Since the StealthGenie incident, smartphone monitoring software based in the USA have been busy making changes to make sure that they stay legal in the eyes of the law. This is why mSpy, who were the only other smartphone monitoring software to offer the ability to record phone calls, and ambient recording, have now removed both of these two features from their products.
That’s right.
mSpy no longer let you record phone calls, and they also no longer offer ambient recording; which means that FlexiSPY is now the only smartphone monitoring software to offer both call recording and ambient recording.
Recording phone calls gives you a complete 1:1 recording of all calls that are placed to and from the TARGET device. Because we understand that you cannot always be around to listen in to a call live, our call recording option allows you to simply set up the options and forget them and come back at the end of the day to listen to all the captured recordings.
Ambient recording is the same. With this feature you can record spycalls that take place on the TARGET device as well as listen to the surroundings in general. Again, with a quick and easy to use interface you can set up ambient recording in minutes and be up and recording in no time.
Let’s take a quick look to see how these features work.
Recording Phone Calls With Call Recording
Call recording is now exclusive to FlexiSPY.
To begin, make sure you have enabled the call recording option inside your online account, through the Control Center, and also have set the watchlist to record the different kinds of calls you want to record (e.g. numbers in address book, not in address book, numbers you specify yourself etc.).
After that every time a call is placed to or from the TARGET device it will be recorded and uploaded to your online account.
You then simply download the recording from your online account to your PC and listen to it offline using popular PC programs such as VLC Media Player, Windows Media Player, etc..
Call recording is currently available as part of FlexiSPY EXTREME and is compatible with rooted and non-rooted Android devices only.
Ambient Recording
This is another feature that only we offer.
Ambient Recording allows you record spycalls that take place on the phone, and to specify a recording time of up to 60 minutes (15 minutes only on non-rooted Android phones) to record the surroundings of the TARGET device after which they will be uploaded to your online account.
As with call recordings you simply download the recording file from your online account to your PC so that you can listen to it offline using software such as VLC Media Player.
Ambient recording is currently available in FlexiSPY Extreme for rooted and non-rooted Android devices, iPhone (jailbroken) & Symbian.
We’ve tried to make recording phone calls and ambient recording both quick and easy. and we hope this guide has provided valuable information.
So we’d also like to extend this offer;
If you have purchased a competitors product, counting on their call recording features to work, and are now dissatisfied because they no longer support these features, then we’d like to invite you into our trade-in program.
Our trade-in program let’s you “trade-in” the value of your current competitors software towards a FlexiSPY license.
We’ve completed countless amounts of trade-in offers so far and we’d love to have you on board with FlexiSPY!
Disclaimer: Flashing a custom recovery is done at your own risk. Whilst these steps are correct at the time of writing FlexiSPY is not responsible for the custom recovery flashing process in any way and you do this at your own risk.
This article will show you how to install a custom recovery on to your Android phone. The custom recovery will replace the default recovery mode that comes with the Android phone as standard.
Please note that installing ClockworkMod requires rooting your device first. When you root an Android device, especially Samsung handsets, the root process installs ClockworkMod automatically as part of the process.
This guide is for those phones that are rooted but for which a custom recovery was not also installed as part of the rooting process such as HTC, Sony or Motorola devices.
What is recovery mode?
Recovery mode comes as standard on all Android phones and allows for recovery tasks to be performed such as installing zip files that are stored on the SD card to flash a custom ROM or to wipe the phone cache for example.
However the standard recovery mode on most Android phone is somewhat limited in what it can do which is why many Android users, especially when it comes to rooting an Android device, will flash a custom recovery instead and replace it.
If it has not been rooted then ClockworkMod cannot be installed.
How can I access recovery mode on my Android device?
To access recovery mode on any Android device simply perform the following steps:
Make sure the phone is turned off completely.
Hold down Volume up, Home and Power until the phone starts up and recovery mode should appear.
If your Android phone does not have a Home button then simply hold Volume up + Power instead.
The phone will boot up in to recovery mode and the standard options are limited.
The standard options are:
Reboot system now – Reboots the system out of recovery mode ready for normal use.
Apply update from ADB – If you have connected your Android phone to your PC and you have installed ADB then you can use ADB to ‘push’ files to your Android phone such as custom ROMS.
Apply update from external storage – For any zip file you want to install on the phone such as a rooting file to root the phone or a custom ROM.
Wipe data/factory reset – This does exactly as it says. ALL DATA WILL BE DELETED after choosing this option.
Wipe cache partition – This wipes data from the cache partition of the phone. Useful if the phone is stuck in boot loop or the manufacturer logo.
Apply update from cache – Apply any update file from cache.
How to install ClockworkMod for the first time on a rooted Android phone
Now that we know how to access recovery mode it is time to improve it by installing ClockworkMod.
To do this, on your Android phone, open up the Play Store and browse to ROM Manager.
Once you have downloaded and installed ROM Manager, open it.
Simply tap the Flash ClockworkMod Recovery option.
Choose your correct phone from the list – make sure that the model number matches.
Wait for the custom recovery to be downloaded and installed.
How to reboot in to the newly installed custom recovery
Now that you have successfully installed a custom recovery you can boot in to it either doing the steps listed above previously or, this time, you can now open up ROM Manager and tap the Reboot into Recovery option.
How to upgrade the current version of ClockworkMod custom recovery on a rooted Android phone
If you find that the currently installed version is older than the latest recovery version simply tap the Flash ClockworkMod option and it will install the latest version.
Sometimes it is great to install (flash) a custom ROM on to your Android device in order to tweak it for better performance or to utilise features of the handset that otherwise is off limits by the manufacturer or network provider.
But what makes people want to do this?
Popular custom ROMS have become a part of everyday life for Android users and an example of this would be Cyanogen who recently made installing their ROMs as simple as downloading an installer to your computer and connecting your phone.
Surely there are risks involved in modifying the phone software?
The days of being afraid to install custom ROMS for fear of damaging the phone are long gone as long as you take precautions. Taking precautions applies to many more things than just IT but it is always good to be safe and not sorry whatever the situation may be.
But there are times when you may need to install the ROM that the phone came with (known as the stock ROM).
Applying a firmware update that you are not happy with
You want to sell the phone
You want to send it in for repair and want to return everything to factory settings.
The thing to learn from this article is that there are times when factory reset is a necessity and that it is important to make sure the phone data is backed up also. The rest of this post discusses how to flash your Android device with a stock ROM, effectively restoring it to the ROM version that it came with when purchased.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is for research purposes only. In no way at all is FlexiSPY responsible for any misuse of your device through following the actions contained in this document. By reading forward of this notice you are agreeing that FlexiSPY is not responsible in any way for any actions that may result from following the instructions contained hereafter
Doing this involves three main tasks.
Backing up any phone data you wish to keep
Finding the correct stock ROM
Flashing the phone with the stock ROM successfully
We recommend backing up the phone data to a secure location (such as in the cloud) or just to your computer using the likes of the EFS Professional which is available for free and provides a comprehensive suite of backup options to make sure that all your important data will not be lost.
In order to use EFS professional you must have first rooted the Android phone and also installed BusyBox on to it from the Play Store.
To backup the EFS partition we will use a program called EFS Professional which is a PC program that allows us to backup the EFS partition to a computer to keep it safe.
On the Samsung Android phone go to the Play Store and download and install BusyBox as this is required for EFS Professional to work.
Simply grant root access when asked and then tap Install to start the installation process.
With BusyBox installed and the Samsung Android phone rooted simply plug the phone in to your PC using the USB cable it came with and run EFS Professional.
When you run EFS Professional it will perform checks on the phone itself first to make sure USB debugging is enabled (to enable USB debugging, on the phone itself go to Settings > More > About Device and continue to tap Build Number until the Developer Options option is shown. Once inside Settings > More > Developer Options make sure that USB debugging is checked.)
Simply tap OK on the phone when asked.
Back on the PC if you run EFS Professional it will make sure the phone is rooted and BusyBox is installed and it should look similar to this.
Tap the Backup tab.
Make sure EFS Professional looks like this. You can see that All Partitions is selected.
Click Backup to start.
Once the backup process is complete disconnect the phone from the PC and reconnect it again.
Using Windows Explorer browse to the SD card of the phone and you will find the backup folder titled EFSProBackup.
Simply copy this folder to your PC and keep it in a safe place.
Congratulations! You have successfully backed up the phone
So we have backed up the ROM now comes the fun part. This is the part that most people find difficult.
