Stalkerware: The secret apps people use to spy on their partners

“Catch cheating spouses” the website for California-based HelloSpy, a smartphone app, says. There is a photo of a woman with a bruised face and a man grabbing her arm. Infidelity is easier these days because of online social networks and mobile phones, the page claims. But the “good news” is that technology can reveal infidelity too, it says.

On the site for another app, FlexiSpy, I seek help from a customer support agent. During a web chat, I say, “I think my wife is cheating.” The agent, whether human or…