How to check an Android phone for stalkerware
Ways to check with Android Settings and with Applore, and what a result can and cannot tell you.
Safety
Safety guides: check your Android phone, calmly and safely
These phone safety guides for Android are for anyone who thinks someone else may have access to their phone. Each one explains what to check, what a result does and does not mean, and where to get help. Read at your own pace.
Reading these guides safely
If you are not safe to read this now, come back later. If someone else can see your phone or browser, consider reading on a device they cannot access, such as a friend’s phone or a library computer, or use your browser’s private window and close it when you finish.
Nothing on these pages asks you to act straight away. Looking at lists in Android Settings does not change anything on the phone. Changing or removing an app can be noticed, so each guide explains what to think about before you do.
Start here
Three guides to read first
If you only read three pages, read these. They are written so you can stop at any point.
Before you remove a suspicious app
Removing a monitoring app can alert the person who installed it. Think through these steps first.
Get help: support hotlines
Where to find domestic abuse and cyber crime support, in your country or worldwide.
Check your settings
Settings worth reviewing on Android
Monitoring apps usually need special access that you can see in Settings. These guides show where to look, on stock Android and on Samsung phones.
Accessibility services
Apps with accessibility access can read the screen and act for you. See which apps have it.
Device admin apps
Device admin apps are harder to uninstall. Check that you recognise each one.
Notification access
Apps with notification access can read message previews as they arrive.
Hidden apps
How to find apps that have no icon on your home screen or in the app drawer.
Apps from outside an app store
What a sideloaded app is, and how to see where an app came from.
Android phone safety checklist
A step-by-step list of the settings and account screens worth a look.
Situations
Guides for particular situations
Signs a phone may be monitored
Which signs are worth checking, which are usually something else, and what none of them prove.
Someone had your phone: what to check
What to look at after a phone was out of your hands, including Applore’s snapshot check (Pro).
Monitoring apps and stalkerware
How family and parental apps differ from stalkerware, and why Applore labels them differently.
Google Play Protect and stalkerware
What Play Protect checks, why it is worth turning on, and why a second look still helps.
How Applore's check works, and its limits
Applore’s free Needs your review check compares the apps installed on your phone with a reviewed list of known stalkerware, and flags apps from outside an app store that behave like hidden monitoring apps, such as a hidden icon combined with accessibility or notification access. The check runs on your phone, and the safety screens show no ads.
Read how Applore’s stalkerware check works, or see what the check reads in the privacy policy.
Keeping a record
If you find an app you do not recognise, a record of what you saw can help an advocate, a lawyer or the police. How to keep a record of a suspicious app covers what to write down, how to do it safely, and how Applore creates a report on your phone that only you choose to share.
Get support
The Applore app includes support contacts for India, the United States and the United Kingdom, plus global options. If you live somewhere else, search for a domestic abuse helpline in your country. Support hotlines and how to reach them lists where to start. If you are in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number.
Related
Check your phone with Applore
Manage apps and files, lock private apps, and check for known stalkerware.