15 Best FREE Spy Apps for Android in 2023

There was a time when spying on someone required hiring a private investigator. These days, since everyone spends so much time online, you need the digital equivalent – a spy phone app!

The popularity of spy apps is immense. The global remote monitoring and content market size is rising at a CAGR of 5.2%  and is expected to reach $33.3 billion by 2028! 

However, even with its mushroom growth, it is  difficult to find a good phone remote monitoring app. Many available spy apps don’t function properly, and it’s challenging to choose the right one. 

Some free spy apps for Android can be used without the target phone, but they may not work correctly. Some apps might compromise your personal information or infect your phone with viruses and malware.

To help you, we have made a detailed list of spy apps. 

In our blog,  we’ll discuss the way spy apps work. We’ll also help you with the top 15 spy app options available.

How Do Free Spy Apps Work?

Most free spy apps for Android operate by monitoring the phone’s or device’s GPS location. It enables the user to always know the individual’s whereabouts and see their location on a map. Text messages call histories, and networking activity are all subject to surveillance using free spy apps. 

The free spy apps for Android phones were made with the intention of gathering the required device data. Using an app, we can quickly access someone’s phone without a password.

Different applications are created in diverse methods and have varying functionalities. The primary objective of these remote monitoring applications is to monitor messages discreetly. Employers can use the best free spy apps for Android to monitor their staff’s whereabouts.

The app is simple and offers numerous advantages without revealing it to others. Due to the fact that surveillance happens in the background without any indication, nobody is aware of it. The process starts with downloading and installing software. You must connect the device by entering a computer code or key and monitor your actions.

Download the app to your mobile device, then register for an account. Enter phone information, like the code or IMEI number if necessary, in settings afterward. You can now read the messages, look up call history, view messages in the messenger service, and keep track of the device’s location.

What Are The Features That Free Spy Apps Offer?

With so many free spy apps for Android phone options, users are confused about which app to choose. 

To sort that out, we have churned out features from the best spy app for Android free to help keep an eye on a target device’s actions.

 Here are a few features the best spy apps free offer:

1. Call Logs

The call log feature allows users to monitor the incoming and outgoing calls on the target device. You can see the caller’s name, phone number, call duration, and call time. Some free spy apps even allow you to record the calls.

2. GPS Tracking

With the GPS tracking feature, you can track the target device’s location in real time. Some of the free spy apps for Android phones help you view the device’s location on a map and get information on the device’s movements over time. For example, GPS tracking benefits parents who want to monitor their children’s whereabouts.

3. Text Messages

With the text message feature, you can view all incoming and outgoing text messages on the target device. You can also see the message content, sender, and the recipient’s name. Some of the best spy apps free also allow you to view deleted messages.

4. Social Media Monitoring

Many free spy apps for Android offer features that allow you to view the target device’s activity on popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. You can view messages, posts, comments, and other interactions.

5. Remote Control

Many free spy app platforms offer remote control features allowing users to control and manage the target device remotely. The users can lock the device, wipe data, and even take a screenshot of the device’s screen.

6. Keylogging

The keylogging feature in free spy apps records every keystroke on the target device. It includes passwords, usernames, and other sensitive information. Keylogging is useful for tracking the target’s login credentials for multiple online accounts.

What Are The Benefits Of Free Spy Apps For Android?

With numerous Android phone spying applications, getting the best on the market can be challenging. The free spy apps for Android phones offer multiple advantages. Let’s look at a few advantages of using the best spy apps for free.

1. Parental Control 

The best free spy apps for Android can help parents monitor their children’s activities on their devices. Using the spy app, parents can keep track of their children’s call logs, text messages, social media activity, and internet usage to ensure their safety and protect them from online threats.

2. Safeguarding Personal Information

Free spy apps can help protect personal information on Android devices. With keylogging and app monitoring features, users can keep track of their login credentials and monitor which apps can access their personal data.

3.  Recovering Stolen or Lost Devices

Free spy apps can track down stolen or missing Android smartphones. Users can follow the device’s location and reclaim it using GPS tracking. Several spy programs also allow users to delete the device’s data remotely to prevent unauthorized access.

