Best Spying Apps for Android

April 1, 2025
5/5
Android phones are the most popular type of phone in the world: according to the latest counts, Android devices make up over 70% of all phones worldwide. Android devices may not be as fashionable as an iPhone, but they often have the same specs and are generally more cost-efficient. That makes them really popular with most people. In this article, we have tested and reviewed the best spying apps for android phones. So, odds are, if you are reading this article, you own an Android device. We also have an article for the Best Spying Apps for iPhone if you want to check that out instead. The idea of spying might be distasteful at first, but it is also a necessary tool. There are lots of scenarios where spying on someone’s phone is the best option. Other options are either too risky or potentially harmful. In order to spy on a phone, you must install a spying app. Now, if that phone is an Android phone, then you will obviously want to use one of the many spying apps for Android out there. There are hundreds of spying apps around for Android, so it can be hard to choose one. Remember, sometimes, a person’s safety can hinge exclusively on these apps. Fortunately, we have researched and reviewed the best spying apps for Android. Now, you can choose from one of these!

What is a Spying App and Why You Might Need One

Before we go any further, it’s important to know exactly why you might need such a spying app. For starters, the app is needed so that you can effectively monitor what is happening on a phone. As a parent, you might want to monitor your kids’ phones for a lot of things.  You might want to make sure that there are no scammers or predators trying to reach out to them. You might want to keep an eye on peer pressure or cyberbullying and head it off early. You might want to keep track of their location so they don’t sneak out to parties or end up in the bad part of the town!  If you’re a business owner, you can get a lot of use out of a spying app too. Do you feel like your employees are wasting the day chatting away or browsing the internet? Are they spending more time watching videos on the internet than doing real work? As long as you have a way of tracking your employees’ activity, you can run your business at full steam and make sure employees do not have any leakage in their productivity hours.

Can you Use a Spying App with an Android Phone?

Can you use spying apps on Android phones? The answer is ‘yes’. In fact, Android phones are highly customizable and give users a huge degree of access. That means a spying app can get really deep into the phone’s software.  Unlike the spying app for iPhone, a spying app for Android can do pretty much everything you could think of. Let’s go down a quick checklist! use spy apps on android with ease
  • Reading messages and texts from SMS and MMS
  • Reading data from messaging apps and email regardless of encryption or security
  • Storing messages that have been deleted
  • Viewing images and video files that are saved on the phone.
  • Location tracking in real-time via GPS, plus Geo-fencing and Device Location
  • Browser history and bookmarks recording
  • Recording the full audio of a phone call
  • Recording date, time, and contact details for each call, as well as the entire contacts list
  • Checking duration of app usage, plus restricting or time-limiting apps and internet usage
  • Screen recording – whatever is visible on the phone screen, recorded each time it changes
  • Recording everything that is typed in using a Keylogger
  • Remote controlling a phone – deleting apps, locking it, even factory-resetting it to clear data
  • Remote recording video and audio by stealthily turning on the camera and microphone.
 

Our Top Five Picks for the Best Spying Apps for Android

Now that you know what features you can get from a spying app for Android, let’s look at the apps themselves. We selected the best five apps after reviewing a large number of them. These either have some features that make them stand out, or they simply offer top-notch quality.

MSpy

mSpy-Logo MSpy is always one of the best picks for a spying app for Android. For starters, it has a huge range of features and tools available for Android, and it is also one of the most reliable and popular spying apps. When it comes to Android tracking, MSpy is compatible with all modern Android devices. It supports every version of Android above Android 4.0. If you don’t know, Android 4.0 came out in 2011 – more than a decade ago! MSpy for Android, you can oversee call logs and browse through the call history. All the metadata about the phone calls – duration, time, and date are visible. You can also review chats on most common messaging apps like Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram, etc. Plus, if you’re spying on your child’s phone and any inappropriate words are visible, you can immediately get alerted. Similarly, you can look at any images or links that are shared. If it’s mature content, then you can immediately take action. Pros:
  • More than 25 different features available for Android users
  • Supports every modern Android phone
  • Lightweight with minimal impact on performance
Cons:
  • Missing a few features such as remote controlling the phone.
  • The dashboard is relatively simple and doesn’t include a lot of data analytics.
 

