Start here
If you have landed on this page because something feels wrong, or because a scan just turned red, take a breath. You have already done something most people never do: you noticed, and you looked. Whatever happens next, that was the hard part.
This page is about the step before removal. It exists because the natural instinct, the moment you see "Known stalkerware", is to delete it. Sometimes that is exactly right. Often it is better to wait a day and do it in the right order. Here is why, and how.
Why removal is not always the first step
Monitoring software reports to a dashboard. When it stops reporting, the dashboard shows the device as offline, or shows that the app was uninstalled, or simply stops updating. The person watching notices. Sometimes within minutes.
If that person is a stranger, a scammer, or a former employer, that may not matter much. If that person is someone you live with, someone you are trying to leave, or someone who has already shown they will escalate, it matters a great deal. The moment they realise you know is often the moment of greatest risk. Advocates who work with survivors say this consistently, and it is the reason every removal guide on this site has a safety note in it.
None of this means you have to keep the software. It means you get to choose when it goes, and you can make sure the other pieces are in place first.
Use a device that isn’t yours
Stalkerware that uses an accessibility service can read what is on your screen. That includes this page, your searches, and any messages you send asking for help. If you can, do your reading, your planning and your reaching out from a device the other person has never had access to: a friend’s phone, a library or work computer, a cheap prepaid phone bought with cash and kept somewhere they don’t know about.
If you only have the one phone, you can still use it. Just assume it is being watched while you do, and keep the sensitive parts (hotline calls, planning conversations) for somewhere else if you possibly can.
Make a plan
A safety plan is simply thinking through, in advance, what you will do and who you will call. It does not have to be elaborate. Some questions that help:
If they realise I have found this, where will I be, and is that safe?
Who knows what is happening? Who could I stay with for a night?
What do I need to have with me (ID, medication, cards, keys, documents, chargers) and where is it right now?
Do my children or the people close to me need to be part of this plan?
Is there someone I can text one word to that means "come now"?
You do not have to answer these alone. Domestic violence advocates do this every day, over the phone, for free, confidentially. They are not going to tell you what to do. They will help you think it through, and they know things about the local system (police, courts, housing) that you can’t be expected to know.
Think about accounts, not just the app
Stalkerware is one way to watch someone. Knowing their passwords is another, and it is just as common. While you are planning, think about:
Does the other person know, or could they guess, your Google or Apple password? Your email? Your banking?
Is your phone number or email the recovery option on their accounts, or theirs on yours?
Are you sharing location through Google Maps, Find My, a family plan, a car app, a fitness app?
Do they have access to your carrier account? Call and text records can be read from the carrier’s website.
Changing passwords from a device they don’t control, and turning on two-factor with a phone number or security key only you have, closes most of these. The iPhone security check has a step-by-step for Apple accounts; the same logic applies to Google.
When you’re ready to remove
The removal guides for Android and iPhone walk through the steps. Some things to decide first:
- Remove, or replace the phone? If you can afford a new phone, setting it up as new (not from a backup) with new account passwords is the cleanest break. If you can’t, removal plus a factory reset plus password changes is the next best.
- Timing. Pick a moment when you will be somewhere safe for the following hours or days.
- Everything at once. If you also need to change passwords, end location sharing and remove unknown devices from your accounts, do them in the same sitting, from a safe device, so there is no window where they are locked out of one thing and still inside another.
For friends and family
If someone you know has come to you with this, the most useful things you can do are: believe them, help them get access to a device that isn’t being watched, let them make the decisions, and know that "just delete it" is not always the right advice. Point them here, or to a hotline, and offer to sit with them while they call.
Nothing on this site will remove anything from your phone without you doing it. The scanner shows you what is there and explains it. What you do with that, and when, is yours to decide. If it helps to talk it through first, the numbers above are there.