Finding the correct ROM to use is not as difficult as many would have you believe but it is not without risk.
If you pick the wrong ROM and flash (install) that to the phone then it can have dire consequences.
Luckily there are several websites available that help make finding the correct ROM as easy as possible. One such site that we recommend is SamMobile and their firmware section (http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/).
Whilst on the above site click the Check Your Firmware link and fill in the information.
Once you have found the ROM for your particular phone version and country download it to your computer. You then need to download and install Odin on to your computer also as that is the software you are using to flash the phone.
If you have downloaded and extracted both Odin and the ROM to your computer you should have something that looks like this.
When you open Odin it will look like this.
As you can see from the message window no phone has been added yet. This is because, in order for Odin to see the phone you need to first of all put the phone in to download mode.
To do that you do the following.
Turn the phone off completely
Hold down the volume down key
With the volume down key held, press the main button
With the volume down key and main button held hold down the power button
This means you need to press all three keys at the same time in the order mentioned. You will know that you have done it properly when the following appears on the phone screen after it boots up.
Press the volume up button to continue and the phone screen will now look like this.
Connect the phone to your computer using a USB cable and now it will be seen by Odin.
If your phone is in download mode, connected to your compute but Odin does not see it then make sure you have installed Samsung Kies on to your computer first.
Without Samsung Kies installed (not open and running) the drivers for Windows to recognize the phone will not be installed and so Odin will not be able to see anything.
Backed up the phone data you wish to keep to your computer
Downloaded Odin and the ROM you are going to use for flashing
Installed the Samsung phone drivers to your computer by installing Kies
Put your phone in download mode
Connected the phone to your computer via the USB cable
Opened up Odin
If all has gone well it will look like the previous screenshot.
The final process of flashing the ROM to the phone is all that is left.
Click the AP button inside Odin.
You then browse to the firmware file. You will know if the file is correct because you will be able to see it inside the Windows Explorer menu and click on it.
It will also have the file extension MD5.
If you have downloaded the stock ROM but only see a zip file then it means you need to unzip the file first. Only after having done that will you get the correct MD5 file that Odin can then recognize and use.
Simply double-click the ROM MD5 file and it will be added to the AP section of Odin.
When you see Please wait… and the program says it is not responding (see screenshot below) do not be alarmed.
This is normal. Do not be alarmed, your phone is fine.
It just takes time for Odin to verify the firmware contents as it is such a large file.
During this time you must wait and it may look like the program is not responding but it actually is.
The ROM will be added to Odin once it has been checked.
Once you have done that click Start to begin.
Make sure the phone is not touched in any way or the USB cable disconnected from the computer or Odin closed whilst the flashing is in progress.
After a few minutes Odin will continue and the firmware file will be written to the phone.
You can tell this is in progress because, on the phone itself, a blue progress bar will be slowly going from left to right on the phone screen and in Odin you will also see a green progress bar.
When both Odin and that progress bar get to the end Odin will look like this.
Odin will also say Removed! because the phone restarts and so the USB connection is terminated and thus Odin sees the phone as having been removed. The phone will restart as normal and will boot in to the new OS for the first time – this will take some time.
Give the phone a few minutes and then, once it has booted up, it will now be running the stock ROM that you flashed to it.
You can then configure the phone as you did when you first bought it from the factory and it will be ready for use.
However if, after several minutes, the phone is still stuck on the Samsung logo or the phone may keep displaying the Samsung logo over and over and rebooting then read the steps below to resolve this.
But do not be alarmed, this is easily fixed.
To do this you need to boot the phone in to Recovery mode.
This is similar to how you got the phone to boot in to Download mode and involves holding down several buttons as the phone powers on.
Remove the battery and reinsert it
Hold down the volume up key
With the volume up key held, press the main button
With the volume up key and main button held hold down the power button
If you have done it properly the Samsung logo will appear as normal, wait two seconds and let go of all the keys.
If you have timed it properly the phone will boot in to Recovery mode and the phone screen will look like this.
You will also be presented with a menu with several options to choose from. To select an option use the volume up and down keys to move up and down and press the Power button to select the option.
What we need to do is delete the user cache and delete all factory data (it now makes sense why we backed up the phone first).
The recovery menu looks like this.
First, choose wipe data/factory reset and select it.
Scroll all the way down to Yes – delete all user data and select that.
The data will be wiped.
Second, choose wipe cache partition and select that.
The cache partition will be wiped.
If you have done it correctly, on the screen, in yellow text, it will say the following:
— Wiping data… Formatting /data… Formatting /cache… Data wipe complete.
If you are looking to root an HTC phone then the first thing you will need to do is actually unlock the bootloader. HTC, by default, lock down the bootloader to avoid tampering with system software that may permanently damage the phone if used incorrectly.
Rooting requires access to those very same files which is why unlocking the bootloader is required for rooting most HTC phones.
Unlocking the bootloader will void the warranty on the device once you have successfully done it.
Disclaimer: FlexiSPY is not responsible for any damages that may occur through following these steps. These steps are correct at the time of writing. Unlocking the bootloader is your responsibility and FlexiSPY is not responsible in any way. Please back up the phone completely before performing any of these steps.
Unlocking the bootloader may void the warranty on the device.
What is needed to unlock the HTC bootloader?
To unlock the bootloader on an HTC phone you will need the following:
The HTC phone whose bootloader you want to unlock in your hand
Access to a PC
Step 1 – Download the Android SDK
You will need to use ADB to unlock the bootloader and you get this through downloading the Android SDK.
You can read our article on how to set up ADB here.
Once you have set up and installed the Android SDK and you have confirmed that ADB works on your machine then it is time to proceed to the next step.
On the device itself, go to Settings > Power and make sure the Fast Boot option is not checked.
If you do not have an account you need to register first and then log in.
Once you have logged in please follow the steps.
Click Unlock Bootloader.
Then Click Get Started.
From the drop-down menu choose your HTC phone and then click Begin Unlock Bootloader.
If your device is not listed click the ‘All other supported models’ option instead.
Once you have chosen your phone and started the bootloader unlocking process the disclaimer will appear, Click Yes to proceed.
Agree to the legal terms (please read them carefully) and then click Proceed to Unlock Instructions.
Step 3 – Unlock the bootloader on the phone
The bootloader instructions will appear.
The steps and downloads may differ according to the HTC device whose bootloader you wish to unlock.
The first thing you must to is put the HTC phone in Fastboot mode.
Turn off the phone completely
Hold down the Volume down button and the power button together
Wait for the phone to power on
When it powers on select Fastboot from the menu (use the Volume up and Volume down keys to navigate and the Power button to select).
Now that the HTC phone is in Fastboot mode connect it to the PC.
Keep proceeding through the HCTDev wizard until you get to step 8.
On the PC, open up a command prompt in the folder where you installed the Android SDK and Fastboot window and type and press enter:
fastboot oem get_identifier_token
If done properly the unlock bootloader token ID will appear.
You only need to select the letters as the mosaic above illustrates.
Inside the HTC Developer unlock bootloader wizard paste the token ID where asked and then click Submit.
After a few moments you should get an email from HTC (the email is sent to the email address you used for registration on the HTC Dev website when you logged in to get started).
The email will contain an attachment, a file called unlock_code.bin
Download this file from the email and save it to your computer in the same folder that you installed ADB and the Android SDK.
Once you have done that (remember the HTC phone is still connected to the PC via USB running Fastboot mode) type the following and press Enter when done.
fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin
After pressing Enter, on the HTC device itself you should see the following screen.
Tap Yes (use the Volume Up and Down key to select and Power to confirm).
The HTC phone will reboot and it will boot up again. This process may take longer than usual so please be patient.
Once the phone has booted up the bootloader on the HTC device will have been unlocked so you are now ready perform advanced tasks on the phone such as root the device or install a custom ROM.
The Pangu jailbreak team recently released their iOS 8.1 jailbreak tool and we documented how to use it here. The downside to it was that it did not install Cydia as we are used to, so it meant that you had to manually install Cydia yourself – which is something of a technical task.
The good news though is that with the 1.1 release of the Pangu iOS 8.1 jailbreak tool it now also includes Cydia so this means you can literally jailbreak any iOS device running iOS 8.1 with one click – here is how you do it.
Step 1- Download Pangu
Originally Pangu was in Chinese only but there is now an English version which you can download from here.
Once you have downloaded it save the file to your PC in a save place such as the desktop.
Once downloaded run the program file to start the jailbreak process.
