Hoverwatch Review 2024 | Is Hoverwatch the Best Spy App?

In this Hoverwatch review, we’ll evaluate the features of one of the top parental control spy apps.

Hoverwatch: A Quick Overview of the Spy App

Nowadays, keeping up with what your children are doing online is difficult. As an alternative to constantly checking on social media profiles and demanding to see a child’s phone, many parents are turning to parental monitoring apps.

Trying to keep your children safe online is a full-time job — Hoverwatch gives you a helping hand with its Android, Mac, and Windows tracking software.

Hoverwatch helps you stay in the loop with invisible call recording, social media tracking, and contact reporting, to name a few features. On the whole, you’ll know everything the target user is doing on their device — which is excellent for keeping an eye on your children, employees, or spouse.

Want to find out more?

Let’s head on into our Hoverwatch review to give you the lowdown on every aspect you’ll need to make up your mind.

Hoverwatch Features Reviewed

Hoverwatch comes prepared with a monitoring tool for every situation you might find yourself in, regardless of whether you’re making sure the kids are still at school or investigating an employee who’s selling company secrets.

These are some of the most important tools Hoverwatch has to offer:

Stealth Mode

It’s absolutely vital that any parental monitoring app you use is sufficiently well hidden from the device user. Hoverwatch claims to be virtually undetectable, and we found this was the case when we put it to the test.

No matter which platform you’re on, it’s almost impossible to find Hoverwatch once it’s installed — take note, after you’ve installed the app on Android the only way to delete it is with the PIN that you get at the end of the initial app installation.

Stealth Mode is also available on Mac and Windows versions of Hoverwatch, which allows to you check whether you want the app to be hidden.

When hidden, Hoverwatch doesn’t appear in the:

• Task Manager
• Installed applications list
• In any taskbar or Start Menu

Call Recording

There’s a key feature that sets Hoverwatch apart from other parental monitoring apps on the market, which is Call Recording.

Most parental monitoring apps will only show you when the phone’s call log is updated, so you won’t know what the contents of the phone call were — just who it was to and whether it was an incoming or outgoing call.

Hoverwatch is one of the few products that lets you record the call audio of any conversation on the phone automatically. The app backs up all calls made on the device to the Hoverwatch dashboard, which you can download and listen to anytime you like.

You’ll need to enable this feature from the Hoverwatch settings menu as it’s not enabled by default due to potential privacy invasions.

Like most other parental monitoring apps, Hoverwatch records the date and time of the call, the duration of the call, as well as which contact or number was on the other end of the phone.

Track SMS

In the modern, fast-paced age of communication, sending a text is far more common than taking a call, as it’s far more convenient.

You’re able to read all the texts sent from the phone via Hoverwatch’s SMS tracker feature — each SMS sent or received by the target device is logged on the Hoverwatch dashboard, so you can see the message’s contents.

All the metadata of each message is logged too, so you can see when each message was sent, along with the contact that sent the message. Hoverwatch’s unique report dashboard also lets you apply powerful filters to quickly find the text messages you need.

WhatsApp Spy

Most teenagers vastly prefer WhatsApp to regular calls and texts when it comes to getting in touch with their friends. WhatsApp’s messages are encrypted by default, so you can’t just monitor their internet connection to see who they’re talking to.

Hoverwatch solves this problem by extracting the WhatsApp texts from the phone itself, giving you the ability to view all messages, along with any calls made inside WhatsApp and even video files sent from the app.

As with other Hoverwatch features, you also get timestamps and contact information to piece everything together.

Snapchat Spy

Snapchat is another social media app that’s increasingly popular among young people.

Anyone can send a selfie over Snapchat in seconds to thousands of internet strangers, so being able to track what your child is sending is a vital part of any parental monitoring app.

However, not many apps fully track Snapchat. This is because Snapchat only displays an image for several seconds.

When you send a file, video, or image over Snapchat, it isn’t permanently saved on the device unless the user screenshots it, but even this will send a notification to the account owner.

Hoverwatch can record any files sent through Snapchat, which you can view from the file gallery, along with images and videos. Each one comes with a timestamp and contact information about the person who sent it.

Even better, any images you capture can be downloaded and backed up offline so you can confront your teenagers with otherwise fleeting evidence of their wrongdoings.

Facebook Messenger Tracking

Facebook might not be the dominating force in social media it used to be, but it’s still home to millions and millions of teenagers who use Facebook messenger to chat with their friends every single day.

Any parental monitoring app has to cover Facebook and Messenger to give you a true idea of what’s going on at home. Facebook tracking on Hoverwatch certainly doesn’t let you down.

