How To Tell If Spyware Is Hiding On Your Android Phone

The simplest step is to keep an eye out for any apps you don’t remember installing. Unfamiliar apps could be spyware trying to disguise itself as something mundane and easily forgettable. Pull up your device’s Power menu screen, then press and hold Power Off until the safe mode option appears and select it. Once your device restarts in safe mode, open Settings and select Apps, then look for anything on the list that looks out of place. If you find an app that you don’t remember installing or are otherwise suspicious of, select it and choose Uninstall to get rid of it. Google lists a number of other possible signs of malware, as well, including usual battery drain and storage capacity decreasing for no apparent reason.

If safe mode doesn’t work or you want to be certain you’ve gotten the malicious software off your device, you could take a more scorched Earth approach by restoring your device to factory settings, which will completely wipe any and all data and apps that weren’t present when it first came out of the factory. To do this, open Settings and select Backup and Reset > Factory Data Reset, then select Reset Phone and confirm by entering your device’s PIN or password (via Samsung).

Keep in mind that the precise language presented in Settings may vary slightly depending on your phone’s manufacturer. This method will require you to either restore a backup from before you suspected a spyware infection or manually re-install and reconnect all your apps and services — but in severe cases, the latter option is the only way to be sure.