4. Monitoring Employees

Employers can monitor employee productivity and stop data leaks using free spy apps for Android. In order to make sure that employees don’t spend time on things unrelated to their jobs, employers might monitor their internet and cell phone usage while they are at work.

5. Prevention of Cyberbullying 

Free spy apps for Android can assist parents in preventing cyberbullying and shielding their kids from inappropriate behavior online. Parents can monitor their kids’ social media use to spot any indications of cyberbullying. Remote monitoring solutions can assist parents in taking the necessary steps to prevent harm to their kids and guard them against internet bullying.

6. Increased Safety

Both kids and grownups could feel more secure with free spy apps. Parents can watch their children’s whereabouts using GPS monitoring features. Similar to children, adults can use these tools to keep track of their whereabouts when traveling or in potentially hazardous circumstances.

 The free spy app for Android phones can also find any odd activity on the monitored device, including calls or messages from unfamiliar numbers. Users can use the free Android spy app to recognize potential risks and take appropriate measures to protect themselves.

Top 15 Free Spy Apps for Android Phones

To help you out, we’ve created a list of user-vetted, trustworthy, best-free spy apps for Android that work without the target phone.

Note that this list includes cell phone spy app software with free trials. Most free apps offer a very limited feature set, requiring you to pay to unlock extra features.

1. Spyic

Spyic is a leading phone monitoring app.  The app is a reliable tracker and has won the trust of more than a million people from 190+ countries across the planet. 

Spyic can be set up to spy on iOS devices remotely. You must first install a 2MB app to monitor an Android device. After Spyic runs, you can monitor the device remotely from any browser. 

Features

• Location tracking
• Social media monitoring
• Keylogger
• Browser history checker
• Event tracker

Pricing

Spyic offers multiple pricing plans. It includes:

• Basic: $39.99/month
• Premium: $49.99/month
• Family: $69.99/month

Pros and Cons

2. Cocospy

Cocospy is a well-known parental control tool and among the known Android spy apps. The app monitors various messaging applications and is excellent at geofencing and GPS monitoring.

The Cocospy app is compatible with both Android and iOS. It offers you a bunch of features parents and employees would find useful. With Cocospy, you can remotely and discreetly monitor your children’s activities. 

Features

• Child monitoring 
• Text message monitoring
• Social media monitoring
• GPS location tracking
• Keylogger

Pricing 

Cocospy offers multiple pricing options. It includes:

• Basic- $39.99/month
• Premium- $49.99/month
• Family-$69.99/month

Pros and Cons

3. Flexispy

Flexispy allows you to spy on Android and iOS devices. The app can also let you spy on someone’s Mac or personal PC as a bonus feature. Flexispy is pretty popular among the free hidden spy apps, but it is somewhat difficult to install.

It offers many features, including call recording, GPS tracking, social media monitoring, and remote control functions. The app is designed to work in stealth mode, meaning it can be used discreetly in social media apps

 without the target device user’s knowledge.

Features

• GPS tracking
• Email monitoring
• Keylogger
• Remote control functions
• Call recording

Pricing

Flexispy offers two pricing plans:

• Premium- $68/month
• Extreme- $199/ three months

Pros and Cons

4. Spyera

Spyera is a powerful mobile spy app that offers a wide range of features to help users monitor the activities of a target device. Spyera is a mobile monitoring app that can be used to track the activities of Android and iOS devices.

The app is designed for stealth mode, which means it operates discreetly without the target device user’s knowledge. Spyera offers a range of features, including call recording, text message monitoring, GPS tracking, and social media monitoring.

Features

• Live call interception
• Email monitoring
• Remote control functions
• GPS tracking
• Social media monitoring

Pricing

Spyera offers three pricing plans:

• Basic- $89/month
• Premium-$189/month
• Gold-$299/month

Pros and Cons

5. SpyToMobile

SpyToMobile app is advertised mostly as an employee monitoring tool, though it can be used for other purposes. You can see what your employees get up to on their company phones.

The app can monitor phone calls, text messages, GPS locations, and other activities. The app works in stealth mode, meaning it can be used discreetly without the target device user’s knowledge.

