Is someone monitoring my phone?
Start with the most useful thing we can tell you, because almost nobody else will say it plainly.
Most of the time, the answer is not spyware
When someone knows things about you that they should not know, it is far more often because they have access to an account, a shared phone plan, a location setting you both agreed to once, or the phone bill. Those are much more common than hidden software, and they are much easier to check.
That matters for you in two ways. It means the answer is probably findable. And it means you can stop reading the lists of scary symptoms, because most of them are not evidence of anything.
What actually raises the risk
Hidden monitoring software almost always needs two things at once: someone had your phone in their hands, and they knew your passcode.
If nobody has had both of those, hidden software is unlikely. If someone has had both, it is worth taking seriously.
Before you change anything, please read this
If someone is monitoring you, the moment they lose that access is often the moment things get more dangerous. Family violence services see this pattern often enough that it shapes all of their advice.
So, three things before you touch a setting:
- Do not uninstall an app you suspect, and do not factory reset your phone, as your first move. It can tell the other person that you know.
- Removing it also removes the proof. If you might ever want to go to the police, that proof matters.
- Talk to someone first. 1800RESPECT is free, confidential and open 24 hours, on 1800 737 732. Call from a phone you trust, not from the one you are worried about.
None of this means you have to keep a phone you do not trust. It means the order matters, and the safest order starts with a plan and a person, not with a delete button.
One more thing worth knowing now. Talking about this near the phone can be enough. If monitoring software is running, it may be able to hear the room. Have this conversation somewhere else, or on another device.
What is happening for you?
Pick the one that sounds closest, then choose your phone. If you are not sure, start with the first one.
What this page will not do
We will not tell you your phone is clean. Nobody honest can.
Monitoring software that is any good is built to hide, and the reliable way to find it is a forensic examination of the phone, usually done by police. Any website or app promising to scan your phone and give you a yes or no answer is overselling what it can do, and most of them are selling something. We are a not-for-profit and there is nothing to buy at the end of this.
If you already know what is happening: what to do, in a safe order
Where to get real help
- In immediate danger: call 000.
- 1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732. Free, confidential, 24 hours, by phone or online chat. For anyone affected by domestic, family or sexual violence.
- Police assistance line: 131 444, for threats to your safety that are not an emergency.
- WESNET Safety Net Australia: techsafety.org.au. Specialists in technology and family violence. If you use an Android phone and you think spyware may be on it, they ask people to contact them from a safe device.
- eSafety Commissioner: esafety.gov.au. The national regulator. It has legal powers to help with serious online abuse, including image-based abuse.