Lately, you probably have been noticing some strange behavior from someone close to you. It might be your children. It might be your spouse or significant other, or yet another family member or loved one, or maybe it’s an employee or two.
In any case, there could be lots of reasons for this mysterious change in behavior. But whatever the case, it can be potentially dangerous or harmful. What if they are sneaking around doing something you would not approve of?
That’s where spying comes in, and with current technology, it's simple to spy on someone's cell phone with them knowing.
While the idea of spying gets a bad rep, it is often necessary. After all, it is impossible to know someone else’s mind completely. Even if you have known them for years, you can never tell what they are really thinking. And this fact could lead to a lot of bigger problems down the line.
Why Do We Need To Spy On Their Phone?
These days, phones are probably one of the most important personal possessions someone can have. For almost everyone in the modern world, it is their gateway to the internet and from there, pretty much everything.
Communication? That’s the main feature of the internet. You can keep in touch with anyone, anywhere in the world.
What’s more, it’s not easy to tell who someone is talking to. After all, you can listen in on a spoken conversation if you are nearby. But you actually have to look at the phone screen to tell if someone is talking and with whom. And it’s also very easy to hide a conversation on a phone.
Games? When someone is playing video games on a console or PC, it’s fairly easy to notice it on a big screen. It’s a lot harder to notice if someone is wasting their time playing mobile games.
Content? There are many different types of content on the internet, and not all of it is suitable for everyone. For instance, Teens certainly shouldn’t be looking at mature or adult content. Younger kids shouldn’t be allowed to see things that would be a bad influence on them.
A spying app can cover each and every one of these possibilities. It could put your mind to rest by giving you a way to confirm if any of your suspicions are true. And if they actually are true, then you are also equipped with the tools and proof to vindicate yourself and resolve the issue.
Basically, we don’t spy on a family member or loved one’s phone just because we’re nosy. We have to do it for everyone’s good.
Spying App Features
What are the features we are looking for in a Spying App? These features determine if that app is usable and helpful or not. Here is a quick list of the most important features:
Spying on cell phones is easier than physically spying on someone
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Messages Monitoring
As mentioned before, monitoring communication can be crucial. There are many messaging apps out there. These apps also typically include their own security and encryption, so it can be difficult gaining access to those messages.
Fortunately, a spying app can bypass any of those measures and monitor the messages anyway.
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Location Tracking
While the goal of spying on a cell phone is to keep our loved ones safe from more ephemeral sources of danger from the internet, it can also be used for physical dangers.
For example, what if they get into a traffic accident on the way home and are unconscious? If you see them moving around and then suddenly stop in the middle of the street, you could try contacting them or calling emergency services.
Another location tracking feature is geofencing, which alerts you whenever the person leaves a designated area that is safe.
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App Control
This is a feature that’s more for monitoring and controlling than just spying. After all, actually using it might reveal the fact that you have a backdoor into their phone. With App controlling, you can limit the usage of an app or block it entirely.
Not to mention, this is particularly useful for monitoring kids who might waste too much time playing mobile games and such.
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Screen Recording and Keylogging
These two are slightly advanced features and quite invasive. However, they can also be extremely enlightening, especially if you suspect that your employees are wasting your time and money (or worse). Screen recording basically saves images of the screen, while keylogging records every single letter they type. When you put them together, nothing is hidden.
These features should be core to any spying app. We judged the best ones based on these.
How to Choose the Best Spying Apps?
Now that you know what features you should be looking for, what else do you need before you can choose the best apps for spying on someone’s cell phone without them knowing?
Ease of installation might be important if you are not particularly tech-savvy. Don’t worry – there are a lot of apps out there that are designed to be easy to use.
Another feature is the dashboard. This dashboard displays all the data collected from the phone you are spying on. The dashboard has to be informative enough, or else it will not be helpful enough. It is best that the dashboard is supported on multiple platforms like phones and PCs, so you can keep track from anywhere.