Connect your device running iOS 8.1 to your PC and wait for it to be identified.
Click the Start Jailbreak button to start the jailbreak process follow the instructions that are displayed using your device itself when asked and wait for the jailbreak process to complete. Your device will reboot several times during this process.
Once it has been completed you will see both Cydia and a Pangu icon on your device.
To remove the Pangu icon do the following:
– Open Cydia
– Tap on the ‘Installed‘ option in the bottom bar.
– From the list of installed packages tap ‘Pangu loader for iOS‘.
– Tap Modify. – Tap Remove.
This will now remove the Pangu icon from your device leaving it in its brand new untethered jailbroken state.
Disclaimer: While installing ADB is a safe process, please follow all the steps carefully. FlexiSPY is not responsible for any damage or data loss through following this article and all steps are correct at the time of writing. Create a Windows system restore point at any time if you are unsure. Performing these steps is your own responsibility.
If you are a casual Android user who just uses their phone for Facebook, Clash of Clans, calls and emails then you most likely won’t be interested in ADB or what it is. But for those who like to tinker with the plethora of Android customization options available to the platform ADB is an integral part of the experience.
But what is ADB and why should Android owners become familiar with it?
When you plug in your Android phone or table to your PC Windows will happily display the contents of the phone for you to work with. This can be internal storage or external storage from an Sdcard you have inserted. But surely you must have wondered, what else is on my phone and how can I get access to it?
ADB is the answer
ADB stands for ‘Android Device Bridge’ and is a set of tools for your PC that allows you to interface with your Android phone at the very lowest level in terms of system and processes. You essentially can access all areas of your Android phone and its filesystem instead of the areas deemed safe by the manufacturers that only Windows can see.
ADB allows you to perform advanced operations on your Android phone that you would otherwise normally not be able to.
But what are these ‘advanced operations’ you mention?
Usually ADB is commonly used for rooting. An Android phone software is powered by the Android OS which is based on Linux. On Linux there are certain levels of user responsibility, the highest being superuser which allows you to change anything.
Your Android phone is the same. By default the filesystem of the phone is locked down by the phone manufacturer but you can gain full and complete access to the device by gaining root (hence the term ‘rooting’). This lets you do anything you want on the phone and ADB helps make this happen.
So if you want to root an Android phone or perhaps install a custom ROM or basically just perform advanced tasks on your Android phone then you’ll need ADB so let’s install it.
What is needed to install ADB?
To install ADB you will need a PC. You will need to download and install the Android SDK which you can get from here.
Once you have downloaded the Android SDK save it to an easy to remember folder, for this article we are going to use C:\Android on the PC we are using to write this article.
Here we have downloaded the Android SDK to the desktop.
We will now extract the contents of the folder.
The above screenshots show what is inside the extracted SDK. We will now make a new directory on our C drive called Android and we will copy the three folders shown above.
If you are wondering, you simply navigate to SDK > platform-tools and ADB will be shown along with Fastboot which is also needed if you are rooting
Note: You will not see a platform-tools folder after you extract the SDK. You must install it first which we discuss now.
How do you configure ADB?
To configure ADB and make sure you have the right packages installed launch SDK Manager.
Because you are running it for the first time it will ask you which packages you wish to install, we must install Platform-tools because this is what contains ADB.
Just make sure Android SDK Platform-tools is checked, click Accept and then click Install.
Installing all the packages may take some time – please be patient.
When all packages are install the SDK Manager should look like this.
As you can see, Android SDK Tools and Android SDK Platform Tools are both installed.
Set the Windows ADB path variable
Based on which version of Windows you have (we are using Windows 8.1) the steps here may be a little different. Basically we need to tell Windows that the SDK actually lists and has its own unique path. That way, when ADB is invoked by a program (e.g. a rooting tool) it knows where to find the required file inside your SDK installation folder.
Because you are modifying system variables and paths you may want to create a Windows system restore point first.
You need to access Advanced System Settings.
To do this (on Windows 8.1), press the Windows key + S to bring up the search box and type Advanced System Settings and click the entry that appears.
On the menu that appears click Environment Variables.
The environmental variables window will appear and this is what we need to edit.
Under System Variables, scroll down to Path and click Edit.
Note: Do not delete the variable value field in any way.
Instead, append it. At the end, add the following line (include the ; at the start):
Note: Remember that we installed our Android SDK to C:\Android? Your SDK folder location may be different so please make sure you update the variable value field with the correct path.
Click OK when done.
Now that you have done that you need to install the Android USB drivers.
Installing USB drivers using the SDK Manager
For many Android phones, once you have connected them to your PC, they require their own special set of drivers for Windows to be able to recognize them and allow you to interface with it using ADB.
To do this, inside SDK Manager, scroll down to Extras.
Make sure Google USB Driver is selected and then install it.
The Google USB driver should work for most Android devices once they are plugged in to your PC but not all phone manufacturers require the use of ADB however you should always make sure that you have installed the latest USB drivers for the Android device you wish to root on to your PC.
Now that you have done that there is one more final thing to do.
Test that ADB works correctly
Now that we have set up ADB and installed the Android USB drivers it is time to test it all work.
Plug in any Android phone to your PC using its USB cable.
On the Android phone enable USB debugging. To do this go to Settings > About Phone (or About Device) and tap build number until the Developer Options menu is enabled.
Once inside the Developer Options menu make sure USB Debugging is checked.
On your PC open up a Windows command prompt by opening Run (Windows key + R) and then entering cmd and then press Enter.
In the command prompt window type adb devices and press Enter.
If everything is working properly the command window will display the device data as shown below.
Congratulations! You have now successfully setup and configured ADB for your Android phone and you can perform many additional tasks such as rooting, OS upgrading, OS downgrading and other custom options.
No doubt, if you are a regular reader of the FlexiSPY Blog you will see that we have a new section called ‘Android Rooting’. The purpose of this section is to provide helpful and up-to-date rooting guides for the most popular Android phones.
But many people are not entirely sure what rooting actually is. Furthermore they also think that rooting is a requirement to run FlexiSPY. This is not true. You can install FlexiSPY onto any Android device running Android OS 2.3 up to 4.4.2, and if it is not rooted then FlexiSPY can still be installed and it will run just fine – except you will not get access to specific root only features.
Basically, rooting an Android phone has many additional benefits besides being able to use the root only features of FlexiSPY.
What are the main reasons to root an Android device, besides FlexiSPY?
Free tethering – Tethering is where you can use the internet connection on your phone to access the internet on your PC or other device. Right now, for example on Boost Mobile, this costs $5 a month. On a rooted device, using Android Wi-Fi Tether it costs you nothing.
Increase battery life and speed – On a rooted device programs such as SetCPU allow you to overclock your phone (make it faster) for better performance or underclock it (make it slower) for better battery life.
Remove ‘bloatware’ – On any Android phone, especially ones tied to a carrier, there are always extra programs installed that you may not want to have (for example ‘Galaxy Gift’ on Samsung devices). Usually these cannot be removed but on a rooted phone, using Titanium Backup, running in root mode, they can be which makes your device not only run faster but also gives you additional storage space.
Remove adverts from applications – On the Google Play Store many applications are free and the reason behind this is because they serve you adverts. On a non-rooted phone you must either suffer the adverts or pay money to remove them. On a rooted phone there are programs (AdFree for example) that will remove the adverts for you for free.
Extensive customization – Unlike other device manufacturers (e.g. Apple, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry) who lock down the operating system meaning you cannot really customize, it a rooted Android phone gives you customization options to literally customize the entire phone to look and behave as uniquely as you wish it to. This includes installing custom ROMS, custom keyboards, and custom launchers – the works.
Install apps from the Play Store that are prohibited – If you have ever tried to download an application from the Play Store only to be told that you cannot because it is not available in your region or it just does not appear in the Play Store at all then a rooted device can solve this. You can sideload applications to bypass the Play Store restrictions.
What does rooting require?
To root an Android device you will need a PC and the Android device itself that you wish to root. Because every Android phone is different (make, model, manufacturer, OS version, firmware, kernel, etc..) there are a number of different ways you must root the same looking phone because of its configuration.
So, rooting a USA T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S5 running Android OS 4.4.2 may not be the same as rooting a UK O2 Samsung Galaxy S5 running Android OS 4.4.2. Rooting requires a lot of research to make sure that you get the right rooting guide for the Android device that you wish to root.
Mac users who wish to root an Android device are out of luck. No rooting tools are available for Mac which means that Mac users must either run Windows on their Mac to perform rooting or they must get access to a PC to follow the rooting instructions.