Every message sent and received on the Messenger app is tracked by Hoverwatch, along with the timestamps and contact information. Plus, corporate Facebook accounts are also covered by Hoverwatch.

This can be really useful when you’re doing analytics on your employees’ performance. While they’re doing social media outreach on Facebook, you can track every message sent from the device to see when and how they’re responding to customer queries.

Instagram Tracking

Instagram is a rising star in the social media world. Instagram’s popularity is unsurprising. Similar to Snapchat, this one trades off some of its confidentiality for a more customizable and feature-laden form.

For parental tracking, this app is exceptionally important, as it’s what most teenagers use to meet and interact with potential relationship candidates.

And besides this, teenagers are prime targets for any malicious entities online, including predators, cyber bullies, catfishes, or even kidnappers.

With Hoverwatch, you can monitor all direct messages (even the deleted ones) and shared links to ensure your kids aren’t being taken advantage of.

On top of this, Hoverwatch has Instagram-specific features such as viewing the Instagram gallery, likes and comments, Instagram stories, and the location information of any picture posted in any of these categories.

Other Social Media Tracking

There are so many social media platforms available, and there will only be more as time goes on. Thankfully, Hoverwatch doesn’t just include the most popular social media apps.

The app supports tracking many social media apps, including quite a few niche ones like WeChat, Kik, Viber, LINE, and even privacy-based apps like Signal and Telegram.

The tracking for these applications works the same way with each major social media app.

Browser History Tracker

Every parental monitoring suite worth its salt lets you check in on what your children are browsing, and Hoverwatch is no exception. As we’re in the midst of the new age of the internet, browser history tracking is exceptionally important.

When it comes to monitoring your employees or protecting your loved ones from questionable content on the internet, Hoverwatch lets you check all of their browsing data.

Be it violence, drugs, viruses, or even if it’s just innocent browsing being done instead of homework, you’ll be able to see it all with links, timestamps, and screenshots — no matter the platform the target user is using.

Track Phone Location

Hoverwatch sports a superb location tracking feature that allows you to find out where your child is on demand. This feature uses the Android GPS system to ensure a high level of accuracy when reporting where the target device is.

On top of this, Hoverwatch comes with a high level of customization. You can choose between cell phone tracking, GPS tracking, and internet tracking, depending on how accurate you want the tracking to be.

You can also choose when you want the location updated — from 5 minutes to a full day.

Unlock Selfies

Another unique feature that comes with Hoverwatch is the ability to unlock selfies. This isn’t the only caveat of this feature, though.

If the target device ever gets stolen, you’ll be able to get a photo of the perpetrator quite easily, increasing your odds of getting your device back or having justice served.

Gallery Tracking

Another feature available to this app is, of course, gallery tracking. This feature allows you to see all the images and videos present on the target Android device, along with their added dates — plus, you can download them at will.

Scheduled Screenshots

Another useful feature that Hoverwatch brings to the table is being able to take scheduled screenshots. This allows you to see exactly what’s going on with the target device, allowing you to confirm the information you’ve been given elsewhere.

This is phenomenal for ensuring your children are working on their homework or for live insight into what they’re up to. This feature is also off by default, so you must go to your dashboard settings to enable it.

Keylogger

Hoverwatch on Windows and Mac doesn’t include the mobile form of social media tracking. Instead, the keylogger feature basically replaces all the social media and messaging tracking features and combines them all in one.

The keylogger tracks every keystroke on the target device and tracks what application or browser the words get typed into as well. Besides this, it’ll also provide timestamps for each keystroke.

It doesn’t end there, either. Hoverwatch also keeps track of the exact executable location if anything gets inputted into an application, which is great if you’re worried there’s an unauthorized app on their computer.

SIM Card Tracking

Hoverwatch doesn’t just let you track your target device with GPS, it also lets you track the SIM card when it’s inserted into the phone. This feature allows you to see whenever the target phone has its SIM card swapped out or is fiddled with in any way.

When combined with other features like unlock screenshots, Hoverwatch is very useful for monitoring your child’s phone in case it ever gets stolen.

Even if the SIM card is replaced, Hoverwatch will report the new SIM card along with the IMEI code, which can help track down your phone when passed along to the authorities or your phone manufacturer.

Hoverwatch’s Ease-of-Use

It’s all well and good, having many features, but it’s not much help if you can’t use them properly. From compatibility to accessibility, here’s everything you’ll need to know about Hoverwatch’s ease of use.

What Devices Can I Use Hoverwatch on?

