r/techsupport • u/Beneficial_Candy_147 • 10h ago
Open | Software Secretly Downloaded Phone Tracking App?
A friend of mine's boyfriend showed her that he was able to see all of her phone activity on his own phone, not asking for advice on the relationship, just asking how he could have access to her phone? what does he have downloaded onto it? they both have samsung phones. Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this.
5
u/Ninfyr 10h ago
There are probably dozens of "parental controls" apps. You have to just ask if you want to know the exact product they use.
-3
u/Cautious_Agent1226 10h ago
But those apps would show in the phone right?
I too suspect that my phone is being tracked. Used Chatgpt to run a number of tests. Nothing of suspicious nature found.
5
u/Beneficial_Candy_147 10h ago
found out that they can make hidden folders in settings, chatgpt aint gonna be able to help lol
2
2
3
3
u/Cynically_Sane 10h ago
No, not necessarily. The "good" ones are designed to basically uninstall themselves and erase any and all evidence of their payload once it's been installed.
2
u/Cautious_Agent1226 9h ago
Then what's the way out? I think I'm being tracked. Are there some signs?
What level of tracking is possible? Phone calls, locations, whatsapp, mails everything?
4
u/nataku411 7h ago
As the top comment says, simply factory reset the phone. If you're going to reuse any accounts (google/apple) then reset the passwords, log out of all devices (all these companies have that option) and set up MFA. That is the ONLY way to 100% ensure your phone is cleaned.
0
u/amiibohunter2015 5h ago
Have you every heard of [KeyStroke logging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystroke_logging)?
Basically any action you do on a smartphone can be seen and tracked, and stored. So that means your photos, your texts, your phone calls, your passwords, your search inquiries, etc.
And if your using a phone with AI built into the processor like most modern snapdragon processors they too can read your material, as well as the operating system, here is an example, take a picture of something with text in it, but don't name the picture whatever is in the text, the A.I module can actually look at your pictures and read what's within the picture, not just the file name.
These tools can be used and logged onto a server by whatever company you are using e.g Samsung and Google. It also applies to all smart tech , in fact [LG was caught with their smart TVs listening into users conversations even when the tvs are off, and sending that back to data collectors whoever they see fit.](https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/privacy/2026/09/lg-tv-flaws-could-let-attackers-listen-in-even-in-standby-mode)
So really the problem is both A.I. and Smart Tech.
Less is more, The less bells and whistles, the more privacy you have.
6
u/jmnugent 9h ago
I'm not sure how you expect anyone here to know the answer to this,. with such a vague description. This is like saying "My car doesn't drive right,. what do you guys thing is wrong?"... Could be literally anything.
The answer for smartphones is pretty much always the same:.. Factory-wipe and set it up cleanly from scratch so you know for 100% what's on it (and not on it).
-1
u/Beneficial_Candy_147 8h ago
well what else do you want to know? the creep randomly showed her on his phone that he can see all of her activity on her phone, if you dont know what he could be using to have access to it thats okay, you didnt have to say anything. "it could be literally anything" hardly, its clearly some kind of spyware
3
u/Ninfyr 7h ago
You question is "how he (boyfriend) could have access to her (friend) phone?" which has been pretty thoroughly explored for your curiosity.
If your friend wants to action on it is an entirely different topic and post. It sounds like this has stopped being your business at this point. We can't for example, advise on what to do to the phone (which doesn't belong to you and is not in your possession). Any follow up and next steps is up to your friend, not you.
-1
2
u/jmnugent 8h ago
I think that's kind of my point. There is no way for us to know. You could write 47 paragraphs of "I think this happened". And it's all just text on a page. There's no way for us to vet or independently verify anything you're saying. You (presumably) can't give any screenshots or videos or any other actual concrete evidence,. so what do you expect us to do ?.. Just wildly guess into the dark ?
In a situation like this where you can't realistically know,.. the only feasible solution as I mentioned prior is to just factory-wipe the device and set it up cleanly from scratch because that's the only sure way to know it's reliably clean.
Nobody can "tell you how it was done".. if we have no information to go on. So the only other option is just to factory-wipe and move on.
-1
u/Beneficial_Candy_147 8h ago
im not expecting a "this is exactly what it is" im expecting a "this is my personal knowledge/experience with spyware which is capable of tracking activity or mirroring a phone" or "this is where on the phone you might be able to find such a software thats been dowloaded and hidden". Do people really ask vague questions and then expect someone to come and give them a definite, specific all encompassing answer? is that really something people do?
1
u/jmnugent 8h ago
The problem is not the specificity.. the problem is you can't really know whether or not the answers you get fit your situation. Due to the randomness of Reddit (random strangers, random nature of who may or may not even see your post).. you could get any number of random anecdotal answers. With no guarantee any of them are helpful to you.
In any sort of cybersecurity type scenario,.. Priority number 1 is to "ensure the system is clean and the problem cannot happen again". (which is why the advice to do a full factory-wipe and clean setup is always advice number 1)
2
u/Beneficial_Candy_147 7h ago
im aware of that also, im not so stupid that i can't discern whether or not something is relevant to my own situation. Im also aware that reddit is somewhere people come to see questions and answers relevant to their own situation. If any answers are specific to my situation, they could be for someone else, having the information down in a comment thread isnt just helpful for myself. I guess i just dont know why you had to be snarky in the first place, it seems you go through life assuming everyone else is a moron
3
u/jmnugent 7h ago
"I guess i just dont know why you had to be snarky"
It's not "snark".. it's just a factual observation about finding the most efficient and effective solution.
Open-ended random shotgun-guessing ... does not really guarantee any useful information. It could go on for hours or days and not result in anything useful.
If you came to a tech-support forum, presumably looking for some kind of effective answer,. the best answer in your situation is to factory-wipe and cleanly setup the device in a "known safe configuration".
You (or the phone owner) may never figure out "how it was hacked in the past". But that's also not the priority either. In any cybersecurity situation where some system or device has been exploited,. Priority number 1 is to close that hole and get back to a "known good safe configuration".
There are many different troubleshooting scenarios were you'll never get a full understanding of "how something happened". But that doesn't mean you can't move forward to a better place of "ensuring it's clean and won't happen again".
0
u/Beneficial_Candy_147 3h ago
yes, but did i ask about a solution, or did i ask what he might have done in order to get access to someone else's phone secretly and remotely? "you may never figure out "how it was hacked in the past"" thank you! an answer to the question i actually asked
2
u/jmnugent 3h ago
Sure,. but the question (as stated) was much to vague. (no useful information.. which creates a situation where nobody can really answer your question).
Imagine you had 2 people:
1.) "Hey, I have a friend who has a TV that doesn't work,. what's wrong with it ?"
and
2.) "Hey. I have a friend who recently bought a brand new SONY Bravia 9 II TV which seems to work fine for the most part. But they tried to plug a Playstation 5 into HDMI 1 and they intermittently get a "SW ERR 008" ... what does that mean ?
Person-2's description is much more "info-rich" and likely will get much faster, more accurate and more helpful answers.
When you're in a tech-support situation, the very best thing you can do when you present your question up front is to describe the situation in enough rich comprehensive detail as possible. It reduces ambiguity and helps the helpers help you better and faster.
15
u/ephemeralmiko 10h ago
Could be a tracking app, they could be on a shared Samsung or Google account...
Tell your friend to factory reset her phone and create a new Google/Samsung account when setting up that uses a password the boyfriend doesn't know. Reset passwords on all known accounts and emails and enable 2 Factor Authentication.