How can I tell if my phone is being monitored?

Look for signs rather than proof: a configuration or device-management profile you didn't install (iPhone), an app with Accessibility or device-admin access you don't recognize (Android), rapid battery drain or data use, or an unknown Bluetooth tracker following you. The self-checks below walk through each. Be honest with yourself about what they mean, though — these checks surface indicators of consumer monitoring tools, but a clean result is not a guarantee. Advanced mercenary spyware is built to leave no consumer-visible trace.

Is it safe to check my own phone?

Checking a device you own is lawful. The safety question is different: if a current or former partner may have installed monitoring, running a check — or removing what you find — can alert them, and a factory reset destroys the very evidence you may need later for a protective order or custody case. If there's any chance an abuser is involved, talk to a domestic-violence advocate first and use a device the person cannot access. Preservation comes before removal.

What's the difference between checking it myself and a forensic exam?

The self-checks find the consumer stalkerware that leaves visible signs. A forensic exam goes further: a credentialed examiner images the device, parses system artifacts, and checks for indicators of compromise — including mercenary spyware that no self-check can detect — and preserves everything with a documented chain of custody. The output is a report prepared to support admissibility under Federal Rules of Evidence 901/902, written for your attorney or DV advocate. If a legal matter is even possible, get the device imaged before anything is removed or reset.

Will what you find hold up in court?

We collect and document findings to support authentication and admissibility under FRE 901/902 — hash-verified at acquisition, with a documented chain of custody, using forensically sound methods. Admissibility is always the court's decision; we prepare the work to support it and can provide expert testimony on the methodology. Most legal-evidence engagements are run under your attorney's direction.

Can you check a phone that isn't mine?

Only with lawful authorization — a device you own, the owner's consent, your attorney's direction, or a court order. We do not offer covert monitoring, spyware, or “catch a cheater” surveillance. Accessing another person's phone or accounts without authorization can violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Wiretap Act, the Stored Communications Act, and state two-party-consent laws.

Is Someone Monitoring My Phone? Signs & Self-Checks

Are you on a device or network the person can see?

If they might be able to see this device, use one they can’t access — a friend’s phone, a library or public computer, or a domestic-violence shelter’s safe device. If you continue here, your visit may be visible on a synced iCloud, Google account, or shared family plan.

The Quick Exit button(top right) replaces this page with weather.com immediately — but it does noterase this visit from your history, and private/incognito mode doesn’t fully hide it either. To be safe, use a device the person can’t access.

If you’re in immediate danger, call 911. If you have a few quiet minutes, keep reading.

National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 · text START to 88788 · thehotline.org — 24/7, free, confidential.

How to check your phone for monitoring

Most people who search this are fine — an unfamiliar setting or a run-down battery is rarely spyware. But the checks below are real, they are free, and they cover the ways a phone actually gets monitored. Work through them calmly. Remember the caveat above: they show signs of monitoring, not a guarantee your phone is clean.

iPhone

Run Safety Check.Settings → Privacy & Security → Safety Check lets you review and stop sharing your location, photos, and account access with other people and apps — and Emergency Reset cuts all sharing at once.
Look for a rogue configuration profile or MDM.Settings → General → VPN & Device Management. A non-jailbroken iPhone is hard to monitor, so an unexpected profile or “device management” entry you didn’t add is the single most important thing to find here.
Review the devices on your Apple Accountand remove any you don’t recognize, then change your Apple Account password.
Consider Lockdown Modeif you may be a target of advanced spyware — it is the built-in defense Apple ships for exactly that, with honest trade-offs (some features are limited).

Android

Run Play Protect.Open the Play Store → your profile → Play Protect → Scan. It checks installed and sideloaded apps for known stalkerware.
Audit Accessibility services.Settings → Accessibility. Stalkerware abuses Accessibility to read your screen and capture keystrokes — turn off anything you don’t recognize.
Check device-admin apps and hidden apps.Look under Settings → Security for device-admin apps that resist uninstall, and watch for apps disguised with generic names like “System Service” or “Device Health.” Confirm Install unknown apps (the sideload path) is off for browsers and messaging apps.

Unknown trackers (AirTags and the like)

If you think you’re being followed by a hidden tracker, both platforms now help. iPhone shows unwanted-tracker alerts for AirTags (since iOS 14.5) and for any standards-based Bluetooth tracker (since iOS 17.5). Android shows cross-platform unknown-tracker alerts that detect AirTags too, through its Find Hub network, and Apple publishes a Tracker Detectapp for Android if you want to scan actively. Found one? Don’t try to identify the owner yourself — note where you are and report the serial number to police.

What the self-checks can’t tell you

Consumer stalkerware (the mSpy / FlexiSPY tier) usually leaves the kinds of signs above. Mercenary spyware — Pegasus and its peers — is a different problem: it is effectively undetectable by any consumer self-checkand needs forensic acquisition and indicator-of-compromise analysis, the kind of work Amnesty International’s Security Lab pioneered. Symptoms like battery drain are suggestive, never diagnostic. If the stakes are high — an abusive partner, a legal case, or a credible targeted threat — that’s when a professional exam earns its place. The Coalition Against Stalkerware has survivor-first guidance worth reading before you act.

When to get a professional involved

If a self-check turns up something you can’t explain, if a current or former partner may be monitoring you, or if you may need the findings for a protective order, custody case, or police report, that’s the moment for a forensic exam — before anything is removed or reset. A credentialed examiner preserves the evidence and produces court-ready documentation your attorney or DV advocate can use. Start with domestic-violence digital forensics if a partner may be involved. If you’re in danger right now, the survivor page above has Quick Exit and the hotline.