Usually, when you want to root an Android device you need three pieces of information along with the device itself in your hand and access to a PC.
The model number
The manufacturer
The OS version
You can find that information on any Android device by going to Settings > About Device and the information will be listed.
So based on the details above, if we wanted to root this Samsung Galaxy S4 we would type ‘how to root Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 OS 4.2.2’ in to Google
FlexiSPY, in conjunction with Spy Phone Review, already provides tried and tested rooting guides for many popular Android devices and you can find links to them in the next section.
Do you have a rooting guide for my Android device?
You can find a complete list of all the rooting guides that we offer here.
If you wish to request a guide is written specifically for your Android device, for example, if your device is not listed please tell us in the comments and we will create one for you.
All rooting guides we offer are provided by Spy Phone Review and they are tested and correct at the time of publication.
How do I know an Android device has been rooted successfully?
Once you have rooted an Android device successfully there will always be a new icon visible called SuperSU. This is how you can tell if an Android phone has been rooted, by being able to see this icon in your main applications list.
If I root the phone won’t they find out because of the visible SuperSU icon?
Rooting will install a visible icon called SuperSU. While many people may be thinking that this icon will lead to discovery please understand that as part of the installation process on a rooted Android device FlexiSPY asks if you wish to hide the SuperSU icon or not.
Simply tap Yes and the SuperSU icon will be hidden completely. This means that there will be no traces of the software visible on the phone if you choose to also hide the FlexiSPY software icon as well.
What are the risks involved from rooting?
Rooting will void the warranty of the Android device in 99% of cases. That is why it is very important to find the correct rooting guide that you need for your specific Android device. As ever though it is recommended to backup the Android device first before performing rooting to make sure that you have a copy of it should anything go wrong.
On a rooted phone you also cannot upgrade the Android OS version any more. If you try to upgrade the OS version on a rooted phone then it will fail. The only way to upgrade the OS version is to perform a full unroot (explained later on) and then, once done, upgrade the OS and root the phone again while running on the newly updated OS version.
But rooting is a fairly simply process. Samsung based Android devices are the easiest to root overall because Samsung use Odin which is a simple to understand application allowing you to interface with any Samsung Android device once it is in Download mode.
In contrast to this, HTC requires that you unlock the bootloader of the Android device first before you can root the device. This is quite technical and it does void the warranty once it has been done.
Once a phone has been rooted you also cannot upgrade the OS version any longer.
If you have rooted an Android device and you wish to get the latest and greatest version of the Android OS that was just released specifically for your device then unfortunately, when you go to the Software Update option on the phone itself it will say that this operation cannot be performed.
On many Android phones you can unroot the phone to return the phone to its original non-rooted state. This is done by going in to the SuperSU application on the Android device > Settings > Full Unroot. Performing a full unroot means that you should be able to still maintain your warranty although, if rooting your particular Android device trips a counter that Android manufacturer technicians can access (as we explained with Samsung Knox) then it may not be enough but it should always be tried first.
On a rooted Android device, if you perform a factory reset, ALL DATA WILL BE DELETED on the device but the root will still remain. You can only remove rooting by performing a full unroot which is explained above.
What FlexiSPY features won’t I get if I do not wish to root the phone?
If you do not wish to root the Android device, that is fine, you can still install and run FlexiSPY on the device without issue – you just won’t get the following features.
Spycall– Listen to the Android device surroundings in real-time using your own phone – FlexiSPY EXTREME
Call intercept – Listen in to the Android device phone calls in real-time using your own phone – FlexiSPY EXTREME
IM capturing – Capture IM’s on the Android device from popular services such as Facebook, LINE, Whatsapp etc. – FlexiSPY Premium/FlexiSPY EXTREME
Email capturing – Capture emails on the Android device – FlexiSPY Premium/FlexiSPY EXTREME
Hide SuperSU – Hide the rooting icon on the Android device if you do not wish for it to be shown – FlexiSPY Premium/FlexiSPY EXTREME
Password grabber – Capture the application and email passwords for all accounts set up on the Android device as well as any passcode/lock pattern set
What is the difference between FlexiSPY running in FULL or LIMITED mode?
On a rooted Android device, FlexiSPY may run in FULL mode (root permission granted, all features working) or LIMITED mode (root permission may or may not be granted, limited functionality).
In LIMITED mode the following features will not work:
Spycall
Call intercept
For the reasons behind why FlexiSPY may run in LIMITED mode only on your Android device please read below.
Why does FlexiSPY only run in LIMITED mode in Android OS versions higher than 4.4.2?
The cause of LIMITED mode is dependent on the OS version of the TARGET device.
From Android OS version 4.3 onwards SELINUX was changed from PERMISSIVE to ENFORCED. What this meant was that even if the Android device is rooted, the changes to the OS software itself are prohibiting FlexiSPY from getting full access to the system software (the OS) on the phone for all features to work.
Unfortunately getting around SELINUX is not easy which is why even though FlexiSPY supports up to OS 4.4.2 this is only on devices whose manufacturer still sets SELINUX to PERMISSIVE and the only way you can get this information is to physically check the device itself.
There are three ways you can try to get around SELINUX being set to ENFORCED.
In the above screenshot you can see the About Device page of a Samsung Android device running OS 4.4.2 with SELINUX set to PERMISSIVE.
How can this be?
They installed a custom ROM to bypass the restriction as you can see by the device name.
But there is more.
On Samsung phones, running Android OS 4.3 or higher, Samsung added a new security program called Samsung Knox which locks down part of the phone OS software so that it can be used in a corporate environment (essentially allowing you to switch your phone from your personal phone to your company phone and back again as you require).
If this feature is enabled on a Samsung Android device then you may not be able to root it.
If you can root it then Knox keeps a record of it (called the ‘Knox counter’) and Samsung aftersales refer to this counter value if you ever take the phone in to be repaired. If the counter is not 0 then most likely your warranty will be void because Samsung will immediately know you tried to tamper with it by attempting to root the Android device.
They simply have to put the phone in to Download mode and look for the Knox Warranty Void value. If it is 0 then the warranty is valid. If it is 1 then Knox has been tripped and the warranty may no longer be valid.
The method to root a device with Samsung Knox enabled is complex. You essentially have to ‘cook your own ROM’ which means you are basically re-engineering the firmware OS file to not include Knox and you then flash that to the phone (meaning that the phone will be exactly the same, just without Knox) and you can then root it as normal. This is a process not many Android device owners will wish to do as it is complex, it will void the warranty and you will need to backup the device first as otherwise all data will be lost.
This method is also not available for all Android phones because it only applies to Samsung Android devices and not all Samsung devices can be upgraded to a newer Android OS version (e.g. OS 4.3.x and above) which Knox is compatible with which is why they are easier to root.
Ultimately, all of the issues here such as SELINUX and Samsung Knox, is beyond FlexiSPY’s control which is why we cannot guarantee all features will work if you are installing the software on to an Android device running that is not running an OS version from 2.3 to 4.4.2.
Samsung Knox is only available on Samsung Android devices. This is just one reason FlexiSPY may not run in FULL mode, for all other manufacturers (e.g. HTC, Motorola, Sony etc.) it would be the SELINUX setting that stops that from running in FULL mode on an OS version higher than 4.4.2.
Why can’t my Android device be rooted?
Not every Android device can be rooted.
It really depends on the configuration of the hardware and software inside the Android device for an Android phone to be able to be rooted or not and some are easier to root than others. Also, the more popular Android devices, from established manufacturers, are usually quicker to be rooted than a manufacturer that nobody has ever heard of.
Rooting takes time and patience. Many new Android phones get harder and harder to root. With Google now ready to near enough launch OS 5.x (Android Lollipop) it means a whole new challenge to make sure that this OS can be rooted. Unlike iOS for iPhone where all devices are pretty much the same configuration it means that it may be some time before rooting Android L based phones is possible and, when it is, it will only apply to the most modern handsets to start with as older devices may not be able to or eligible for running Android OS 5.0.
So while rooting is something that can be looked upon as being complex it really depends on the device itself. If you are interested in FlexiSPY and you want the root extra features then we recommended the following devices for best compatibility.
