How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

Every now and then you are afraid someone can enter without permission in your WhatsApp and spy on all the conversations you make with your friends? You’re a little paranoid, let me say it, but basically you’re worried about topics like security. As far as it may be, WhatsApp is the result of man’s work and as such is not perfect. This means that it may have weak points or real security flaws that could allow any malicious people to intercept other people’s communications.

If you want to deepen the subject and want to avoid any reasonable doubt about the privacy of your communications, take five minutes of free time and let it hand you over. I’ll give you “straighteners” on how to understand if WhatsApp is spied on and I’ll suggest some common sense practices that you can implement to make your chat less appetizing in the eyes of the attacker. I assure you that it’s nothing particularly difficult, indeed, just technical, there is little to understand.

I would therefore like you to stop talking and talk about what steps you have to take to find out whether communications on WhatsApp are safe or there is a risk that someone is spying on you. Good reading and good luck … I strongly hope that you will not make worrying discoveries for your privacy!

Index

• How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – Check WhatsApp Web / Desktop accesses
• How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – Verify the presence of spy applications
  How to understand if WhatsApp is spied –  Android
  How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – iOS
• How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – Avoid public Wi-Fi networks
• How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – Other useful tips

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – Check WhatsApp Web / Desktop accesses

 

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

As I explained to you in my tutorial on how to use WhatsApp on a PC, services such as WhatsApp Web and applications like the WhatsApp for Windows and MacOS official client allow you to use WhatsApp on your computer “repeating” the app that is installed on the smartphone. This means that you can only access your chats if the phone is connected to the Internet and if the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Web official client has been associated with the smartphone by scanning a QR code. This is an extremely convenient solution, it works fine, but it has a small privacy risk: it works even if smartphones and computers are not connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

This means that potentially an attacker could gain access to your communications by simply convincing you to lend your smartphone for a few seconds by logging on to WhatsApp Web or the WhatsApp official client using a computer (or tablet) and keep the Check on option  Restarted  active. By ticking this option, the smartphone remembers the association with the computer and allows subsequent access to WhatsApp Web and / or WhatsApp PC client without requiring a new scan of the QR code and without requiring the computer physically close to it .

Fortunately, there is a very simple way to check for unauthorized access to WhatsApp Web or to WhatsApp’s official PC client and possibly interrupt them. By accessing the WhatsApp settings on your smartphone, you can view the full list of accesses made by WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp for PC and decide to stop them instantly. By interrupting them, all computers connected to the smartphone will lose permission to access WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp for Windows / macOS, and they will be prompted for a new scan of QR code (operation that the attacker will not be able to do because they no longer own smartphone).

Entering more detail, to check the WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp PC access lists on your smartphone, you must start WhatsApp, press the button (…) that is located at the top right (if using Android) or on the Settings tab (if use iPhone) and go to WhatsApp Web / Desktop.

At this point, take a look at all WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp Desktop sessions sessions active, and if you detect any suspicion, discontinue it. To stop a WhatsApp Web / Desktop session on Android, hang on it and respond Disconnect to the alert that appears on the screen. To do so on iPhone, swipe from right to left on the session you want to interrupt and hit the Disconnect button that appears laterally.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

Do you want to interrupt all WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp Desktop sessions at once? No problem. Demand on voice Disconnect from all computers, from confirmation (responding Disconnect to the notice that appears on screen) and the game is done.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – Verify the presence of spy applications

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

If you did not find anything strange in WhatsApp Web sessions but suspect that someone may be spying on your communications, try checking the presence of spy apps on your smartphone. Spy apps, as their name suggests, are applications that are hidden on the smartphone and allow you to record all the tasks that are done on the smartphone: typed texts, started apps, called phone numbers, and so on . Some of them are really very difficult to detect as they act, by the way, hidden, but there are some clues that can betray their presence. Now I’m telling you what and how to find them on Android and iOS.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – Android

If you are using an Android terminal, the first step you should take is to enter the settings menu (the gear icon on the home screen or in the drawer with links to all apps installed on your smartphone) and verify the presence of applications with administration permissions, that is, permissions that allow them to control all the tasks performed on the device. Then select the Security and Device Administrators entries and check if apps listed on the screen that you open are apps you do not know and may conceal spy-like intentions. If there are app names you do not know and want to say about their nature, do a simple search on Google.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

 

If you find some of the applications that have spyware for applications with administrative permissions, turn it off immediately by removing the check mark from its icon and uninstalling it. To uninstall it, go to Settings> Android App, select it from the list of apps installed on your device and click on the Uninstall button.

From the same screen you can also check if there are “suspicious” applications that have no administrator permissions but are still installed on your smartphone: if you find someone, you can remove them by following the directions I just gave you (or going to read my tutorial on how to uninstall Android apps).

If you have submitted your smartphone to the root process, I suggest you also open the SuperSU / SuperUser application and check the list that have root permissions. Among them, it may also hide some spy software apps that someone installed on your device while it was unattended.

Again, if you know some “suspect” names, act in a timely manner by revoking the root permissions to the app that you think is potentially dangerous and uninstalling it from the device. To track recent app activities that require root permissions, select the tab with the SuperSU / SuperUser log.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

Other clues that may reveal the presence of an app on the phone are excessive battery consumption and an overheating of the battery.

