Cell phones have become essential for day to day communications. Parents give cellphones to their children offering them convenience and access to a limitless amount of information. At the same time, cell phones can expose children to the dangers of inappropriate websites. Employers often provide employees with company cell phones for better mobility and productivity. But employees can abuse the usage of these phones. Reviews indicate that there is a need of cell phone spy software.
A cell phone spy software is a mobile application which when installed in a cell phone (target phone), monitors many of the activities that take place through the phone. Reviews show that the software is mainly geared towards busy parents who want to be proactive in keeping track of their children’s activities and employers who want to monitor the usage of company cell phones.
Basic features of cell phone spy software are:
- SMS tracker or mobile sms spy -Allows user to read text messages sent and received
- Can spy mobile phone emails and web history – Gives access to emails and record of websites visited
- Can spy cell phone calls – Allows access to call logs
- GPS tracking – User can keep track of target phone location
Other cell phone spy software packages offer more advanced features such as:
- Call recording
- Monitoring chat services like Skype, WhatsApp, and Viber
- Filtering of apps and programs – User can limit access to certain apps and programs
- Monitoring social network use
- Recording of surroundings (as a bugging tool)
- Remote controlling – Information on target phone can be deleted or locked
- Triggers and alerts – Instant alerts are sent when triggered by predefined words and phone numbers
A cell phone spy software will only work when installed in smartphones (phones that can access the internet). Older phones which cannot access the internet are safe from this monitoring application. The target phone must have a data plan or at least access to a wifi network. This means that you cannot track the target phone when internet access is deactivated. Another requirement is that the software package should be compatible with the target phone. Most software packages are compatible with Android smartphones. Rooting may be required first to activate more advanced features. An Iphone needs to be jailbroken before a cellphone spy software can be installed. After installation of software in the target phone, all monitored activities are logged and sent to the cell phone spy software servers via a web connection. To view the reports, the user logs in to the server using a unique password.
Cell phone spy software can be for personal or business use. Reviews show that parents are most interested in keeping track of their children’s cell phone activities. A lot of the applications are designed as parental control softwares. This monitoring application lets parents know more about their children; who their friends are, the websites that they often visit and the activities that they are involved in. Parents can immediately respond to inappropriate and unsafe activities.
In the workplace, employers use the software to monitor the usage of company cellphones. The features can also be used to monitor employee productivity, catch illegal and dishonest acts and share/ limit access to important data saved in target phones.
There are many cell phone spy softwares available in the market. Some of them offer only basic features and can be bought at a cheaper price. Many also provide more advanced features. As more smartphones with more advanced features come out, the need to monitor these smartphones increases. Software companies react accordingly to monitor these new features by continuously improving their applications.