Finally, pricing is always a factor. We recommend choosing the best option that fits your budget. If you go too cheap, you might miss out on crucial features. On the other hand, an expensive subscription isn’t possible for all families or individuals.
The Top Discreet Spying Apps
The most important thing to remember when using a spying app is to keep it discreet. That’s why we’ve chosen the best two spying apps so far.
MSpy is one of the most popular spying apps in the world. If you do a quick search on the best app to spy on someone, MSpy will probably be one of the top results.
The reason behind this is simple! MSpy has a huge list of features that can be used to keep track of every one of their movements and activities through a phone.
If you want to keep track of messages, you can do so for all the most popular messaging apps – Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp, iMessage, Skype, Telegram, and more.
Furthermore, no matter how much encryption is built into these apps, it won’t deter MSpy. That’s because of one specific feature: screen recording.
With Screen Recording, MSpy basically records the screen at each moment. Then it extracts text or images from the screen to display it to you. The recordings are all uploaded to the dashboard.
Here are the biggest Pros and Cons of MSpy:
Pros:
- Lots of features for both Android and iOS
- Trusted by millions of parents around the world
- Includes info about uninstallation and damage to the device.
Cons:
- Only one device is supported per account
- No basic plan – only one premium plan of different subscription lengths.
Umobix
There’s a great feature Umobix offers. It lets you spy on people’s phones anonymously! Once you are done installing it on your target devices, you can simply delete the app icon from the menu. Umobix will still function in the background, but will not appear on the menu so that you can spy in secret.
No need for drones when you can spy on phones
For every device you want to spy on though, you will have to get an individual subscription and you can only link the app to one device at a time. This can get a bit pricey so it might be best to only spy on the most used device.
Umobix is mainly marketed as a parental control app because it lets you delete apps and block contacts remotely. These sorts of features can be useful to monitor your underage child. If you are spying on someone above the age of 18, it might be best to ask for consent first however.
While it is a parental control app, you can still use it for other purposes to be discreet. Not all spying apps let you be anonymous so you might want to utilize this feature.
Pros
- Anonymous
- Remote control features
- Supports wide range of apps
- Lets you stream
Cons
- Expensive
- Only supports one device per subscription
- No panic buttons
- No alerts
Flexispy
Flexispy is a spying app made with the intention of flexible use, as the name suggests. Most spyware apps are marketed to parents looking to monitor their children’s online activities. Flexispy on the other hand has features that also support spying on your significant other or even your employees.
In a relationship, sometimes you just need to know if your partner is telling the truth. While it might sound like an invasion of privacy, in a marriage you would need to produce evidence to get a divorce, especially where assets need to be divided. Flexispy can be a very useful tool here.
Sometimes employees are just not trustworthy. As the owner of a company, you need to know your company is in good hands. Using Flexispy will help you catch anyone guilty of things like embezzlement or any other kind of office crime.
Pros
- Flexibility of uses
- Multiple features
- supports most popular social platforms
Cons
- More expensive than its competitors
- No remote control for websites and contacts
- You need some technical knowledge to install
eyeZy
Out of all the spying apps on our list, eyeZy is probably the most modern option. You will immediately notice the difference when you visit their website.
eyeZy brings you the latest tools and technologies to help you spy on someone’s cell phone. Their app stays hidden, but still uses AI-powered detection tools to alert you as needed.
There are lots of interesting features in eyeZy. You can use the files finder to rifle through every file stored on the phone. You can use the web magnifier to track every single website they browse. eyeZy will even tell your all about their browsing proclivities by analyzing the data.
And if you don’t want them visiting those websites, they can be easily blocked with the connection blocker.
Pros:
- Full coverage of a cell phone at a low rate
- Can be installed easily in several different ways
- Comprehensive data analytics gives you greater insight when spying.
Cons:
- Messaging app coverage is limited
- Data analytics don’t always give you useful information, esp. if you are just starting to use it
Spytrac
After a certain age, it's almost impossible to keep track of kids. But that doesn’t mean they no longer need supervision.