Samsung Galaxy S3 – GT-I9300 – OS 4.2.x or below (SELINUX should be PERMISSIVE)
Samsung Galaxy S4 – GT-I9500 – OS 4.2.x recommended (SELINUX should be PERMISSIVE)
Google Nexus 4 – OS 4.4.2 (SELINUX should be PERMISSIVE)
Google Nexus 7 – OS 4.4.2 (SELINUX should be PERMISSIVE)
Samsung Galaxy S5 – SMG900H – OS 4.4.2 (SELINUX should be PERMISSIVE)
FlexiSPY cannot test each and every Android handset and its configuration so the above handsets are known for best compatibility overall. Please also remember that the above devices include a very specific model number so please make sure that the device you want to install the software on to has the same model number.
For example, if you want to install the software on to a Samsung Galaxy S4 and its model number is GT-I9505 then it may not work correctly with the software at this time and it highlights just how fragmented the Android OS system is compared to Apple and iOS which is more unified (but this comes at a price of less control and customization).
If you want to install the software on to an Android device running an older OS version such as OS 4.x – 4.2.x) then you have a higher chance of complete compatibility plus the device will be much easier to root as well.
If you are not wanting the root extra benefits then any Android phone running OS 2.3.x – 4.4.2 will run FlexiSPY without any problems. Please remember that on an unrooted Android device, whileFlexiSPY will display a visible icon, the ability to hide the application from the Application Manager list is something that can only be done if you have rooted the phone before installing the software.
Here on the FlexiSPY blog we love to customise our devices and root them and jailbreak them but we understand that this does not come without risk. Therefore, in this article we will explain how you can quickly and safely backup the entire contents of your Android phone.
The benefits of doing this are numerous such as if you decided to downgrade the OS or install a custom ROM for example – backing up the Android phone can often be a lifesaver.
Disclaimer: FlexiSPY is not responsible for any loss of data or damages incurred from following the directions given. The directions were accurate at the time of writing. Please make sure you follow the rooting guide correctly if you need to root your phone first and make sure your phone has enough storage space to perform a backup before proceeding.
What is needed to backup the Android phone?
To backup the Android phone you will need the Android phone in your hand and, depending on the method of backup (discussed later) a PC may also be required.
What is the easiest way to backup an Android phone?
The easiest way is on the device itself and even though you think that means you do not need a PC it actually does. This is because you need to have rooted the Android phone first to install a custom recovery on it and it is through booting in to this custom recovery that you can then perform a full backup of the phone.
Usually this is to the SD card that you have inserted but what if you do not have an SD card? You can save the backup to the internal memory of the Android phone but if the phone is restored or reset you risk losing the backup so you still need a PC to transfer the backup file (which can often be large such as several gigabytes) to a PC for safekeeping.
To backup the Android phone itself, as mentioned, you will still need a PC to transfer the backup file from the Android phone to the PC for safekeeping once the backup is complete. However you also need to make sure that the Android phone you want to backup, on the device itself has been rooted as well.
Why is this?
Because rooting a phone is what installs a custom recovery. It is the custom recovery that has the feature that allows for the Android phone to be backed up directly to the device to start with.
You can find out more on what rooting is and why it can be a good thing by reading this article.
Essentially backing up the phone directly to the device consists of three steps.
Root the phone (this installs the custom recovery mode)
Backup the phone using the device itself and custom recovery
Transfer the backup file to a PC for safekeeping
For the sake of this article we are going to assume that you have already rooted your Android device. If you haven’t and you want to know how to root some of the more popular Android handsets then be sure to check out rooting help here.
So how do you backup the phone to the device itself?
First of all you must boot the phone in to recovery mode.
To do this you do the following:
Turn the phone off completely.
Hold down the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons together.
Wait until the phone boots up.
Providing you have done this correctly the phone will boot up and it will look like below. If your phone does not boot in to custom recovery mode then it most likely has not been rooted so please remember to root it first otherwise this article cannot be followed.
Use the volume up and volume down keys to select and the power button to confirm.
From the main menu choose backup and restore.
On the menu that appears choose the backup option.
The backup process will start – please be patient, this may take some time.
Once it is complete you need to transfer the backup file to a PC for safekeeping.
This is done by doing the following:
1. Reboot the phone after using the recovery mode to backup the phone. – The Android phone will be recognised by Windows.
Double click Phone. The contents of the phone internal memory will be displayed.
Double-click the clockworkmod folder.
Inside the clockwork mod folder you’ll find that there are no backup files of any kind.
So where are they?
This is why you need root access.
The clockworkmod backups are actually located on the Android phone in /mnt/shell/emulated/clockworkmod/backup.
We will show you how to find the backup files using ES File Explorer which is freely available on the Play Store.
Simply search for ES File Explorer on the Play Store and install it.
Once it’s installed, run the program
You now need to get root permissions from the application to find the hidden location where the backups are stored. This option is found in the Tools menu.
In the Tools menu set Root Explorer to ON and grant root permission when asked.
Once root permission has been granted browse to the original file location – /mnt/shell/emulated/clockworkmod/backup
This time the folder will not be empty and the backups will be listed.
If you open up any backup folder you can verify the contents.
But now that we have found the backups how do we get that folder on to our PC for safekeeping?
By copying the backup folder to a folder on the Android phone that the PC can access such as the Downloads folder.
To copy the folder press and tap the folder icon and then tap Copy that appears at the bottom of the screen.
You then need to browse to the main downloads folder.
When you have reached the Download folder tap the Paste button to start copying.
Wait for the copying process to be completed – this may take some time.
Now that you have copied the backup file to a folder that your PC can access on the Android phone we can now copy it to our PC for safekeeping.
To do this make sure that you have plugged your Android phone in to your computer. Once it is plugged in simply browse the phone until you reach the Download folder.
Inside there will be the backup file we copied previously
As you can see, backup folders are there. Simply copy these folders to a convenient place on your PC for safekeeping and everything is complete.
You have now successfully backed up your phone entirely. We will discuss how to restore these backups in a separate article.
Android phones give you the most functionality and customisation options when compared to all other rivals on the market. But what happens when it goes wrong? What if you install the wrong custom ROM or you have just downgraded the OS and want to restore from backup – what do you do?
Firstly you must always make sure you have backed up your Android phone first before you attempt to change anything significantly on your Android phone, we show you how to do that here.
Disclaimer: FlexiSPY is not responsible for any loss of data or damages incurred from following the directions given. Please make sure you have correctly performed all the device requirements for backing up the phone and have correctly backed up the phone before proceeding as well as correctly restoring the appropriate backup for the correct Android phone being used – restoring the phone is done entirely at your own risk.
What is needed to restore the Android phone?
Restoring the Android phone requires that you have done the following:
Rooted the Android phone
Backed up the Android phone to the device itself
For the sake of writing this argument we are going to already assume you have rooted the Android phone and made a backup of the phone to the device itself.
How to restore an Android backup using custom recovery
Restoring from backup is really simple.
All you need to do is put the phone in to recovery mode.
To do this you do the following:
Turn the phone off completely.
Hold down the Volume Up, Home and Power buttons together.
Wait until the phone boots up.
When it boots in to recovery mode it will look like this.
Using the Volume up and Volume down buttons to choose and the Power button to select choose the backup and restore option.
On the screen that appears choose the restore option.
Providing you have backed up the phone to the device already your backups should be listed.
Select the backup file that you want to restore.
On the screen that appears scroll down to Yes – Restore and select it to start the restoration process.
The restoration process CANNOT be undone so please make sure that you are restoring both the correct backup file and that you really do need to restore the phone from backup.
Once the backup is complete exit all menus until you appear again on the main recovery menu and reboot the phone.
Once the phone has rebooted everything should be from the backup you made meaning that your phone should now be fully functioning again if you had to restore from backup because of an issue.
Installing custom ROMS, downgrading, upgrading, rooting, tweaks, installing kernels – the modifications and tweaks you can do for an Android phone far outnumber that from any other platform or rival. However sometimes these procedures can be technical and, sometimes also, things may not turn out for the best – so how can you get your Android phone up and running again?
Firstly you must always make sure you have backed up your Android phone first before you attempt to change anything significantly on your Android phone, we show you how to do that using your PC here.
Disclaimer: FlexiSPY is not responsible for any loss of data or damages incurred from following the directions given. Please make sure you have correctly performed all the device requirements for backing up the phone and have correctly backed up the phone before proceeding as well as correctly restoring the appropriate backup for the correct Android phone being used – restoring the phone is done entirely at your own risk.
What is needed to restore the Android phone?
Restoring the Android phone requires that you have done the following:
Rooted the Android phone
Backed up the Android phone to your PC using EFS Professional
For the sake of this article we are going to assume that you have already rooted the Android phone, backed it up to your PC and stored that backup file in a safe place so now it is time to restore it.
