The idea of spying gets a bad rep. People think of sneaking around, eavesdropping, watching through binoculars, and so on. But that’s not really how spying apps work.
There are some really good reasons why you should consider getting a spying app. For starters, think about all the hidden threats out there these days. These threats aren’t physical, but they are just as dangerous. A combination of two technologies is what we are concerned about – smartphones and the internet.
There are plenty of dangers lurking around on the internet such as scammers, fraudsters, cybercriminals, temptations and predators. Thanks to smartphones, they have a direct line to you, your family, and even your spouse and employees.
Using a spying app is the best way to steer clear of such problems and keep your close ones safe and on track.
However, they can also be expensive. We’ve selected the best free spying apps for those who want safety at an affordable rate!
How Spying Apps Work
So, exactly what do we mean by a spying app?
Simply put, it is an app that you can put on a mobile phone. Generally, the spying app stays hidden and cannot be detected by the phone’s user.
A spying app provides a ton of utility in different ways. Let’s consider a few basic features most spying apps share and how they can be helpful.
GPS and Location Tracking
GPS and Location Tracking is a common feature. You can see where your target (children, loved ones, employees – whomever you choose to track) is at the moment. This can be used to keep them safe – if they are in an accident, you’ll immediately know their location and can rush over.
Or it could be used to keep an eye on any suspicious behavior. Did your kids leave school and go truant for the day? Did your spouse just lie to you about their location and is hanging out somewhere else? Are one of your loved ones hanging around the dangerous part of town?
The location tracker can reveal these and help you take action. Another use of this feature is if you have employees to monitor. You can see exactly when they arrive and leave the office, and if they are working overtime or not.
Monitoring Messages
Let’s consider another feature, message monitoring. This is a very important feature.
If you are monitoring your kids, then this feature is a must-have. There are so many potential dangers kids can face if they browse the internet without proper supervision. They could be exposed to mature or adult content. They could be targeted for scams and frauds. They could be targeted by predators. The list goes on. The same thing goes for your spouse, because don't you want to know if your spouse is secretly talking to other people (or worse)?
Since it’s not feasible to restrict them from the internet entirely without affecting their education and social life, we have to go for the second-best option: monitoring everything.
You don’t know who’s lurking behind the shadows
Controlling Apps and Internet Activity
Limiting internet activity is a really important feature that every spying app should have.
Are your employees wasting their precious working time on mobile games, on your dime? Using a spying app, it only takes one tap to block their favorite game until they get back to doing what you pay them to do!
There is a lot of content on the internet that is for mature or adult audiences. This content can harm a child and their development if they are exposed to it too much at a young age. Filtering out such content, plus restricting other internet activity, are both necessary.
Other Tracking and Spying Features
There are lots of miscellaneous spying features and tools. Want to know what mysterious messages your spouse is typing all day? Install a spying app with a keylogger on their phone so everything they type down is visible.
Do you suspect your kids of sharing graphic or mature photos with their friends? Use a screen-recorder to record exactly what’s shown on the screen and decide if it is acceptable or not.
Our Top Picks for Spying Apps
Here are our top picks for the best free spying apps. We understand not everyone wants to or can shell out the large monthly subscriptions for these. Instead, we’ve collected the best app that has a free version – whether a free trial, full refunds, or limited free editions.
Mspy
Mspy might just be the most well-known spying app out there. It has a laundry list of features that can help you monitor others. Here are most of the important features of Mspy and how they can be very useful.
GPS and Location Tracking
Mspy has two important features here: GPS tracker and Geo-Fencing. With the tracker, you can know your
Reading Messages
Mspy covers most of the popular messaging apps. This includes WhatsApp, Snapchat, Messenger, iMessage, Skype, Telegram, Hangouts, Line, Viber, Kik, and Instagram.
Controlling Apps and Programs
With Mspy, you can directly control what apps and programs can be used. You can view a full list of all installed apps and limit or restrict the use of any of them.
Internet Activity Monitoring
Browsing history, Bookmarks, and a list of Wi-Fi Networks the phone connected to can all be displayed. You can also block websites and set up keywords that alert you when searched.
Pros
- Full Refund if requested within the period of time
- Lots of features available for iOS devices without jailbreaking
- Full customer support in multiple languages
Cons
- Expensive premium subscription price unless you buy a whole year at once
- Only one device per subscription
- Your child might be getting bullied
eyeZy
eyeZy purports to be the best spying or monitoring app out there for this decade. They leverage artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies and tools to ensure that your loved ones are monitored thoroughly.
eyeZy has all the major features any spying app needs. Plus, their pricing plans are relatively economical. They start at just $9.99 a month at minimum for first-time subscribers, and only $14.27 for existing users.