In fact, they probably need it more than ever now. They could be up to a lot of dangerous acts, being affected by peer pressure, bullying, harassment, etc.
Spytrac is designed to let you keep track of your kids and what they are up to. It only takes a few minutes to install and works discreetly. You can always follow the guide on the website if you get stuck at any point.
Predators are everywhere
One particular thing to note is that Spytrac supports a ton of niche messaging apps. You have the popularly used ones, like WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, etc. Then you also have apps like Hike, Zolo, Kakao, Line, etc. The latter isn’t very commonly used and might not be properly monitored by most other apps.
Overall, there are both advantages and disadvantages to Spytrac.
Pros:
- Free Trial and economical pricing for the basic package
- Comprehensive messaging app and social media coverage
- Multiple options for alarms
Cons:
- Exclusive to Android. Not available for iPhones
- Premium packages with all the features are expensive
Xnspy
Xnspy is one of the best cell phone monitoring apps. It has a bevvy of features that rival Mspy.
Let’s say you suspect your significant other is intimate with others behind your back. Xnspy is the fastest way to find out. If you think your kids are hiding something they and their friends did, you can easily find out by paying attention to their online conversations with Xnspy.
The full list of Xnspy features includes phone call monitoring, messaging apps, instant alerts for keywords, remote controlling the camera and audio, remotely locking or resetting the device.
Plus, the Xnspy analytics can reveal some trends or patterns you might not notice yourself. Overall, here are the pros and cons of Xnspy.
Pros:
- Basic edition is extremely cheap and affordable
- Huge list of functions and features
- Remote control and data wiping in case the phone is stolen
Cons:
- Some features have not been implemented yet.
- Not completely hidden on the modern android version, but still very hard to find.
MyCellSpy
If you are hunting for a budget option for spying on someone’s cell phone, then MyCellSpy might be the best choice.
MyCellSpy has all the features you need to do so. You can keep track of any clandestine communication by monitoring SMS and Social apps, plus using the keylogger. This will give you exact details of whatever they are talking about.
One great use case of MyCellSpy is as a business owner. You might want to know if your employees are working or slacking off. You could record live video and audio using this app, letting you keep an eye on their activities.
Browsing history, media files, recording texts and messages – nearly everything can be done from MyCellSpy.
Overall, the advantages and disadvantages of this app are:
Pros:
- Trial version is completely free to use.
- Very fast and easy to install and download
- Can be used by parents and business owners
Cons:
- Not as comprehensive or reliable as other apps.
- Slower updates
Conclusion
There are many scenarios these days in which you might have to spy on someone’s cell phone. Even if it is something of a breach of privacy, it is still a necessity in order to keep them, or yourself, safe. We recommend checking out any one of the top spying apps mentioned above!
All of them have the necessary spying features and will give you the info you need. Plus, these apps are completely discreet and will not be detected.
Whether you are keeping an eye on your children, your spouse or significant other, or someone else close to you, these will do the job perfectly well.
FAQ
Is it legal to spy on someone’s phone?
If the device you installed spyware apps on is owned by you, paid for by you, stays on property owned by you or is used by a minor who is your legal ward, it is perfectly legal to spy on them. If not, then you will have to take their consent first, even if it is your biological child who is above the age of 18.
Is it unethical to spy on someone?
If you are spying on your child who is a minor, it is okay. They have not reached the maturity to protect themselves from most kinds of danger and as their guardian, it is your job to protect them from both physical and virtual dangers. If you are spying on an adult, taking consent might be better although you’re not always legally required to.
Nothing in this world is truly free. Spyware is made using complicated technology and requires certain licenses to run their business legally which is why the best ones are usually not free. If an app has many unique features for free, do your research because they might be lying to steal your data.
Best Spying Apps
- Monitors calls, SMS, DMs
- Fully Discreet and undetectable
- Tracks and logs location
- 24/7 support – Toll Free help line
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- 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