Features

• Web history monitoring
• Keylogger
• Text message monitoring 
• GPS tracking
• Call monitoring

Pricing

SpyToMobile offers numerous pricing options. It includes:

• Basic- $29.99/month
• Premium- $39.99/month
• Business- $49.99/month

Pros and Cons

6. Hoverwatch

Hoverwatch is one of Android’s best free spy apps, which acts as both computer and mobile monitoring software. It has a free mobile monitoring version. It can be quite useful to track your kid’s activities or that of your employees. 

It can accurately spy on the activities of your target device. It gives you full information on actions performed by the user, including the messages sent and received, phone calls made and received, browsing history, and more. 

Features

• Camera tracking
• Keylogger
• Clipboard tracking
• Internet history monitoring
• GPS tracking

Pricing

Hoverwatch offers three pricing plans:

• Personal- $24.95/month
• Professional- $49.95/month
• Business- $149.95/month

Pros and Cons

7. SpyBubble

SpyBubble is an advanced spy app for Android that secretly records the activities on the target’s device. It offers a broad range of monitoring activities, including instant text message tracking, incoming and outgoing calls, traffic control, web spying, and social media control. Besides, it sends out email notifications on forbidden activities. 

Moreover, the app installation process does not interfere with your daily routine. It takes only a few steps to get you started. No wonder it is considered one of the best free spy apps for Android!

Features

• Call monitoring and recording
• Web browsing history monitoring 
• GPS location tracking
• Multimedia file monitoring
• Text message monitoring

Pricing

SpyBubble offers two pricing plans:

• Basic- $24.95/month
• Pro- $49.95/month

Pros and Cons

8. uMobix

uMobix is a top-tier spy app available for Android phones. It can obtain and monitor all the needed information from a target device while working in stealth mode. All the collected data is provided as reports, available on your userspace. 

It is designed to help employers and other individuals keep track of mobile device usage. uMobix is a spy software application that is compatible with both Android and iOS devices.

Features

• GPS tracking
• Keylogger
• Application monitoring
• Geo-fencing
• Sim card change detection

Pricing

uMobix has three pricing plans:

• Basic- $29.99/month
• Premium-$49.99/month
• Family-$99.99/month

Pros and Cons

9. TheTruthSpy

TheTruthSpy is a hidden spy app that can track the activities of any phone. It offers excellent features at very reasonable prices and can record ambient sounds and phone calls from the phone’s surroundings.

The app is compatible with Android and iOS devices and offers real-time monitoring, providing users with up-to-date information on the target device’s activities. It also provides detailed activity reports, which can be used to identify any suspicious or inappropriate behavior.

Features

• Keylogger
• Recording the surrounding
• SIM change alert
• Monitor texts/IMs
• GPS location tracking

Pricing

TruthSpy offers three subscription plans:

• Standard- $16.99/month
• Premium- $19.99/month
• Gold- $22.99/month

Pros and Cons

10. mSpy

mSpy is one of the popular parental control device protection software. The app monitors network usage and helps parents track their children’s online activity. It monitors messages from WhatsApp, Facebook, and Snapchat.  

The software is typically installed on a target device, such as a smartphone or tablet, and can then be used to track and log various activities, including phone calls, text messages, emails, social media activity, and GPS location data.

Features

• File access control
• Keylogging capabilities
• Website tracking
• Dashboard accessibility
• Geofencing

Pricing

mSpy offers three pricing plans:

• Basic- $29.99/month
• Premium- $69.99/month
• No- Jailbreak- $69.99/month

Pros and Cons

11. AppMia

AppMia is a powerful and easy-to-use spyware tool with comprehensive monitoring possibilities. The additional features integrated with it make it accessible around the globe evermore. The software runs on the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.

It works in stealth mode, meaning the app runs discreetly in the background without the target device user’s knowledge. The app provides users with detailed activity reports, which can be accessed from a web-based control panel.

Features

• GPS location tracking
• Password logger
• Music and video tracking
• Email and web tracking
• Calls & surrounding recording

Pricing

Appmia offers two pricing plans:

• Premium- $16.16/month
• Extreme- $25.83/month

Pros and Cons

12. MobiStealth

MobiStealth is one of the best spy software that offers a wide range of features. The unique software runs on different versions, from basic to the most advanced. While the basic version offers limited features, the advanced version has numerous features.

