How to detect Spyware on an Android device?


Spyware is a way in which someone can track you through your android phone by just installing software in it or can send you some third-party link on your phone through text message or email, or social media. When you click on that link, the application gets automatically downloaded without you being aware of it.

However, there are a few steps or general signs which might help you to detect if there is any spyware present on your mobile or not. Here are those steps −

  • Your device can hang more often and become very slow while working. This is generally because the spy app requires many resources to track you, and that will take a lot of space in RAM or CPU, because of which your device can start hanging and perform poorly. However, there may be thousands of other reasons for it to hang more often and become slow.

  • If your device has spyware in it, it will show you some unusual behavior if you carefully notice it. Since this software is incompatible with your device, your phone could turn on and off automatically, or you will hear some strange noises, or sometimes you can even see it getting automatically locked or unlocked.However, due to some hardware malfunction also you can notice this peculiar behavior.

  • Spyware apps also have the ability to send some weird text messages from your mobile, which may include some special characters or symbols which are not regularly used in common text messages or even if you find any text which you have not to send in the sent box then there are high chances that spyware may be present in your phone.

  • High consumption of battery more often also indicates that you may have spyware on your device as spyware has to record every activity of yours and send it to its producer. Hence, it consumes more battery of your device, and therefore your battery will be drained more quickly than it used to be on regular days. Also, you can always check which app is consuming more battery in your device, which will also help you in detecting.

  • If there is spyware on your phone, that means your data usage will also be more as it will have to upload all your information, image, GSP data, your call records, or even your pictures. All this will require your mobile data. Hence, you can check the data usage report to check what is consuming most of your data.

  • It can also create some unwanted files and folders in your device which you might have never noticed. Most spyware applications store all this collected data on your device and then send it to its developer when you have a strong Internet connection. So if you notice any new files or folders, be aware that it might be caused due to this.

  • There is a kind of spyware named adware which shows ads on your device, and through these ads, they can monitor your browsing history, search history, cookies, list of the apps, phone book, and even your GPS location so remove such adware from your phone as soon as you start noticing them.

  • You can even hear some unwanted noise during your calls.

But all the above are just signs, and you cannot be 100% sure if a spyware is present or not. These steps can just give you the probability of spyware being there or not, so it’s better to have a good anti-malware installed on your device, and you should scan your device regularly.

Updated on: 17-Aug-2021

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