Hoverwatch has an impressive set of features, but they wouldn’t be any good without coverage on a bunch of different devices. Thankfully, Hoverwatch is available on many platforms, including:

Android

Hoverwatch runs on all Android devices with Android 4.0 or later, plus all major Android device manufacturers. Needless to say, you can be confident that Hoverwatch will cover your Android device, but there’s a free trial period on Android to make sure.

Most importantly, Hoverwatch doesn’t require you to root your Android phone to get access to the powerful monitoring features of the Android spy app.

This means that Hoverwatch will work on a default, factory-model Android phone without additional preparation.

Many other providers offer two different Android apps — one that needs rooting to offer the full set of monitoring features and a non-root version with fewer features.

However, with Hoverwatch, you don’t need to worry about the possible security vulnerabilities or warranty issues that come with rooting your phone. Everything just works without the hassle.

iOS

While Hoverwatch’s Android offering is one of the best in the business, unfortunately, there’s currently no iOS version of Hoverwatch.

Most parental monitoring solutions are moving away from an iPhone app on the phone and towards an iCloud-based data-sync solution. This involves using the backups on the iCloud to move data and files over to the monitoring app dashboard.

This spy app doesn’t offer this feature at the moment, but we hope to see it come to Hoverwatch in the future.

Mac OSX

Most parental monitoring apps focus only on offering software for phones. Hoverwatch is the exception. It’s available on all modern versions of Mac OSX across desktops and MacBook laptops.

The most important part of the Hoverwatch app for Mac OSX is the keylogger, which records all pressed keys. This allows you to capture:

• Passwords
• Check visited websites
• Monitor all chats

Along with anything else typed into the computer. On top of this, Hoverwatch also regularly captures screenshots so you can see what your child or employee is up to.

Windows

Windows is still an incredibly popular operating system, but most parental monitoring apps don’t cover it. Like the Mac OSX version, Hoverwatch on Windows covers all modern Windows operating systems regardless of whether you’re on a laptop or desktop.

For laptop users, Hoverwatch on Windows comes with all the OSX features and the ability to capture Webcam screenshots to see who’s using the computer. This is great if you suspect your kid is up to something naughty while you’re at work.

To top it off, Hoverwatch is also designed for stealth, so it won’t appear in your taskbar. All this, and it captures internet browsing data straight from the browser — simply head to your Hoverwatch dashboard to view it all at your leisure.

How to Install Hoverwatch [Step-by-Step]

Hoverwatch does everything possible to make the installation process as simple as it gets. We’ll go through each install process in this Hoverwatch review for each platform:

Android

It’s not very difficult to install Hoverwatch on Android phones and tablets, but be warned beforehand — you’ll need physical access to the device for a few minutes.

However, the installation is pretty simple. While you don’t have to root the phone before installing Hoverwatch on Android, you’ll have to allow the operating system to install third-party apps from outside the Google App Store.

This might sound complex, but it’s straightforward. All you have to do is:

1. Open the Settings app on your Android phone
2. Navigate to “General” and then “Security“
3. Once you’re in, enable the “Install from unknown sources” option

Now you can install the Hoverwatch app. Simply:

1. Go to the Hoverwatch website and create your account
2. Pick the phone OS that you want to monitor
3. Head to the Hoverwatch website, sign in, and download the .apk install file
4. When you run the .apk file, you’ll get a pin code — write it down
5. With the pop-up that says “Please, activate Usage access”. Tap “Yes”
6. Then find and tap “Sync service”
7. Next, turn on “Allow usage tracking”
8. Go back to the app and click “Disable battery optimization”
9. Accept the pop-up that reads “Activate device administrator”
10. Lastly, tap and hold “activate” on the bottom right

You don’t need to purchase a subscription plan when you sign up, but you’ll need to after a few days. More importantly, when you run the .apk file, you’ll get a very important code. Be sure to keep this safe, as you’ll need it to download the app.

Now you’re all set to start monitoring your Android device with Hoverwatch, and within minutes, your dashboard will begin to populate with data from the phone.

Mac

For Mac devices, it only gets easier. You’ll still need temporary physical access on the target device as there’s currently no remote install option for Hoverwatch on Mac.

Once you’ve gained access, you’ll need to log into the Hoverwatch website. From there, all you have to do is download and install the Mac version of Hoverwatch.

When you run the installer, you’ll have to agree to Hoverwatch’s Terms of Service and choose between the different use cases — this includes monitoring your child, an employee, or your personal device. Once you’ve finished installing, you’re ready.