Umobix

umobix logo Umobix is a parental control app that lets you monitor your child’s digital activity. The two things that set it apart from its competitors is how you can be anonymous while using it and also remotely control your target device. Umobix was established in 2020, and has since become a favorite within parenting forums and communities. It is a little bit expensive if you want to monitor multiple devices, as one subscription only gets you 1 device. For more, you need individual subscriptions per device, but will only be able to link to one device at a time. Umobix also does not give you any alerts when your child is doing anything prohibited. If you’re having a busy day and forget to check your phone, you might be missing an emergency. You have to remember to check your child’s activities vigilantly while using this app. Umobix is definitely better to use on Android than it is on iPhone. There are many more features and you don’t have to learn how to root it. Even with a premium subscription, the iPhone does not support many of the features that Umobix offers that Android does. Pros
  • Can be used undetected
  • Supports a wide variety of platforms
  • Does not need rooting
  • Remote control options
Cons
  • Expensive to use on multiple devices
  • No alerts or panic buttons
  • Only links to one device at a time
 

Visit Mspy

 

Flexispy

flexispy-logo Do you want an app that can be used to spy on your kids, your spouse AND your employees? Flexispy is just the app for you! With Flexispy, you get a plethora of features that can be applied for multipurpose use. Not only can you monitor whether your children are using their screen time safely and responsibly, but you can also detect any shady business your employees might be up to. With so many people having access to company property, it can be hard to track all the ins and outs which is a problem when things go missing or break. Fortunately, you can see if anyone left a digital trail of their mischief. This can save you millions in dollars in case something bad does happen. It is also a great tool when applying for insurance. Flexispy is much more expensive than its competitors, but with the benefits it comes with, it’s a great bargain! You can even ask for a new phone with the app already installed on it, choosing from the most modern models. Pros
  • Flexible and multipurpose
  • Supports most popular apps and platforms
Cons
  • Very expensive
  • No remote control options
  • Jailbreaking and rooting required for installation
Android is compatible with most spyware  

Try Bark For Free!

 

eyeZy

eyeZy is a modern spying or monitoring app that is available for all Android and iOS devices. That said, it definitely has more features on Android!  If you aren’t sure if the device you want to monitor will be compatible, don’t worry. You can check and confirm device compatibility from the eyeZy website. What’s more, eyeZy was actually designed by a team of parents, so they have first-hand experience of exactly what’s important and what’s necessary for all this. Spy on Android even if you’re old school To start monitoring an android phone using eyeZy, all you need to do is borrow the phone for a few minutes. Follow the steps to install eyeZy. Then you can start using all the great tools it offers. Pros:
  • Extensive data analytics are available.
  • Very reasonable and affordable price, so most families can afford it
  • A wide variety of alerts can be set up.
Cons:
  • Only one device per subscription
  • Some features like remote controlling and monitoring are missing
 

Try Bark For Free!

 

Spytrac

Spytrac is a spying app that is exclusively designed for parents. It is mainly used to help monitor children. Most of its features are geared in that direction. So, if you are a parent planning to use a spying app to keep an eye on your child’s phone, then this is a great option. Another plus point of Spytrac is that it is actually an android-exclusive app. It is not available for iOS devices like iPhones or IPads. This may sound like a net loss, but keep in mind that not having to support an iOS release means they can support the Android version better. Like the other options on this list, Spytrac includes tools to check the messages from SMS and Messaging Apps like Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. It also has a huge number of advanced features, but to enable those, you will have to purchase the expensive premium version. For those on a budget, you can get Spytrac for as low as $8.25 a month. Just keep in mind that this particular plan is a little limited. An example of an advanced feature in Spytrac would be live viewing. Through this, you can view the surroundings by stealthily enabling the camera. This can be combined with listening to surroundings, then the keylogger and screen capturer to give you a comprehensive idea of what’s going on inside and outside the phone! Pros:
  • Huge list of features all supported
  • Can support multiple devices in one subscription
  • Live remote controlling and viewing
  • Mobile Phone calls can be recorded in their entirety
Cons:
  • Plans are fairly expensive overall.
  • Messaging apps are not included in the Basic plan, even though it costs almost the same as some other apps’ plans.
 

