SpotTheSpy: Mobile Security for Gmail and Facebook

Zift Advisory

Spot The Spy is an online account security app that notifies users of potential hacker activity on their accounts. Available for free in both the App Store and the Google Play Store, this app is rated for everyone and offers in-app purchases. This app, while not very useful for kids, can be safe for older teens.

About SpotTheSpy: Mobile Security for Gmail and Facebook

What is SpotTheSpy: Mobile Security for Gmail and Facebook?

Spot The Spy is an online account security app that notifies users of potential hacker activity on their accounts.

Spot The Spy is free to download and use and is rated for users of all ages. This app is available in both the App Store and the Google Play Store and offers in-app purchases.

The Spot the Spy app is designed to provide users with an added layer of security for their online accounts. However, Spot the Spy only sends alerts for the following online accounts: Google Mail, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

It's always good to have additional security when it comes to online account activity and access, but Spot the Spy might be a bit more useful if it were able to protect and monitor more than three online accounts.

Once users download and open the free Spot the Spy app they're prompted to add protection to their Google Mail, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts.

Spot the Spy includes a privacy disclaimer, which states that they do not keep a user's password or private information on their own services rather, users log directly into their accounts when connecting them.

Spot the Spy works by using a user's cell phone GPS as a geolocation device, to pinpoint a user's whereabouts. When a user's accounts are signed in from a location other than the user's cell phone an alert is immediately sent with details.

The downside to this, however, is that users must have their cell phones with them at all times to prevent from receiving false alerts.

Is SpotTheSpy: Mobile Security for Gmail and Facebook safe for my kids?

As is, there is not a great deal of appeal for younger users, as the most popular apps among teens, such as Snapchat and Instagram, are not included in the Spot the Spy app's protection.

In order for Spot the Spy to work properly, users must allow the app access to their device's location services. When the Spot the Spy app is not accessing a user's device location services they'll be able to tell by a red warning tab that states "Location Permission Denied" and presents a button to allow access.

At the bottom of that screen, the message "We can't protect you right now" will show when location services are turned off or a user denies the Spot the Spy app access to them.

Once access is permitted, the app shows a spinning wheel to indicate that it is working, as well as a message saying "Your data is safe - have a nice day!"

Users have the option to monitor all activity on their connected account or accounts, which will notify them every time there is activity on an account or to simply monitor suspicious activity, which only generates alerts for security concerns.

Spot the Spy also allows users to modify their security settings by selecting one of the following from the Activities menu: All, Critical and Suspicious, Critical, None. Users may also opt to have app messages and updates sent to them via email, simply by tapping an opt-in button.

This app, while not very useful for kids, can be safe for older teens.