Windows

Most of the installation process is the same on Windows. Once you’re logged into the right account on Windows, you’ll need to head to Hoverwatch’s website to get a copy of the Windows version.

Create your account and purchase a Windows license, which allows you to start the download. When you install Hoverwatch, you’ll need either administrator privileges or the password for an administrator account on the computer.

After you’ve followed the prompts and read through the Hoverwatch Terms of Service, that’s it. However, take note — the only way to change the use case on Hoverwatch for Windows or Mac is to rerun the installer to tweak the settings.

Hoverwatch Performance | How Fast is Hoverwatch?

It’s vital when you’re picking a parental monitoring app that you choose one that doesn’t slow the phone down.

The more lag there is on the device that wasn’t there before, the more likely your child will notice that something’s different. Even if the device user knows the app is there, you don’t want to inconvenience them by slowing their phone.

Being stealthy is important when using parental monitoring apps because of the potential breach of trust it represents. You want the best for your kids, but if they know they’re being watched, they might hide certain inappropriate actions from you.

We test app performance to ensure there’s no slowdown because it’s one of the key ways we separate the apps we can recommend from the ones we cannot. Needless to say, we’re happy to report that Hoverwatch performs well.

We didn’t need to alter the default settings to increase performance on the device, but you can choose the frequency of updates to the dashboard if Hoverwatch is struggling on an older device.

Hoverwatch offers a fine level of control to pick which features you want to update faster. Do you want to be updated with the location of your spouse as often as possible but don’t want to see constant updates from the keylogger? Hoverwatch has you covered.

Granted, if the target device were to slow down significantly whenever it connects to the internet, it could easily arouse suspicion. Although we didn’t notice significant slowdowns during our tests, we still recommend spreading the data load across a certain period rather than all at once.

Other than these points, the battery load is quite low. At the highest update frequency, the highest consumer of battery power was the location tracking updates. Even then, this only made a difference of about 8%. So, not a big deal at all.

The speed of the Hoverwatch installation is mainly gated by your internet download speeds, as you’re required to download the .apk or app from their website.

Granted, this app is still very lightweight, so with modern-day internet speeds, your installation should be done in 5 minutes tops, which is a plus in the stealth department too as you won’t need much time with the device.

How Secure is Hoverwatch? | Is Hoverwatch Safe?

Spy apps can raise a lot of flags, and rightfully so. There are ample unsafe monitoring apps on the market, so where does Hoverwatch’s security stand?

Hoverwatch’s Security

Hoverwatch utilizes tried-and-true encryption techniques that, over time, have become industry standard. They use these encryption schemes to keep the data on the target device and on your monitoring device safe.

The data is encrypted using RSA-4096, a military-grade encryption solution. This ensures that all the data captured from the app is encrypted before it arrives at the Hoverwatch servers.

This way, Hoverwatch employees cannot see the contents of your private data stored on their servers because they don’t have your private key. This has the added benefit of protecting you against hackers, so even in a breach of Hoverwatch’s servers, they would only be able to steal useless encrypted files.

Your private key is also stored in AES-256, which is virtually impossible to crack using brute force methods. This encryption is system-wide.

Plus, on top of all this, the data sent back and forth from the target device to the dashboard also happens to go through encrypted TLS channels only, so it’s completely secure from anyone trying to peek at your data from the outside.

Hoverwatch’s Transparency Reputation

Where does Hoverwatch stand on privacy? Well, let’s dive into the details of their audits and the logging and privacy policy.

Audits

One of the key points of establishing trust between companies and their customers when it comes to handling sensitive data is third-party audits.

At this time, Hoverwatch doesn’t seem to have contacted a third-party auditor to affirm its security and privacy status. However, they do clearly and transparently inform us about how their encryption works on their website.

We hope Hoverwatch eventually presents us with a third-party audit sometime in the future since audits are such an integral part of building trust in handling sensitive data.

Logging

As you sign up for Hoverwatch, your email address, age, country, and IP address will be collected to provide you with the service.

As you use the service, additional data, such as account information, device information, and website access information, is also collected.

When you make a subscription plan purchase, the service can collect additional personal information about you, including your:

• Name
• Date of birth
• Phone number
• Payment information (depending on your payment provider)
• Postal code
• Transaction history

After your subscription is over, this information is stored for 30 calendar days and then deleted. An anonymized version of it is used by Hoverwatch to improve its logistics, diagnostics, and their service as a whole.

This data isn’t handed out to anyone other than specific Hoverwatch partners. Exceptions are events such as a police investigation, in which case they’re required to comply with the country’s laws — or a takeover of the company by another corporation.