Clearly, these are two very “generic” symptoms: they could also be caused by apps that have nothing to do with phone tracking activities, but it’s better to investigate when they appear. To do this, I suggest you use the Wakelock Detector app that constantly monitors your smartphone status and lets you know which applications keep the processor “awake” by overheating the device and leading to an abnormal battery consumption. To find out more about how it works, see my tutorial on how to save Android battery.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

If, despite all these things, keep afraid of being spied, I’m sorry, but you just have to save all the data and make a nice “formattone”. This will remove all apps and all data from your phone, reset Android to the factory state, and if present, you will also delete the apps on your device. If you need it, in my tutorial on resetting Android you will find all the information you need to format an Android terminal.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – iOS

iOS, the iPhone’s operating system, makes installing apps easy enough (unless the phone has been subjected to the jailbreak procedure, in which case the system is more “open” and allows a lot more installation simple apps) but this does not mean that it is not immune.

To check suspect apps on your “melaphone”, open the Settings menu (the Gear icon on the home screen) and go to General> Free iPhone Space. After a few seconds of waiting, a list of all the apps installed on the device will appear: if you notice any “suspicious”, select it and click on the Delete app button to remove it.

If you are using an iOS version earlier than 11, you can access the same menu by going to Settings> General> Device and iCloud Space and clicking on Manage Space for the Device Space field.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

 

Another way to find potential apps on iPhone is to check the list of custom profiles installed on your system. Personalized profiles are used for advanced applications, such as those using VPN, to have greater freedom of action within iOS. Then go to the Settings> General> Profile and Device Manager menu and check if there are “suspicious” profiles set on the iPhone. If you can not find the custom profile menu, it means that no app installed on your phone is currently using them.

To conclude, especially if you have a jailbreak iPhone, I suggest you open your browser (Safari) and try connecting to the following addresses: localhost: 8888 and localhost: 4444. These are two addresses used by some apps for remote monitoring of mobile phones, through which the apps reveal their presence and allow you to adjust their settings.

Another “secret technique” that reveals the presence of some apps is to open the dialer and dial the * 12345 number. If after typing one of these codes you are in front of a login screen or a real control panel, it means that an app-spy is installed on your iPhone. To remove it, open Cydia, look for packages related to this and remove it. If you need a hand, you can read my tutorial on how to use Cydia where I’ve shown you some basic concepts about how this alternative iPhone Store (and iPad) works with jailbroken.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

If after all these tests your iPhone is “clean” but you also suspect someone is spying on your activities, I’m sorry but you just have to back up your data and then reset the device. Find out how to reset iPhone in my tutorial dedicated to the subject.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – Avoid public Wi-Fi networks

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

As I’ve been able to explain in many circumstances, WhatsApp uses an end-to-end encryption system that makes messages, photos and videos visible only by legitimate senders and recipients. To explain it in plain words, each message has its own lock and unique key that can only be used by senders and recipients of messages: all others, including WhatsApp servers, see messages in encrypted form, so incomprehensible. In short, even trying to “sniff” a wireless network in which WhatsApp is used, any malicious people will only get unreadable information.

Except for what has just been said, however, no unnecessary risks need to be made. In addition, the discovery of new security flaws is on the agenda and even the WhatsApp system, someday, may be compromised. My advice is therefore to be careful about the Wi-Fi networks to which you connect and to avoid public Wi-Fi networks that, as is well known, are the favorite hunting ground for “spions”. When you can not find it at home or in the office, leave open access points and prefer your operator’s 3G / 4G network: you will be using some data traffic, but you will earn it safely.

If you want more information about the encryption system used by WhatsApp, check out the official application site.

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied – Other useful tips

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied

At this point, you should have been able to figure out if your WhatsApp is spied. Having said this, never forget to put into practice all those small common sense habits that allow you to sleep relatively quietly and reduce the chance of being spied. What are these things I’m talking about? Here are listed quickly.

• Do not leave the phone unattended – I know, it’s trivial, but it is in these banality that you often miss it. However, it takes two minutes to install an app-spy or to allow unauthorized access to WhatsApp Web / Desktop with a phone.

 

• Set a secure PIN – another seemingly banal, but fundamental proposition. If you set a secure PIN on your smartphone (PIN, not sequence, which is much easier to guess with a remote look), you will not be able to allow any attacker to unlock the device to install apps or access WhatsApp Web / Desktop . To set a secure PIN on Android, go to Settings> Security> Screen Lock> PIN; to do so on iOS go to Settings> Touch ID and Code> Change Code (or Add Code).

 

• Check often WhatsApp Web / Desktop accesses – just as explained earlier.

 

• Do not be scared if someone says you know what your access times to WhatsApp – there are apps, such as WhatsMonitor for Android, that let you discover the dates and times of access to WhatsApp by a user by simply dialing their cellphone number . They work, but exploit public data available on WhatsApp servers, so they can not be properly defined as spy apps and do not allow you to capture communications in any way. I’m a bit “disturbing”, yes, but not dangerous if we want to simplify the speech!

 

• Do not use WhatsApp for ultra-confidential communications – WhatsApp is a closed source application, its source code can not be thoroughly examined so you can not know if there is any security flaw that can expose user communications to privacy risks. In the light of what has just been said, it is better to turn to equally secure but open source solutions, such as Android and iOS Signal, which uses the same end-to-end encryption system of WhatsApp but is open source and therefore there is more control over of it by the community. He even uses Edward Snowden, the leading artefact of the datagate, which has led to the release of many confidential US Government documents!

How to understand if WhatsApp is spied