Check for unknown configuration profiles.Follow Apple’s steps for app deletion as needed. If you don’t know why an app is there, or if you don’t remember installing it, that can be a sign that something isn’t right. You can tap on an individual app to see a list of its permissions. You can see a full list of installed apps on your device by going to Settings and scrolling down. The easiest way to check for stalkerware on an iPhone is to look for apps that you don’t recognize. If you are in this situation and need support, the Coalition Against Stalkerware has a resource page where you can find help. In the context of an abusive relationship, this can be dangerous. If you’re being monitored by an intimate partner, and you abruptly shut off their spying capabilities, they will most likely realize that they’ve been caught, and that they no longer have control over your device. In what follows, we’ll share some ways to check for stalkerware on an iPhone. How to check for stalkerware on an iPhone However, bad actors also use them for spying, since they can reveal location and other data when installed on a device. Companies and schools routinely use MDM configuration profiles to manage the devices that they issue. As such, it needs to be considered when discussing how to check for stalkerware on an iPhone.įinally, some abusers may make use of Mobile Device Management (MDM) configuration profiles in order to monitor iOS users. Jailbreaking a victim’s iPhone presents more of a technical challenge for an abuser, but it is certainly possible. Some stalkerware apps require a jailbroken iOS device to work. These don’t have the full surveillance capabilities of other forms of stalkerware, but they can still be used to track a user’s location. Note too that some stalkerware apps offer “light” versions of their products for iOS. This can include “contacts, calendar information, photos, notes, geolocation, and potentially even files stored in iCloud drive”. (This is not unlikely in the context of an abusive relationship.) With the target’s iCloud credentials, an abuser can use a stalkerware app “to automatically extract data from iCloud”. There are also non-technical workarounds that abusers can use to monitor iOS users.Īccording to research done by Citizen Lab, iOS stalkerware often requires that the stalker obtain “the iCloud login and password of the targeted person”. However, there is still stalkerware that can affect iPhones. Stalkerware on iOSįor Apple users, the good news is that iOS makes it harder for stalkerware to run on an iPhone. And just this week, Google pulled a number of stalkerware ads for violating the company’s ban on promoting surveillance apps. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently issued its first ever ban of a stalkerware app. This is pretty obvious if you look at their online advertising and SEO strategy.įortunately, both government regulators and Big Tech are starting to take action. But of course, stalkerware developers are well aware that their apps are used by abusers to spy on their partners. This gives them plausible deniability, and keeps their apps in Google Play and the App Store. Manufacturers of stalkerware apps frequently market themselves as “parental monitoring” tools. But unfortunately, it’s not always illegal in and of itself. If stalkerware seems creepy, wrong, and downright abusive, that’s because it is. But it doesn’t try to hide its presence from the user, and is typically installed with some semblance of consent. This kind of mobile monitoring software is definitely invasive (and arguably unethical). Similarly, student and employee monitoring software, when deployed on managed devices, is not stalkerware per se. What distinguishes stalkerware from something like Pegasus is that it is most often used in the context of abusive relationships: as a way of surveilling an intimate partner or of controlling them. It’s probably most useful to think of stalkerware as a subtype of spyware.įor example, Pegasus spyware, a powerful mobile surveillance tool used by nation states and law enforcement agencies, wouldn’t be classified as stalkerware - even though it’s used to monitor people without their consent. Stalkerware and spyware are related, but they’re not identical. “Stalkerware refers to tools - software programs, apps and devices - that enable someone to secretly spy on another person’s private life via their mobile device”. A good general definition comes from the Coalition Against Stalkerware, an industry group working to end stalkerware: Stalkerware is an umbrella term that describes a range of privacy threats. Read on to learn more about the phenomenon of stalkerware, and how to check for stalkerware on an iPhone. Stalkerware is frequently thought of as an Android problem, but it can affect iOS users as well.
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