Privacy Policy

Hoverwatch is a USA-based startup founded in 2002. As such, the data is under USA regulation. However, their privacy policy seems to have been updated to be following the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law.

The text also clearly states what rights this law gives users over their personal information. This means that Hoverwatch effectively complies with GDPR and so can be used in European countries (assuming that Hoverwatch also complies with local laws).

They also state that in the case of a failure to uphold any of these, you’re allowed to complain to a supervisory authority. The privacy policy openly states what data is stored and what it’s used for.

They also state that they do not take responsibility for other third parties that they may or may not utilize the services of.

Lastly, they mention that their service is not directed towards children under 16 and that they don’t knowingly collect personal data from children under 16, per standard practices for most of the world.

Where Can I Use Hoverwatch?

Hoverwatch is a product you can use in almost any environment on the planet — as long as the target device has an internet connection, it’ll report back to the Hoverwatch servers so you can check the latest updates.

In terms of legality, there’s no need to check or ensure that they’re aware of the monitoring if the target user is your child — as long as you’re their legal guardian and they’re under 18, you can use Hoverwatch legally — this is a relief, as tracking your children is an unfortunate necessity with the modern internet.

However, if you’re using Hoverwatch to monitor an employee or an unsuspecting victim, there are some additional considerations you need to make. Importantly, these individuals must be aware of the monitoring and the spyware.

On the whole, tracking the information of non-consenting adults is considered wiretapping in many countries, and thus you should always check in with our country’s laws before installing Hoverwatch.

In the US, many states consider it wiretapping unless both parties are aware that a call is being recorded. In the UK, recording calls can be legal if it’s for personal use and one party is aware of the recording, but it may be illegal to publish this data.

If you’re unsure if your use of Hoverwatch is legal, check with a legal expert first.

Hoverwatch Price | How Much Does Hoverwatch Cost?

Hoverwatch offers competitive pricing compared to the rest of the parental monitoring app market. There are a couple of different pricing plans, but each one gives you all the features advertised on the Hoverwatch website.

There are no “basic” and “premium” packages or price changes between platforms. All you need to know to pick a pricing plan is how many devices in total you decide to cover.

The “Personal” package covers a single device, while the “Professional” package covers up to five devices, and the “Business” package monitors up to twenty-five devices.

Notably, only the Professional and Business package offers the Hoverwatch Mobile Viewer, which gives you all the control of the Hoverwatch browser dashboard in a dedicated Android app.

Personal

The Personal subscription costs $24.95 per month if you buy Hoverwatch on a month-by-month basis. This is already pretty cheap compared to most parental monitoring apps, but the savings get better.

The Hoverwatch Personal subscription goes down to $19.98 a month when you buy three months at once, for a total of $59.95.

That’s a slight improvement in the per-month price, but if you buy twelve months of Hoverwatch, you’re only paying $8.33 a month, or $99.95 in total.

Some other apps would expect you to pay for a bulk package to get a similar per-device price, so this is absolutely a bargain for the number of features Hoverwatch offers.

Professional

When you buy Hoverwatch Professional, the base rate is $49.95 per month for a plan that covers five devices, which works out at $9.99 per month per device. This is already almost as cheap as the twelve-month Personal package on a per-device basis.

The three-month Professional subscription costs $99.95 per device or $6.66 per month. The savings get even better when you buy the twelve-month Professional package, which costs $199.95 annually at only $3.33 per month per device.

This is an excellent option if you’ve got several family members who each have a device or two you need to cover.

Business

For bulk monitoring solutions, you’ll probably need the Hoverwatch Business subscription. It covers up to twenty-five devices, and on a per-month basis, this costs $149.95, or $6 per month per device.

As you can see, Business users get a fantastic deal even when buying monthly. For three months of Hoverwatch Business, it costs $299.95, or $4.00 per device. Finally, the twelve-month rolling subscription costs $499.95.

While this is a lot to put down up front, it works out at only $1.67 per month per device, one of the most cost-effective packages we’ve seen for monitoring solutions.

In conclusion, buying in bulk over buying shorter duration plans presents you with massive savings, up to 66% over the per month price.

For payment methods, they accept most major credit card companies, such as:

• Mastercard
• Visa
• American Express
• JCB
• Maestro

Like most online services in the current day, they also accept payments through Paypal, which should be very convenient for some. We’d like to see cryptocurrency payment options in the future, but purchasing Hoverwatch is painless with a debit or credit card.

Hoverwatch Review FAQs