Monitoring, tracking & spyware

Location tracking & tracking devices

Small tracking tags (such as AirTags or similar Bluetooth trackers), a car's built-in tracking system, or location-sharing features already on your phone can all be used to monitor where you are — sometimes without your knowledge.

• Check your phone's location-sharing settings (for example “Find My” on iPhone or Google's location sharing on Android) for anyone you've previously shared your location with. Remove access you no longer want them to have.
  
  
• Modern phones can alert you to an unknown tracker travelling with you that doesn't belong to you. If you get an alert like this, it's worth treating it seriously. Get advice before removing the tracker yourself if you think it might be needed as evidence.
  
  
• If you share a car with an abuser, be aware that some vehicle apps allow the account holder to see the car's location and journey history.
  
  
• Check bags, coats, children's belongings and cars for anything unfamiliar, particularly small devices or tags.

If you think you're being monitored, or there's spyware on your device

Sometimes an abuser installs monitoring software (often called spyware or stalkerware) on a phone or laptop, or simply has ongoing physical access to check it.

Signs can include a partner knowing things about your day that you didn't share with them. Or a device running unusually slowly, overheating, or with the battery draining fast, (though these can also have ordinary explanations).

This is one of the few areas where it's worth being cautious before acting alone. Searching for “how to remove spyware”, installing anti-spyware apps, or deleting the software yourself can alert the person monitoring you, and can also affect evidence that could otherwise support a criminal case or protection order.

• If you can, use a device you're confident isn't being monitored (a friend's phone, a library or work computer) to look into this or to contact support.
  
  
• Talk to a support worker or the Gardaí before removing anything. They can advise on preserving evidence and on safer ways to check a device.
  
  
• If you need to do anything sensitive online, such as looking for housing, legal information or a solicitor, try to do it on a device you know is safe.

Children, shared devices and family tracking apps

Apps designed for parents to keep children safe, such as family locator or shared calendar apps, are sometimes repurposed by an abusive partner to track an adult's movements, or to monitor a child as a way of controlling you.

• Check what family-sharing, parental control or locator apps are active on shared devices, and who has admin access to them.
  
  
• If a device was set up or provided by an abusive partner, including a child's device, treat it as a device they may be able to see into.
  
  
• A support worker can help you think through how to keep children safely connected to the people who matter to them, without this becoming a monitoring route into your own life.