Mobistealth is only accessible from a few platforms, including Windows-based devices, and can be installed on-premise. Mobistealth continuously relays all smartphone activity to your safe online monitoring account while simultaneously recording it. 

Features

• Call tracking
• Keylogging
• Monitor text messages/IMs
• Track current location
• Web browser history access

Pricing

MobiStealth offers three pricing plans:

• Lite- $8.33/month
• Basic- $16.66/month
• Premium- $24.99/month

Pros and Cons

13. TheOneSpy

TheOneSpy is a unique, secure, and employee-monitoring spy software for mobile phones and computers. TheOneSpy supports all major cellular networks and is compatible with Android and iPhone. It is a cell phone tracking software without a target phone and is ideal for employee computer monitoring and considered as  one of the best spy software.

TheOneSpy software allows users to monitor various activities on the target device, including calls, text messages, social media, GPS location, etc.

Features

• Real-time reporting
• Email recording
• Record calls and access call logs
• Remote screenshots
• Geofencing

Pricing

TheOneSpy offers three pricing plans:

• Lite- $50/month
• XLite- $70/month
• Premier- $100/month

Pros and Cons

14. Clevguard

ClevGuard is a software company that offers free spy apps for Android. It has parental control and monitoring solutions for mobile devices.

ClevGuard’s parental control software is designed to help parents monitor their children’s online activity, block inappropriate content, and limit screen time. 

It is among the best free spy apps that can be installed on both iPhones and Android devices and can track text messages, call logs, social media activity, and other online interactions. 

Features

• Real-time alerts
• GPS tracking
• Geofencing
• Screen time management
• App and website blocking

Pricing

Clevguard offers three pricing plans:

• Basic- $29.99/month
• Premium- $49.99/month
• Ultimate- $69.99/month

Pros and Cons

15. FamiGuard

FamiGuard is a parental control app designed to help parents monitor and manage their children’s online activities. It is free spy software that offers a range of features that allow parents to track their children’s location, block inappropriate content, set screen time limits, and monitor social media activity.

It is a spy software that offers comprehensive parental control and can be installed on Android and iOS devices.

Features

• App usage tracker
• Web content filtering
• Location tracking
• Geofencing
• Social media monitoring

Pricing

FamiGuard offers two pricing plans:

• Monthly- $9.99
• Annual-$69.99

Pros and Cons

What Are The Challenges Of Free Spy Apps?

The best free spy apps have a number of benefits, but there are drawbacks to using them as well. Here are a few challenges with using the best spy app for Android free.

1. Legal Issues

Some nations may have laws against using free spy apps to track somebody without permission. Therefore, users must be mindful of the legal ramifications before installing spy applications on someone’s device.

2. Technical Challenges

Technical problems, like connectivity or syncing issues, can occur, and spy programs might not always function as intended. To ensure the spy app is functioning properly, customers must be ready to troubleshoot technical concerns.

3. App Store Restrictions

Free spy apps may not be accessible on recognized app stores like Google Play, which makes it challenging for users to download and update the app. Users might have to get the app from a third party, which can be risky for their security.

4. Privacy Concerns

The best spy apps free can gather private data from the target device, like call history, text message content, and social media activity. Users must check that their spy program is safe and doesn’t violate their privacy.

5. Drain on Battery Life

The resource-intensive nature of spy apps may significantly reduce the battery life of the target device. It can be a grave problem, even when the targeted device is utilized for essential purposes like work or an emergency. Additionally, running a spy program nonstop might make a gadget overheat, permanently harming it.

6. False Positives

The false positive reports from free spy apps include labeling a normal activity suspicious. Relationships and connections can be damaged due to the unneeded anxiety and mistrust that could arise from it.

Conclusion

The top fifteen free spy apps for Android are all listed in this guide. A spy app can be a terrific way to secure your family or business. Having said that, our extensive testing revealed that the tools mentioned above are the top Android spy applications.

You can track using cutting-edge technologies like GPS tracking and phone monitoring to ensure the safety of the target users. We hope our list of best free spy apps for Android that work remotely is useful. You won’t regret opting for any of these apps.