Why You Should Never Use Stalkerware Apps
Stalkerware apps might seem like a tempting solution for those dealing with trust issues, but using them comes with significant risks—both legally and morally. These apps, designed to monitor someone's private device activity without their consent, are not just unethical—they’re a ticking data breach time bomb. Over the past several years, at least 26 stalkerware companies have been exposed through massive hacks and data leaks, putting sensitive information like call logs, photos, and messages of thousands of victims at risk. If you're wondering whether it's safe to use these so-called surveillance tools, the answer is a firm no.
Image Credits:Jake O'Limb / PhotoMosh / Getty Images
Surveillance apps like Catwatchful, SpyX, Cocospy, Spyic, and mSpy have been breached repeatedly, exposing victims’ personal data online and showing just how unsafe these services are. This blog explores why stalkerware apps are dangerous, how they’ve been hacked time and again, and what ethical and legal consequences users may face.
Data Breaches Make Stalkerware a Major Privacy Threat
One of the most alarming realities about stalkerware apps is their frequent involvement in massive data leaks. A prime example is Catwatchful, which exposed sensitive information from nearly 26,000 victims in a data breach dating back to 2018. What makes these incidents more chilling is that they’re not isolated. Since 2017, over two dozen stalkerware companies have been hacked or leaked their users’ and victims’ data due to poor security practices.
SpyX, Cocospy, and Spyic are just a few names in a long list of offenders. These apps exposed everything from messages and photos to call logs and GPS locations. In some cases, security researchers found vulnerabilities so severe that entire databases were viewable without authentication. With such glaring lapses in security, the real victims aren’t the people doing the spying—but those being spied on.
The trend shows a complete disregard for data protection. Even mSpy, one of the oldest and most widely used stalkerware apps, leaked millions of customer support tickets containing users’ personal information. Meanwhile, lesser-known apps like Spytech and pcTattletale also made headlines for egregious breaches, with hackers going as far as defacing websites and dumping company data online. These repeated failures highlight the fragility of storing massive amounts of private data with zero accountability.
Stalkerware Is Often Marketed to Enable Abuse
Beyond the cybersecurity risks, stalkerware is frequently marketed in ways that promote unethical—and even illegal—behavior. Many of these apps explicitly advertise themselves as tools to catch a cheating spouse, monitor a partner, or keep tabs on someone’s online activity without their consent. This has severe implications. According to domestic violence experts and several advocacy groups, stalkerware is often a tool of abuse.
Surveys from domestic abuse shelters and findings from media investigations confirm that such monitoring apps have been linked to cases of physical harm and emotional manipulation. Even when stalkerware is marketed under the guise of parental control or employee tracking, the underlying use cases can quickly cross into dangerous territory when used to stalk or harass.
Legal repercussions also loom large. In many jurisdictions, installing spyware on someone’s device without their knowledge is a criminal offense. Even those who don't face legal action risk losing trust and damaging relationships irreparably. When these breaches occur—and they almost always do—users of stalkerware find themselves exposed alongside their victims, compounding the harm.
The Ethical, Legal, and Technological Reasons to Avoid Stalkerware
Stalkerware poses a trifecta of threats: ethical violations, legal consequences, and data insecurity. Anyone considering these apps must understand the full scope of the damage. Not only are they invading someone’s privacy, but they’re also storing sensitive information on insecure servers—servers that have proven time and again to be highly hackable.
Even worse, the creators of stalkerware often remain faceless and operate in legal gray zones, avoiding regulation and accountability. Once a breach happens, there’s little recourse for victims or even the app users themselves. Founders like Bryan Fleming of pcTattletale shut down their operations only after being hacked and humiliated, but by then the damage is already done.
Choosing to spy on someone’s phone is not just a betrayal—it’s a high-risk gamble that could backfire on multiple levels. Whether it’s through public exposure from a breach or facing legal action, users of stalkerware rarely escape unscathed. Instead of choosing surveillance, it's far wiser to opt for honest conversations, legal routes, and ethical alternatives to address relationship or trust issues.
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