Try Bark For Free!

 

Xnspy

Xnspy is generally lauded as one of the most complete spying apps, right on par with MSpy. If you take a look at Mspy’s list of features, this does not look too far from the truth. So, what features does Xnspy have for Android users? Monitor browser history For starters, it can easily record all details about phone calls and associated metadata. How long the call was, who was called, how frequently they are called, etc. are all recorded. Plus, the full audio of the phone calls can also be recorded, which is a relatively rare feature. Additionally, messaging apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, Signal, Telegram, Tinder, Messenger, and others are recorded, as usual. Typically, proper WhatsApp recording requires rooting. However, with Xnspy, rooting is not needed. You can choose to get instant alerts about specific keywords. It doesn’t matter where exactly the keyword shows up. It could appear in a chat app, a text message, email, phonebook, Google maps search. Whenever it appears, it will alert you. The Android version of Xnspy also enjoys some more features like app recording, location tracking with notifications, remote device management, and recording surroundings. Overall, here are the pros and cons of Xnspy Pros:
  • Extremely feature complete and supports lots of different monitoring tools
  • Bypasses the latest Android 11 security with screen recording
  • Can fully record the voice recordings of a phone call
Cons:
  • The basic plan does not have enough features to be worth it even at a low price
  • Some features have not been added yet
 

MyCellSpy

Last, but not least, we have MyCellSpy as one of the best spying apps for android. MyCellSpy is a relatively budget tool best for users who are not ready to shell out a ton of money from the start. It has almost all of the features we have mentioned so far. That includes tracking phone calls and contacts, text messages, and audio. Emails, photos and videos taken and stored on the phone can be viewed as well. In terms of messaging or social media apps, MyCellSpy covers the most popular ones, as expected. It also has a keylogger, so whatever is typed is immediately recorded. It only takes a couple of minutes to install MyCellSpy. So, you can simply ask the person you want to spy on to borrow their phone. As soon as you have it, you can download the MyCellSpy android APK and install it. Note that MyCellSpy is compatible with Android version 5.0, up until Android 10. It does not have official support for newer android versions, so there may be some small issues. Pros:
  • Free tutorial and trial versions go a long way.
  • Installation is extremely fast and simple. All the instructions are given on the website.
  • Demo version available online for everyone to try out.
Cons:
  • No official support for the latest android versions (11.0 and onward)
  • Slightly less reliable and trustworthy than other options, but also very economical
You don’t need coding for many spying apps  

Conclusion

Android devices are the most popular type of mobile phones in the world. If you intend to monitor someone else’s phone, odds are it is an android phone. In that case, you will need to use one of the aforementioned apps. Each of the apps has its own pros and cons. It is up to you to decide which of the apps has features and pros that would be most useful to you. Whether you are a stressed-out parent, a worried spouse, or a frustrated business owner, you can use one of these apps and get some peace of mind!  

Visit Mspy

 

FAQ

You can download the app from the google Play Store or the official website for the app. Install it on the target device that you want to monitor. You might get a separate app for your own device that lets you monitor your target device, or you can monitor from the app’s website. Some apps require you to root them to the android device.

It is completely legal. You can legally spy on someone as long as you are their legal guardian, or the device that you are monitoring is owned by you, paid for by you or belongs under your property. If you are monitoring a device that belongs to someone else who is above the age of 18 and not your legal ward, you require consent.

Most of these apps will let you monitor multiple apps, but the limit might be different for each. Some will let you monitor all devices for one subscription, while with others you will need a separate subscription for each device. Make sure to check all the information before subscribing.

What was covered on this page?

Picture of John Smithson

John Smithson

38, a small (but growing) business owner in the IT field.
I love to look for exciting and modern ways to keep my business ticking along, my employees happy, and most importantly, the business growing. I love researching the best software online to help me - and other businesses - achieve these goals.

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