Mobile Spying Software: The Spyware That’s Secretively Plaguing Our Devices

The surveillance industry is getting big, and by that, I mean REALLY big! The video surveillance industry alone is set to be around $72 billion by 2022 according to Video Surveillance Forecast. But, there’s another industry niche that’s also thriving, i.e. the mobile spying software industry.

According to experts, the spy apps market will be around $4.2 billion by the end of 2017. Well, that’s a pretty neat figure, especially when you take into account the average license fee of a few hundred dollars for these spying apps.

But compared to video surveillance, mobile spying software is more intimidating. The video surveillance tools are used overtly, so those who are being watched know that there’s a camera over their heads.

But with a mobile spyware, people hardly know that there’s someone snooping their personal devices.

Xnspy: Plaguing Mobile Devices Since 2010

No, we aren’t talking about a virus here but mobile spyware apps that have been around for a while now and most of us are even using them.

These apps can be installed on a cell phone to remotely monitor a person’s calls, texts, emails and literally everything that you could think of!

And when it comes to mobile spying software, Xnspy is the name that comes to the mind right away. This app is cheap and easy to use; so easy that anyone can put it on others’ cell phone and start spying.

And it’s not just the one app that we are talking about. There are over 50 other spy apps that you can get your hands onto just by a simple Google search.

Once you download Xnspy on a phone, there’s A LOT of your personal information that can be compromised, like:

• Your call logs, text messages, emails, internet browsing history, saved bookmarks, phonebook, and even calendar entries.
• Saved multimedia like photos and videos.
• IMs like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Line, Skype, Kik, iMessage.
• Your on-call conversations.

The app can also remotely take your phone’s screenshots and even record the ambient sounds.

But You Can’t Really Blame These Apps for All the Nuisance That They’re Creating

And why is it so? Why can’t we blame these apps for all the trouble that they are creating in our lives? The answer is probably that you need to know more about how the US law works. Xnspy and many other spy apps are, in fact, legal. These are MONITORING apps that are to be used only after taking the legal consent of the person whom you want to monitor.

But who does that really, i.e. to monitor through consent? Hardly anyone. According to a report by CNET, 99 percent of the time these spying apps are illegally used, be it a parent spying on their child’s phone or a person wanting to know more about their partner.

Is It the Mobile Spying Software or Us Responsible for The Trouble?

It’s partially both, and partially the US statute, too. These spy apps can go up for sale legally just by adding a disclaimer that “Use this app according to the laws of your state”. The spy apps developers don’t bat an eye either when their app is illegally used.

However, in many cases, the spy app companies can’t do anything about it because of the encryption that they use to store user data. So it’s hard to detect any malicious activity.

The Solution

The real solution lies within us. These mobile spy software, aka monitoring apps, have their pros and cons, so it’s never a good idea to get them banned.

For instance, think of all the ways a child can be protected online if the parents know how their kids interact with people using their phones; the new friends that they are making online and whether all these friendships are safe for them.

Then, parents can also know if their kids are doing well because all those deep late night convos take place using cell phones. Then, there are businesses who can truly benefit from email or multimedia monitoring of their employees as corporate thefts are skyrocketing, too.

The real deal is that we quit using these apps for illegitimate reasons. Taking someone’s consent prior to monitoring their cell phones, like from our employees and children, could save us the trouble of mistrust and legal repercussions. The state can also step in with more severe penalties against illegal spying.

Be a responsible citizen, monitor with consent.