An Android spyware app has compromised 60,000 devices since 2016 and it may be hiding on your smartphone. Called Spyhide, the phone surveillance app was developed in Iran and is stealthily collecting users’ private data from Android devices around the world, a report has said.

This type of surveillance app is called a stalkerware app that can be planted on a victim’s phone. The app remains hidden on the phone’s home screen so the victim cannot detect or remove it.
Spyhide continuously uploads the victim’s phone’s contacts, messages, photos, call logs, recordings and location data in real-time.

What data has been collected
According to a report by TechCrunch, Spyhide has stolen user data since 2016 up to the date of exfiltration in mid-July. The data also includes information such as when a photo or video was taken and uploaded.
The data collected by Spyhide includes 3.29 million text messages containing highly personal information, which include two-factor codes and password reset links. There are over 1.2 million call logs, about 312,000 call recording files, more than 925,000 contact lists and records for 382,000 photos and images.
Furthermore, Spyhide’s database also has records on 750,000 users who signed up to to plant the spyware app on a victim’s device, the report noted. However, most users who signed up did not go on to compromise a phone.
It is to be noted that stalkerware apps are banned from Google’s app store so the criminals may have downloaded the app from Spyhide’s website.
How can you check and delete the app?
Since spyware has the ability to hide itself, it may be a little difficult to spot on an Android phone. They are often disguised as normal-looking Android apps. Spyhide may hide as “Google Settings” with a cog icon, or a ringtone app called “T.Ringtone” with a musical note icon, the report said.
Users can check the list of apps that are being given permission to access a device’s data. For this, go to the Settings menu and open the app list. Scroll through the apps and check the ones you don’t remember installing on your phone. In case you find such an app, uninstall it immediately.
Customers can also use Android antivirus apps and turn on Google Play Protect which scans and spots malicious apps installed on your phone.