An app that lets you monitor other people's smartphone activity was downloaded at least 12,000 times last year.
A new study by Nordvpn S.A., a cybersecurity firm NordVPN, revealed that the app was installed on 12,000 smartphones, tablets and other devices across the country last year. This number is 70% higher than the previous year.“Applications such as KidsGuard, mSpy, Spy Phone and Highster are mainly made for parents to monitor their children's mobile phone activity. Sadly, such tools installed without the owner's consent can read your messages, record your screen activity, or track your GPS location. It turns into a very powerful spyware that can track you and use your camera to see what you're doing," says Daniel Marcousson, digital privacy expert at NordVPN. says.
Globally, the number of installations of monitoring apps increased by 5%, and it says it affected more than 1,132,262 people worldwide.
Where did the need for communications surveillance skyrocket?
Surveillance app downloads from official app stores grew the most in Pakistan (up 308%), Russia (up 233%) and Vietnam (up 212%), according to NordVPN research.
"People had a strong desire to control what was happening on mobile devices owned by their children or partners," says Daniel Marcouson.
Jan-Dec 2020 average monthly downloads for four parental control monitoring apps (Spy Phone, mSpy, KidsGuard, Higster) on the App Store and Google Play compared to 2019 Top 10 countries with an increase. Source: NordVPN
Scale of the stalking problem
According to the US-based National Network to End Domestic Violence, in 2019, 54% of domestic violence perpetrators used stalkerware or pairing. Turns out I had downloaded a rental control monitor to my partner's device.
“Stalkerware deprives victims of their physical and online freedom. Perpetrators know what interests you and secrets you share with people you trust. , they can take complete control and rebel over your life,” said a digital privacy expert at NordVPN.
According to Daniel Marcusson, there are several ways to protect your device from an abusive partner. The simplest is to protect your device from unauthorized physical access, which can prevent domestic violence perpetrators from accessing your device to install stalkerware.
"Always use a VPN after locking your device with a password, pattern, or biometric. This will prevent third parties from eavesdropping on your communications over the network." he added.
Very important warning to anyone in an abusive relationship: if you find parental controls or stalkerware downloaded onto your device without your consent, it is almost certainly a domestic violence offender. beware, so don't delete the app. Please consult an expert.
How to
NordVPN uses SensorTower tools to monitor parental control monitoring apps and stalkers from the App Store and Google Play in Jan-Dec 2020 and Jan-Dec 2019 We extracted the average number of downloads of wear detection apps. Parental control monitoring apps analyzed (Spy Phone, mSpy, KidsGuard, Higster), stalkerware detection apps (AntiSpy & Spyware Scanner, Anti Spy (SpyWare Removal), Anti Spy Mobile Free, Anti Spy Mobile PRO, Anti spy screen privacy filter, Find My Stalker, Spyware Detector - Anti Spy Privacy Scanner, Spyware Detector - Find Hidden Spy Apps & Malware, Spyware Detector Anti Spyware Scanner, Spyware Jedi)
About NordVPN
NordVPN is , is the world's leading VPN service provider that focuses more on security than other VPN services, offering double VPN encryption, malware blocking, and Onion Over VPN. Our products are very user friendly and our services are available at the best prices in the market. In addition to providing a server network of over 80 servers in Japan, we have over 5,000 servers around the world and support P2P. A no-logs policy is also one of NordVPN’s key features. For more information, please visit: https://www.nordvpn.com/en/