Here are some of eyeZy’s highlights.
Keylogging and Screen Recording
With eyeZy, you can read every single keystroke the monitored person makes. This gives you a perfect view of their plans and if they are trying to hide anything. The same goes for screen recording, which shows you everything they see on their phones.
Magic Alerts
Remember we mentioned how eyeZy uses AI to help you monitor someone? Magic alerts combine keywords and geo-fencing into one, alerting you to any kind of suspicious or dangerous behavior.
Phone Analyzer
The phone analyzer covers all sorts of analytics and data about who they called, when, and how long. You could build a comprehensive picture of the target’s phone calling habits and figure out if they are up to anything strange or if they’re hiding anything.
Connection Blocker
In addition to blocking websites and apps, you can also block Wi-Fi entirely. If your child is misbehaving and needs a timeout, consider blocking them from the home Wi-Fi for a day!
Pros
- AI-Powered tools can highlight notable things easily
- Magic Alerts cover a lot of use cases, alerting you to any potential issues
- Can get very, very cheap pricing, down to $9.99 a month only
Cons
- No real free option, despite being extremely cheap
- Messaging apps do not cover some niche ones
Umobix
Umobix is a great parental control app that lets you track your child’s online activities as well as their location. The best part? It’s anonymous!
Once you complete installing, simply delete the app icon from the menu and it will be as if it doesn’t exist! The app continues to track the target device in the background without ever appearing in the menu.
Umobix is a very reliable app that has gained the trust of parents worldwide. With Umobix, you can track your child’s location as well as see their location history. Not only does it support 30+ apps, but you can also look at their browser history and files.
Umobix also has some other pretty unique features, including:
Streaming
Umobix lets you access the microphone and camera of the target device so you can see and hear your child’s surroundings. This can be especially helpful in situations where your child is lost and needs directions.
View Deleted Info
Think your kid is being sneaky? Now you can confirm by viewing their deleted info! This includes texts, browser history, apps and even files. If your child is keeping secrets, Umobix is here to uncover them.
Remote Control
You can actually control the target device by deleting, restricting and blocking. This means you can delete apps, contacts, texts and files. You can restrict certain apps and websites. You can block harmful people, all from your own device!
Pros
- Supports a wide range of apps
- Great customer service
- Multiple features
Cons
- Very expensive
- Does not include sos button
- No free version available
Flexispy
Flexispy is a spy app that can be used as a parental control app and an employee monitoring app. It has many features in order to suit its versatile uses which makes the name very appropriate!
Flexispy is compatible with multiple platforms like Android, iOS, PC and Tablets. There are many features available for each different platform and they are all listed neatly on its website.
Record Phone Calls
This is perhaps a feature most other apps can’t provide. You get to listen in on phone calls live as they are happening, and you can also record them. This does not just have to be for calls on the phone network, you can do the same with online voice calls from Skype and Line among others.
Listen To Environment
Flexispy lets you access the device’s microphone to listen to their environment. This way you can tell if they are alone, in a closed space or an open one.
Pros
- Flexible uses for the software
- Compatible with most popular platforms
- Has unique features
Cons
- Very expensive, much more expensive than other similar products
- Cannot remotely block websites or contacts
- Requires rooting and jailbreaking
Prevent your child from going to sketchy locations
Spytrac
Spytrac has a great track record as a spying app. It is aimed at parents looking to monitor their children, and it’s been extremely successful in that regard – millions of parents around the world use it on a day-to-day basis.
Spytrac is one of the few spying software on this list to have an actual free trial. It only takes a few seconds to create an account for the free trial. While it is limited-time, it gives you the opportunity to check out the features and decide for yourself if you need the full version.
The pricing of Spytrac is quite high but still flexible. It depends on how many devices you purchase it for. The basic plan is a little cheaper than most other apps on the list, but it lacks a lot of features. The premium and xtreme plans are two and three times more expensive respectively, but do have additional features.
Some highlighted features of Spytrac are:
Live Viewing
You can remotely turn on the camera or microphone and view or listen to the phone’s surroundings stealthily. This feature is quite rare, but comes in handy fairly often!
