Spy apps have a bit of a bad reputation. When you hear the word, “spy” you think of deception and even fraud, especially when it comes to technology. However, spy apps can be ethical, helping you protect your children and even confidential employee information. Although they can be abused, spy apps work well to monitor devices in various, different settings. In order for them to be ethical, you need to use them in an ethical way. Here are a few pros and cons of using spy apps as a way to monitor devices.
1 – Pros
In this section, we’ll discuss a few of the positive reasons why you should look at installing a spy app as a way to monitor different aspects of your life.
Monitor Your Child’s Online and Mobile Activity
One of the most common users of ethical spyware are parents monitoring their children’s mobile and online activity. This is often referred to as parental control software. If you are interested in reading up about the different options out there, make sure to look at an iOS or Android spy apps guide, depending on what sort of devices you and your kids use. These allow you to monitor their calls and contacts, read their messages, and make sure that they are not doing anything that might lead to their harm. As long as they have their smartphones on with a stable internet connection, you’ll know what they’re up to, with some apps even telling you exactly where they are.
Monitor Employee Screen time
Another great way to use this sort of software is to remotely monitor your employees’ activity on work devices. This lets you see which apps they are using regularly, how much time they are spending on these apps, what they’re doing online, and even gives you the ability to limit and block access to certain sites. This helps you improve efficiency in the workplace by eliminating access to distractions. You can even uninstall and block apps that are not work-related and cost your business time and money. It can also help you track dishonest employee behavior in different ways. Corporate espionage is a serious issue. Having spyware installed can help you keep track of messages and prevent employees from leaking company secrets.
Monitor your Elderly Parents
It’s difficult watching your parents get old. We tend to find ourselves worrying about them and how they’re doing more and more frequently. Fortunately, there are a few clever tech solutions for the elderly out there. Lots of people find comfort in knowing exactly what their elderly parents are doing, especially online, as so many elderly people are tricked by scams on a regular basis. With remote viewing, you can see what is going on on your parents’ screens. Mobile monitoring spy apps can do this and so much more. You can track their live location and see where they are, which is especially useful if your parent is a little bit forgetful. You can get access to their microphone, allowing you to hear what is going on in their surroundings, and even get access to their camera so that you can see exactly what’s going on. This can seriously help them in the event they are lost or confused.
Track Lost and Stolen Devices Remotely
GPS location tracking is an important feature for any digital device. We rely on GPS to give us accurate internet search results as well as help us get around. But when your phone is stolen and turned off, it can be near impossible to locate it… Unless you have the right app installed. A mobile spy app typically uses GPS to track your location, but this isn’t the only way. Mobile spy apps can track you with the use of SIM card tracking technology, too. This allows you to find a device even when its location services are turned off. This means you can track the whereabouts of a device at any time, whether it’s on or off.
2 – Cons
Now that we’ve covered a few of the positive reasons why you would want to use a spy app, let’s take a look at a few of the cons. In this section, we’ll include a few of the reasons why you wouldn’t like to use one, as well as a few shortcomings.
The Question of Legality
Regardless of your reasons, mobile spy apps aren’t exactly legal everywhere. In certain countries and regions, spy apps may be highly regulated or outlawed entirely. This means that, even if you were to install it for safety reasons, whether it was on your child or another relative’s device, you could face criminal charges and they could sue you.
Strained Relationships
The reality of any sort of surveillance is that people don’t like to be watched. When it comes to your children, especially teenagers, they might get upset with you for monitoring their activity and complain that you don’t trust them. They may even argue that it is something that stifles their growth and freedom. The same thing can be said about other family members, but at the end of the day, you are just trying to keep them safe. People in the workplace might also complain that it is an infringement of their privacy which could cause people to leave the work environment and seek work elsewhere. You’ll just have to have boundaries in place so that you don’t strain the relationships you have with those around you.
Reverse Spying
Spy apps have access to important personal and even sensitive data. When you give access to this amount of data from several different people’s devices, you could make yourself a target for hacking. Reverse spying and even hacking are real issues you need to be aware of. Only download trusted apps. If you download something sketchy, your data as well as any other device you monitor could be at risk.
Spy apps tend to have a bad reputation, but that is largely due to misuse as well as misinformation. Yes, someone could try to install a spy app without your permission in an attempt to try and steal personal information from you, but this is not the intended use. We have listed a few pros and cons and hope that you finish reading this feeling better informed about how such an app can benefit your life as well as the life of those around you.