For restoring the phone, as we discussed in our article on how to backup the phone to your PC, we are going to use the same software – EFS Professional.
We are also going to assume that you have already downloaded EFS Professional and you have already made a backup that we can restore from (we discussed this already and how to do it – see the link at the beginning of the article).
How to restore from backup using EFS Professional
First of all, as stated, make sure you have already made a backup of your Android phone using EFS Professional – we will assume you have.
Firstly, connect your Android phone to your PC.
Once connected run EFS Professional.
Click the Restore tab.
Click the drop-down menu to show a list of backups already saved. For those who are wondering the backup files are stored inside a folder called EFSProBackup inside the main folder you are running EFS Professional from.
From the drop-down menu choose the backup that you wish to restore.
NOTE: ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU ARE RESTORING A BACKUP THAT MATCHES THE PHONE MODEL YOU ARE RESTORING TO. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU BACKUP A SAMSUNG GALAXY SIII AND TRY TO RESTORE A BACKUP FROM A SAMUNG GALAXY S4 IT MAY CAUSE ISSUES – ALWAYS CHECK THE MODEL NUMBERS MATCH ON THE BACKUP AND PHONE BEING RESTORED.
Once you have picked the correct backup simply click the Restore button to start the restore process – please be patient, this may take some time.
Once the process has completed simply disconnect the phone from the PC and it should be restored to its previous state.
Disclaimer: FlexiSPY is not responsible for any loss of data or damages incurred from following the directions given. The directions were accurate at the time of writing. Please make sure you follow the rooting guide correctly if you need to root your phone first and make sure your phone has enough storage space to perform a backup before proceeding.
What is needed to backup the Android phone?
To backup the Android phone you will need the Android phone itself and a PC
Why backup the phone?
Accidents can happen. You may install something that corrupts or crashes the phone or you may want to root the phone or install a custom ROM on it. Either way a lot of activities you can do on Android have the possibility of wiping the device completely first before the action is carried out so it makes sense to always prepare a backup.
What is the easiest way to backup the phone using your PC?
We have already outlined the backup process in several articles on the FlexiSPY blog. Basically you should always make a phone backup before you install anything that may harm the filesystem of the phone and cause it to stop functioning or before you perform a task that will perform a factory reset on the Android phone itself.
Our software of choice to backup the phone to a PC is EFS Professional but there are some requirements first that must be done before EFS Professional works.
Download EFS Professional
Root the Android phone you wish to backup
Install BusyBox on to the rooted Android phone
Turn on USB debugging on the rooted Android phone with BusyBox installed
Connect the Android phone to the PC
Run EFS Professional and perform the backup
To get started you can download the latest version of EFS Professional from here.
Now that you have downloaded EFS Professional, if you have not already rooted the Android phone you want to backup many popular Android handsets have rooting guides here.
So, with the Android phone rooted and EFS Professional on your PC it is time to get ready to perform the backup. The final step is to, on the Android phone, download and install BusyBox.
Now you connect the Android phone to the PC and run EFS Professional. The first thing it does is check that the phone is rooted and BusyBox has been installed and establishes a USB connection so make sure to confirm on the Android phone screen when a USB debugging dialog box appears asking for access.
We then click the Backup tab to get started.
Under the Device Filter option click the drop-down menu and choose *** All Partitions ***
Then simply click the Backup option to start the backup process.
Please be patient as this process may take some time.
Once the process has completed, on your PC, open up the connected Android phone.
There will be a new folder called EFSProBackup with the backup inside. Simply copy the entire folder to your PC for safekeeping.
Backing up your Android phone really is a simple process.
We also show how you can backup an Android phone on the device itself instead using a custom recovery and that can be found here. No matter which method of backup you choose for your Android phone the FlexiSPY blog has you covered.
As anyone who is interested in the shutdown of Stealthgenie website will know, Invocode CEO, Hamad Akbar, was indicted personally for violation of four US laws, three of which are defined in Title 18, Section 2512, and one in Section 317.
No one knows at this stage what the verdict will be, but let’s try to understand what these laws really say, and what the implication is for the computer monitoring business.
Let’s take a look at the case against StealthGenie and understand what they are actually being accused of.
Of four counts StealthGenie were indicted for, it’s the ones under section 2512 that we need to look at if we are to understand the Fed complaint.
In A Nutshell
Two counts revolve around, “knowing or having reason to know that the design of such a device renders it primarily useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception.”
The third count is about promoting the use of such a device for, “the purpose of the surreptitious interception,”
Given the above, we have to ask what aspect of the design of a computer monitoring application renders it “primarily useful for the purpose of surreptitious interception,” how would one deliberately design such a device, and how would it differ from a device that does “non-surreptitious interception”.
The problem is that it’s difficult to argue that the design of StealthGenie’s product renders it primarily useful for the purpose of surreptitious interception, when they don’t have a separate product for parental or employee monitoring. The product is absolutely identical, regardless of it being used to monitor your child or verify your employee’s behavior. It’s still hidden, it still intercepts, and there is no difference in the software design.
Now, this is a very important fact, as it destroys the heart of the case against StealthGenie, which is predicated around the notion of the “design” of the device. If an identically designed device is used with equal effectiveness in two different situations, and one situation is illegal, then logically it’s the installers intention that’s in question, not the device or its design.
A similar argument was made in the Betamax Case, where and injunction was sought against the sales of VCRs on the basis that its recording capabilities could run afoul of copyright law. The Court rejected this claim on the basis the device is capable of substantial non infringing uses.
Let’s look at another example
Smith & Wesson products are designed to kill, and no one can say that handguns would be designed any differently if used for self-defense or murder. The design does not change for either situation, because the requirements for each situation are the same. Yet no one is accusing Smith & Wesson of murder.
This is why the 2512 laws emphasis on “design” is well intentioned, but meaningless when applied to generic products such monitoring software.
The third count of the indictment is equally problematic as it does not define what surreptitious interception is exactly. Is a remote backup designed as a Window service, or Unix demon, or DOS device driver “surreptitious interception?” Is it illegal to say that they do not have a UI, or that they do not interrupt the user with notifications? What exactly is the law saying in this case.
Now you may be thinking that this is all getting a little silly, but a good lawyer would surely be able to make such a case, which is why it’s clear that the law, in its current form, is not useful.
Therefore, one has to wonder what the motivation of the Feds was to go for StealthGenie when there are so many local producers of monitoring software, such as Web Watchers, and SpectorSoft. In fact, Web Watchers successfully defended themselves from a similar action, where the case against them was dismissed.
Given this precedent, the answer to why the Feds brought these charges would seem to lie in the advertising, not the design of the product.
This assertion can be supported by the fact that two hundred police stations, in thirty five states have been handing out similar spyware call ComputerCOP. Its unlikely that they will be charged with the same offense, even though ComputerCOP could be arguably described as designed for surreptitious interception.
This raises a lot of questions as websites are open to a global audience. It also raises questions about the jurisdiction of the USA, and certainly makes a business rethink which suppliers it does business with.
Regardless of the outcome of this case, the USA has succeeded in creating a shockwave and will make monitoring businesses consider their advertising and suppliers very carefully as this is where the problem lies. Unless Akbar has a lot of money to buy legal services, it’s clear he will have a hard time defending himself from the might of the US legal system.
If you don’t fancy getting in trouble with the FBI we recommend to remove all traces of StealthGenie from your phone. In this article we will show you how.
For Android
On the phone itself go to Settings > Application Manager and look for an application called device.service.
If you see this listed you have StealthGenie on your phone – let’s remove it.
StealthGenie installs itself as a device administrator to stop itself from being easily removed.
If you cannot tap the Uninstall option shown above (it is greyed out) do the following:
Go to Settings > Security > Device Administrators > tap any of the Device Administrators listed that is not called Android Device Manager and then tap Deactivate.
After that you can then uninstall StealthGenie by going to Settings > Manage Applications > device.service and tapping Uninstall.
Once uninstalled StealthGenie is no longer on your Android phone.
For iPhone
First of all, the iPhone has to have been jailbroken first before StealthGenie could ever be installed. If you iPhone has never been jailbroken before then you are safe.
If however it has been jailbroken then you may want to check Cydia.
Inside Cydia go to Sources. If you see a source called Mobile Developer then you have StealthGenie installed.
Simply tap it and remove all packages inside and then finally remove the source itself.
