Who's Spying On Me

This feature is available only on devices running Android 9 and later.

Various online and offline services collect and store information about you after obtaining your consent. However, there are services and people that want to know everything about you and don't mind collecting this information secretly, thereby breaching your privacy.

Who's Spying On Me helps you detect spying and physical stalking, allowing you to take action and protect yourself.

It includes:

• Stalkerware Detection, which looks for apps on your device that can be used to spy on you and collect data you'd rather not share with strangers.
• Device Scanner, which identifies planted devices that let their owners track your movements and always know where you are at any given time.
• Permissions Control, which shows which apps have access to permissions that may facilitate spying on you and breaching your privacy.

The sooner you learn about spying and stalking, the less personal information might fall into the wrong hands, so we recommend turning on the feature as soon as possible and keeping it on at all times. It's designed to be on all the time: we've made sure it's battery-friendly and doesn't hinder your normal use of your device.

Initial configuration of Who's Spying On Me

To turn on Who's Spying On Me, you first need to configure it, otherwise it won't work.

To perform the initial configuration of Who's Spying On Me:

1. In the bottom menu of the Kaspersky app, tap All features.
2. Tap Who's Spying On Me to start the setup wizard.

   You can also tap Who's Spying On Me on the Home screen of the Kaspersky app.

3. Follow the instructions in the wizard.

The feature is ready to use and will automatically scan your device for spyware and stalkerware, and your surroundings — for smart devices that can be used for stalking. You can also control which apps on your device are allowed permissions that can make it easier to stalk you.

If you turn off the settings required by the feature (for instance, location and Bluetooth services on your device), it will stop working.

Detection of apps and devices

Who's Spying On Me has two components to detect stalking: Stalkerware Detection and Device Scanner.

Stalkerware Detection

Stalkerware Detection is a component that's always on: it automatically identifies stalkerware during full and quick device scans for threats. For it to work as intended, all you need to do is promptly update anti-virus databases (you can set up automatic database updates). Or, if you'd like to scan your device on your own, you can perform full or quick scans manually. If the app detects stalkerware, you'll be notified and will be able to take action.

We don't recommend deleting stalkerware from your device before you can assess the situation: doing this may provoke the person who installed it. You can use another device (for instance, a computer at the library) to look for help.

Device Scanner

Device Scanner automatically and regularly scans your surroundings for wireless Bluetooth devices that can be used to track your movements. Device Scanner detects devices around you, identifies their location and signal strength, and then compares it to your location.

If Device Scanner locates the same device near you for a certain period of time, it marks this device as suspicious and creates a corresponding card for it.

What if the app finds a suspicious device?

If a suspicious device is found, the created card lets you:

• See details about the device: its name and type (smart tag, headphones, etc.), as well as the first and last time it was detected.
• See on map where it was first detected. This might help you remember the circumstances when the device was planted or who was near you at that time.
• If the app detects a device that belongs to you, you can mark it as a trusted device. The app will not alert you about trusted devices.
• Read instructions on how to turn off the suspicious device.

  We strongly advise you to not turn off the device before you assess the situation and seek help, if needed. Hastily turning off the device may escalate the situation.

• Learn what to do in case you're being stalked and where to seek help. The link will take you to the Coalition Against Stalkerware website, where you can not only learn more about stalking and stalkerware, but also find a list of organizations that you can contact for help (selected languages only).
• Delete all information about the device if you don't need it anymore.

  Any information will be lost forever. We recommend you don't delete information about devices that don't belong to you, as it may be useful in the future.

If the settings are correct, the Scanner will detect devices automatically. That said, if something worries you, you can always start a manual scan.

To run a manual scan for planted devices:

1. Tap Who's Spying On Me either on the Home screen or the All features screen.
2. Tap the Check for stalking button to run a scan for devices around you.

Permissions Control

Permissions Control shows you a list of installed apps with permissions that may compromise your privacy: for instance, let the app record your conversations, secretly take pictures of you, track your movements and more.

To view a list of apps with a certain permission:

1. Tap Who's Spying On Me either on the Home screen of the app or in the All features section.
2. Scroll down to the Permissions Control section.
3. Tap the name of the permission you want to check.
4. Tap an app in the list to revoke the permission or delete the app.

   On devices with Android 11 or earlier, you can't revoke the Nearby devices permission. You can delete an app to stop it from having this permission. Also, if an app on your device hasn't been updated for a long time, it may show up in the list of apps with a permission, but you won't be able to revoke the permission regardless of the version of your operating system. In this case, you can only delete the app from your device.