A really simple question: Can you spy on a cell phone remotely? The answer to this, however, can not be so simple. It is somewhere in between “Yes, No, Depends”.
Let us see the various scenarios you need to consider while answering “Can you spy on a cell phone remotely?”
Yes- You can Spy on a Cell Phone Remotely.
This is the simplest of the answers. The very straightforward explanation is if you are able to install an application in the phone you want to spy on, YES, in that case, you can receive data from the spy application. What exactly you can extract again depends on how sophisticated the application is. At a very advanced level, you can get access to messages exchanged on various applications such as WhatsApp and the native SMS application within the phone. You can get access to conversations and activities over a social media channel such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. And you can even go as far as getting voice recordings, which also give you access to phone conversations. Some applications with advanced control levels can get this to the point where you can activate the camera, microphone, or track the geographic location of a phone device at any given point.
Let us now consider our second scenario:
No- You Can Not Spy On a Cell Phone Remotely
The explanation for that is, without having the ability to “install” a compromised or spyware application on a phone, there is technically and logically no way you can get access to any of the information stored within the phone.
Cell phones from reputable companies such as Apple, Samsung, etc are very well secured. Unless you get the software compromised via an application or tracker, it is near to impossible to extract any information. Moreover, most people trust applications from authorized playstores only and I can only wish you luck if you try to upload, let alone get approval, for any such application from Official app stores of Android or IOS.
This brings us to our third Scenario:
Can you spy on a cell phone remotely- Depends:
That by far constitutes the most logical explanation of the scenario.
You can spy on a cell phone remotely but it depends on the following factors:
- What kind of a phone you are targeting?
- Is it powered by Android or IOS?
- What kind of security features are built into the phone?
- How tech savy is the owner/user of the cell phone?
- What kind of access you have to the target cell phone?
- The type of application you are going to use to spy on a cell phone?
- What kind of communication mechanism the spy application is going to rely on? Does it require internet access to relay back information?
- How effectively the spy application can remain hidden from the user?
IF you get to answer all of the above listed questions in your favor, the “depends” changes to a “yes”. Otherwise, it stays a “no”.
*Disclaimer:
This website or any of its affiliated entities never promote or encourage the act of accessing or attempting to access personal information without consent. The whole purpose of the article is to educate our audience and make them aware of the threats they face in an advanced information security spectrum.