Once done you will now no longer have StealthGenie on your iPhone.
Note: You can also remove StealthGenie from iPhone or Android completely by factory restoring the phone.
This will DELETE ALL DATA on the phone completely. We recommend that iPhone users not factory reset their phone as they’ll then be forced to update to iOS 8 which does not currently have a jailbreak out, and has a myriad of issues
You can read our article on spying on an iPhone 6, here – https://blog.flexispy.com/spy-on-iphone-6-questions-answered/
Like StealthGenie, Mspy provide smartphone and tablet monitoring software. As with FlexiSPY and the entire mobile monitoring industry the StealthGenie case has made many businesses stop and re-evaluate their entire business model and practices due to the recent charges and indictment of Invocode, the creators of StealthGenie, and its CEO, Hamad Akbar.
It is interesting to see how Mspy is dealing with this and what steps they are taking to make sure that they stay on the right side of US law, specifically when it comes to Title 18 USC 2512.
Website Redesign
Mspy seem to have made a number of small changes to their website. These include the absence of the word “spy” in the copy. They have also updated their legal terms, which are all wise actions for a company who requires to be under USA jurisdiction.
They have also changed their claim from being 100% invisible to simply being discreet or stealth. Ironically, Mspy has never been invisible or particularly stealthy, but whether this change in language is enough to avoid the charge of being “surreptitious”, as used in USC 2512 remains to be seen.
mSpy’s website no longer contains the word “spy” in their copy. They’ve also updated their legal terms as they’re under USA jurisdiction.
They still advertise themselves as being discreet and even though their marketing angle is to monitor children and employees.
However they’ve removed all references to monitoring spouses.
Features Removed
Of more concern to customers is the fact that Mspy have removed the call recording and ambient recording features entirely from their product feature list. We can only speculate why this is, but in any case, the new Mspy product will not offer the ability to record calls.
MSpy Server Location
Mspy website and customer portal that stores the captured customer data continues to be hosted by Amazon in the USA. This information can freely be found out by simply looking up the URL’s IP address.
What does this mean for Mspy
Like all companies with a USA footprint, they are under USA jurisdiction, as is Mspy customer data, and like all companies, they strive to remain lawful. However, until the Stealthgenie case is resolved – and it’s by no means a slam-dunk guilty decision – none of us can know what this means for USA companies involved in computer and smartphone monitoring.
The heart of the indictment against StealthGenie revolves around being “surreptitious”. What the legal definition of this term is, and how it applies to software is not yet clear, but this article will describe a FlexiSPY feature that allows you to avoid being accused of this.
FlexiSPY gives users the choice of whether or not they wish to display the application icon according to their needs by allowing them to choose to run the software in the foreground or not to be visible.
Here you can see that the user is given an option to display FlexiSPY on an iOS device.
For example a parent may wish to hide the icon on their child’s phone to stop the child from getting around family rules by using a new phone or formatting the phone and removing the software.
An employer may wish to hide the icon to preserve screen real estate.
And our law enforcement customers would choose to hide the icon to help catch a suspect.
Whatever the reason for hiding the icon, this option for visibility is a feature that FlexiSPY has always had.
In this example of FlexiSPY on an Android phone, visibility options are clearly available.
We recommend using this feature and always run the software in the foreground if you are in the US however the software can be hidden with laws permitting.
FlexiSPY respects the USA, its laws, and its enforcement agencies and is doing everything it can to make sure that its software remains compliant and legal.
Like Stealthgenie, Mobile Spy provide smartphone and tablet monitoring software. And like the rest of the mobile monitoring industry, including FlexiSPY, they have been reevaluating their business model and it’s operation in light of the indictment of Invocode CEO, Hamad Akbar.
It’s instructive to see what steps they have taken to comply with Title 18 USC 2512, and to consider if these may be enough for them to get a clean bill of health from US law.
Website Redesign
In the immediate aftermath, Mobile Spy took their sales site offline for a few days in order to make changes to both their product and advertising to help make sure their product adheres to the law.
The first thing to notice is that they have removed all references to cheating spouses, and now talk only about child and employee monitoring.
Mobile Spy’s website is now back online with Mobile Spy’s software still being advertised as ‘smartphone monitoring software’ with a focus only on parents and employees with some notable change in language
They now state that you must notify the child or employee being monitored first. They also say that the software is tamper-proof which means that it cannot be removed without knowing the PIN code first. This means that they are adverting that Mobile Spy can be used in a legal manner.
Mobile Spy have also updated their legal terms to read that the software is primarily used for monitoring children and employers only and that they do not condone its use for other purposes.
To Mobile Spy’s credit, they also sent out emails to all of their affiliates outlining the planned changes. Here is an excerpt that clearly shows they take this seriously.
“We do cooperate with law enforcement in criminal investigations, and we do not condone the use of our products for illegal or unethical purposes.’ and they followed this up by saying “there will be a PIN protected icon listed along with the rest of the applications on the device’”
They also state that ‘the user of the device will be aware of monitoring activities’
This could not have been an easy pill to swallow.
While they excluded any uses by spouses, they also clarified in great detail, what other relationships can and cannot use their product. The list is as follows.
Here Mobile Spy is seen with their new legal policy
Product Redesign
Mobile took the painful decision to also stop selling their product and redesign it. The new product is not currently available, but they have been very clear.
They will remove any invisibility, and their product will show as an icon on the device homescreen. They say that the app can be opened using a PIN.
We are not sure how this will affect their market share and revenue, but this is also a brave decision.
Without wanting to capitalize on Mobile Spy’s troubles, we would like to let readers know that FlexiSPY has always had the option to operate with visible icon, if that was required. It will be interesting to see if Mobile Spy also choose visibility as an option or if visibility will be mandatory.
Mobile spy disclaimer
Mobile Spy Server Location
Mobile Spy is still based in the US and they host their servers in the US as anyone can verify by looking up the IP address of their online logs portal. Retina X Studios who created Mobile Spy are based in Jacksonville, Florida and their address is freely listed on the Mobile Spy website.
Is Mobile Spy now safe from the law?
This is an impossible question to answer, as the USA law is very unclear, and can easily be interpreted to cover many mundane devices and uses. We will know more in the near future, as everything hinges around the legal definition of the term “surreptitious interception”
However, as Mobile Spy are an American company, they are currently making widespread changes to how their software operates and it will take time to see these changes complete.
It may be some time before Mobile Spy is back online fully with their new software ready, and this was confirmed when we spoke to their support staff. We wish them all the best in their endeavors to make their software comply with what the USA law demands of it, and we hope to see them back online soon.
As a result of the StealthGenie site being shutdown, we have had a flood of people asking if FlexiSPY is next.
We want to reassure our customers that we will not suffer StealthGenie’s fate for the reasons described below. Also, if you are a StealthGenie customer, you may find this interesting.
Background
The mobile monitoring industry was rocked the 27th September 2014, when a temporary restraining order, granted by a US Judge took the StealthGenie website offline. The arrest the following day of Hammed Akbar at Los Angeles Airport under an indictment of charges of manufacturing, selling and advertising a “surreptitious interception device” was then made public.
There are many questions raised by the StealthGenie case, but the one of most concern to the mobile device monitoring industry is, “Could this happen to us?”, and “How do we stay legal?”
Location, Location, Location …
The answer to this can be found by looking at point 6 of the legal complaint that was presented to the court.
“Defendant is subject to the personal jurisdiction of this Court, having sold and advertised StealthGenie using a computer server located at an Amazon Web Services, Inc. data center located in Ashbum, Virginia, which is in the Eastern District of Virginia.”
In other words, because StealthGenie were using Amazon Web Servers that were located in the USA, they were breaking US laws, and thus the Feds can credibly claim that there is a crime being carried out in their territory.
This is no surprise to anyone who has been following how the USA operates internationally in a post 911 world. Any business knows that having even the smallest US footprint, will most likely allow the USA to claim jurisdiction – should they wish to do so.
Which is why StealthGenies decision to use Amazon Web Services is so perplexing.
The answer for businesses is clear. If you do not want to be subject to US laws, then do not use the services of any supplier that is under the jurisdiction of the USA.
In other words, have a zero US footprint in your business.
Don’t Wake The Giant
Regardless of the legality of what StealthGenie were doing, the Feds have a duty to investigate complaints about what happens on their patch. Whether the law is fair, or if it was actually broken are questions for another time and place.
