With the portable feature, intelligence terminals like mobile phone combine such privacy information as the user’s current location, contacts, and the communication record in one. Based on such feature, some applications have developed the functions of tracking and information monitoring to satisfy the need to track and protect children and the old as well as to carry out business tracking. Proceeding from traditional spy requirement, some developers have designed related privacy-stealing functions to meet people’s curiosity and monitoring psychology. These behaviors, hidden or practical, all have certain spy functions.

Here, based on common software behaviors on Android system, we make a summary and appreciation on widespread softwares with related functions or abilities in order to enhance our security awareness on spyware as well as to call for the use of these softwares for proper purpose.

Due to the difference in national laws and regulations, the identification extent and standard on spyware varies from one to another. Therefore, related introduction in this paper does not involve the judgment on whether it is malicious or not.

The full analysis can be downloaded here.