced, updated or reinstalled apps, and whether a new app came from an app store;
• an app that was given accessibility access, notification access or device admin rights;
• a different keyboard;
• a removed screen lock;
• developer options or USB debugging turned on.

The snapshot and the comparison stay on your phone and are never uploaded. Only take a new snapshot while the phone is in your hands, because anything changed before a new snapshot will not show up in the next check. The privacy policy describes what the snapshot contains.

How to check with Applore

These tools are free in both Applore Free and Applore Pro, and safety screens show no ads:

• Safety Check walks you through the settings above, plus Google account, Maps, Photos, Gmail and WhatsApp settings. It opens each screen and lets you mark it as checked. See the Android phone safety checklist.
• Needs your review checks installed apps against a reviewed list of known stalkerware, and flags apps that need your review, such as a sideloaded app with a hidden icon and accessibility access. Each flagged app shows a level:

Known monitoring appHighWorth a lookNot flagged

• Quick exit leaves Applore in one tap and removes it from Recents.

How detection works explains each signal.

What Applore cannot do

The snapshot check compares two moments in time. It cannot see everything an app does, and it will not catch every kind of monitoring. A difference is information, not proof that someone did something, and no difference does not prove nothing happened. If a change listed is one you did not make, review it.

Get support

If what you find worries you, a support service can help you decide what to do next. Before removing any app, read before you remove a suspicious app: removal can alert the person who installed it and deletes evidence you may want later. Applore includes support contacts for India, the United States and the United Kingdom, plus global options; see domestic abuse and cyber crime hotlines. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.

More guides are on the safety guides page.