Use location tracking when your child gets lost
Messages Monitoring
Spytrac can monitor a lot of messaging apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Hangouts, Skype, Hike, Kakao, Zolo, Imo, etc. Additionally, it can even monitor WhatsApp Business.
Theft Protection
Did someone snatch the phone? Don’t worry, with theft protection enabled, you can lock down the phone and track it via GPS.
Pros
- Free Trial, so everyone can try it out first before spending any money on it.
- Plans are customizable to the exact number of devices you want to monitor.
- Has a number of advanced features, like remote control, remote file download, etc.
Cons
- Only available for Android
- The basic plan lacks features, but the premium and extreme ones are quite expensive.
Xnspy
Xnspy is a spying app with a bevvy of awards and a great reputation. It was designed from the ground up to be the ultimate monitoring app for kids, and it definitely lives up to that – and more! We also think it's a solid choice for employers looking to spy on their workers, or spouses looking to know what their spouse really gets up to all day.
It’s affordable too! With a yearly subscription, the basic edition costs $8.33 and the premium edition costs $12.50 a month. However, if you can snag a discount, then you can get the premium edition for as low as $7.49 a month.
On Android devices, Xnspy has a huge list of features. It is possible to track nearly every single thing someone does on a phone using Xnspy. Some highlights are
SIM Card Alerts
If someone tries to tamper with or remove the sim card on the monitored phone, Xnspy will alert you immediately. Without a SIM card and mobile internet, it is not possible to monitor a phone. So, this feature can be quite useful.
Watchlists and Alerts
You can set Watchlists in Xnspy. It can be a word, a contract, an email’s body, etc. Whenever the phone user searches or calls the watched words, you can get an alert.
Remote Control
Xnspy offers some remote-control features: recording surroundings, locking or factory resetting, remote screenshots, etc.
Pros
- The cheapest option on this list when discounts are taken into account
- Up-to-date and compatible with the latest Android and iOS versions
- Customer support is extremely helpful
Cons
- Basic Plan slightly less than other cheap plans, but lacks most features – not worth it
- Most features are exclusive to Android
Mycellspy
MyCellSpy is the last item on our list of Best Free Spying Apps. Furthermore, it is the best choice that happens to be truly free. That’s right – you can download and install it completely for free. It can be used by parents and business owners or managers alike.
Some of MyCellSpy’s best features are:
Live Recording and Photos
MyCellSpy can remotely take photos and record audio. This feature is perfect if you want to know exactly what’s going on and whether your children or employees are in trouble (or making trouble).
Make sure your child is not being violent
Phone Usage
MyCellSpy can detect and analyze the exact phone usage data. Which apps were used and for how long? This can be particularly useful for monitoring productivity, whether for a child, spouse or an employee.
Pros
- Free to download and use
- Includes almost all the core features for free
- Can view monitoring records from a PC
Cons
- Exclusive to Android
- Missing some social and messaging apps for monitoring
Conclusion
Even if you consider spying to be distasteful, it is often necessary. There are just too many potential risks in letting children have access to the internet unsupervised, even if their access is limited.
Besides that, spying apps can catch a lot of other things, ranging from unproductive employees and recalcitrant teenagers all the way to marital issues.
For some people, the cost of these apps is a barrier. Hopefully, after reading this article, you know how to climb over the said barrier!
FAQ
Be sure to do ample research before installing software on your phone, especially if it is free spyware. As these apps require special licenses to work, they usually charge money. If an app is claiming to be free, it might be stealing your data and selling it to third parties. Be sure to read their privacy policy.
You can monitor devices used by your children if you are their legal guardian. The device also needs to be owned by you, be bought by you and belong in your household. If your child is above 18 years old, you will need their consent. In order to monitor anyone else legally you also need consent.
Can I monitor multiple devices?
Some of the apps mentioned above let you monitor multiple devices for free. For others, you might need to upgrade to premium for such features. With some devices, while you can subscribe for multiple devices, you can only link to 1 device at a time.
Best Spying Apps
- Monitors calls, SMS, DMs
- Fully Discreet and undetectable
- Tracks and logs location
- 24/7 support – Toll Free help line
30% discount code: TrustedReviews
- 14 day Money Back guarantee
- Advanced KeyLogger features
- 24/7 support – Toll Free helpline
- Automatic Alerts powered bi AI
- Tracks calls, GPS location, Keystrokes and more
- Logs all browsing history
- Monitors over 30 most popular apps
- Real-time dashboard alerts
- Enables taking remote screenshots
- 10 day Money Back