We respect the USA, its laws, and its enforcement agencies and we make sure we stay out of their way by not having a US footprint. This is why FlexiSPY does not use servers in the USA or the services of any USA supplier, and FlexiSPY Ltd is not a USA company. There are no US laws being broken and we respectfully state that we believe that we are not under the jurisdictions of the USA.
If any legal minds out there have a different opinion, please let the world know by leaving a comment below. (Comments from the FED particularly welcome. )
No hay otra manera de decirlo, pero, si usted es un cliente de StealthGenie y no puede acceder a StealthGenie, usted no está solo.
El sitio web ha quedado inactivo desde hace unos días. Esto significa que no se puede acceder a cualquiera de sus datos con StealthGenie. El soporte de StealthGenie no le responde, y no le van a devolver un reembolso.
Entonces, ¿qué puede hacer? ¿Cómo se puede continuar con el monitoreo y qué pasa con el tiempo restante de su suscripción StealthGenie? Después de todo, StealthGenie está desconectado y no se sabe si o cuándo vaya a volver.
No se preocupe
Estamos ofreciendo una oferta muy especial para clientes StealthGenie.
¿Qué se incluye en esta oferta?
Nuestra oferta única para los clientes StealthGenie le permite permutar su licencia existente StealthGenie por este descuento.
Usted puede comprar FlexiSPY EXTREME o PREMIUM a precio reducido por 15% dando su licencia StealthGenie como parte de pago.
Si desea acogerse a esta oferta, póngase en contacto con nuestro Live Chat con una prueba de compra lista.
It should be noted that while FlexiSPY may work on the majority of custom android roms, the offically supported devices are those using official roms.
We also take no responsibility for any damage that may occur by following this guide. If you choose to follow this guide, you’re doing so at your own risk.
In this article we will show you how to install a custom ROM on to your Android phone.
The process for installing a custom ROM on both Android phones, even though they are both from different manufacturers is not that different and involve the following steps:
Backing up the Samsung Android phone first using TWRP
Downloading the custom ROM you want to use
Booting in to recovery mode on the Samsung Android phone
Flashing the ROM file to install the custom ROM
What is a custom ROM?
The beauty of Android unlike, say, Apple and the iPhone is that the Android operating system is free and open source. This means that literally anyone who has programming experience can take an existing stock ROM (from the manufacturer) and, with programs and tools free and available on the internet, edit the ROM to change how it looks, how it installs, what programs is comes with – everything and then repackage it and share it with the world over the internet – this is what a custom ROM is.
Why install a custom ROM?
For one thing custom ROMS allow older Android phones to run newer version of the Android OS software that the manufacturers and carriers did not release on the actual phone itself. For example, you may have a Samsung Galaxy Note and you want it to run the latest version of Android. This would mean somehow getting the phone OS software to go from 4.1.2 to 4.4.x.
How do you do it?
By installing a custom ROM.
The custom ROM takes the base of a supported ROM (by base we mean file structure, installation procedure, icons, text applications etc. and tweaks it to either look different or perhaps increase performance in ways that the manufacturers themselves did not want to do. Through custom ROMS you can literally have your Android OS look exactly as you want it. The process of creating your own custom ROM is known as ‘cooking ROMS’ and we may cover it in a future article although it is technical.
Custom ROMS can provide battery performance and phone performance increases and they can also increase the security of the Android phone as well as decreasing it but the beauty of custom ROMS is that anyone can make one with a little technical knowledge and old phones can get a new breathe of life or get features that were otherwise inaccessible thanks to a custom ROM.
Where can you get a custom ROM?
Before you get a custom ROM there are a few things to do first.
Make sure you backup the phone first – we explain how to do that here.
Make sure the custom ROM you download matches the model number of your Android phone.
To find the model number of your Android phone go to Apps > Settings > About Phone (may also be called About Device) and the model number will be listed.
E.g. On our Samsung Galaxy S4 the model number is GT-I9505 so we need custom ROMS for that model.
The best place to look for custom kernels is the forum on XDA Developers.
How can I download and install a custom kernel which has SELinux set to permissive?
For this example we are using a Samsung Galaxy S4 so we go to XDA forums to get started.
The first thing to do is type in your Android phone model.
Make sure you choose the correct one from the list as many of the same Android phones have country variants with different model numbers.
You can find the model number to search for on the Android phone by going to the About Device (can also be called About Phone) menu and it will be listed.
Make sure you choose the correct one from the list as many of the same Android phones have country variants with different model numbers.
You can find the model number to search for on the Android phone by going to the About Device (can also be called About Phone) menu and it will be listed
In the picture above you can see that our Samsung Galaxy S4 is running OS 4.4.4 which is not possible without a custom ROM so we will now show you how we did it.
The model number of our Samsung Galaxy S4 is GT-I9505 so that is what we need for our custom ROM.
Once you have entered the model number to search for you will get the main page for that Android phone
We need a custom ROM so we click the ROMs tab.
You now need to pick a ROM that you like which is compatible with the model number of the Android phone you wish to install a custom ROM on to.
We are just going to go with the latest custom ROM that allows the Samsung Galaxy S4 to run OS 4.4.4 and look and feel the same as the Nexus 5.
There are so many custom ROMS to choose from and they are usually available for most Android phone makes and models providing the model number of the phone is correct.
How to install the custom ROM
Installing a custom ROM is not a difficult process but there are some requirements first.
NOTE: BACKUP THE DEVICE AND MAKE SURE THE ROM SUPPORTS THE CORRECT ANDROID MODEL NUMBER BEFORE APPLYING IT – Y0U DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Make sure you have backed up the Android phone first (we cannot stress this enough).
The Android phone must be rooted first in order to install the custom ROM.
Once you have backed up and rooted the Android phone you wish to install a custom ROM on to the process to install it is fairly simple.
Download the custom ROM (custom ROMS may be large in filesize, often several gigabytes) so this may take time on a slow connection.
Connect the Android phone to your PC and cope the custom ROM zip file to the Android phone (e.g. Downloads folder on the SDcard)
Boot the Android phone in to recovery mode (you should have a custom recovery installed after rooting the phone).
Use the ‘Install zip from SDcard’ option and point to the custom ROM zip file and wait for installation to be complete.
After downloading the custom ROM we’ll add the custom ROM to our Samsung Galaxy S4
We then need to boot in to recovery mode
Power the phone off completely
Hold the volume up, home and power buttons together until the phone turns on
Clockworkmod recovery will appear.
Choose the Install zip from Sdcard option
Select the custom ROM zip file
Wait for the process to complete
Once the phone has rebooted (you may also need to select Reboot System Now inside recovery instead) the Android phone should now have a custom ROM as you can see from the pictures here.
As you can see the custom ROM was applied successfully.
There are custom ROMS available for the majority of Android phones and as long as you are careful to backup the phone each time you are going to apply a custom ROM and you make sure that the custom ROM matches the model number of the Android phone you are installing it on to then you can literally apply hundreds of different ROMS depending on what you want your Android phone to do.
As ever, because the custom ROMS are not officially made or created by the manufacturers of the phone (e.g. Samsung, HTC Motorola etc.) it may be that some features or functions do not work as well as they did and this is due to either the custom ROM being new (fixes to any ROM are always quick) or the Android phone itself not supported features in the newest Android OS versions which is why the manufacturer did not allow the phone to be upgraded.
But finding that perfect custom ROM for your Android phone can be likened to finding that perfect car. There are hundreds to choose from and that is half the fun.
If you have any favourite custom ROMS you want to share then please let us know in the comments.
This article will explain how you can fix a soft bricked Samsung Android phone.
In this guide we use a Samsung Galaxy S4 but the steps should work for any Samsung Android phone as long as you flash the correct stock firmware for the particular make and model of the Samsung Android phone you are wanting to recover.
Disclaimer: FlexiSPY is not responsible for the steps in this article. while they did work for us it was because we researched and used the correct files for our phone. Always make sure you back up the device if possible before proceeding and you follow the instructions carefully. This entire process is done at your own risk
What does soft bricked mean?
Soft bricked means that the phone turns on but no longer boots up to the Samsung operating system which means that the phone cannot be used.
Typical symptoms of a Samsung Android phone being soft bricked are the phone booting no further than the Samsung logo (and it can often just reboot over and over which is called a bootloop)
Or you see this screen as soon as the phone turns on.
What causes a Samsung Android phone to be soft bricked?
The phone being soft bricked is usually caused by the following:
Incorrectly rooting the phone using Odin or the root process does not complete properly and you exit the program.
Disconnecting the USB cable from your PC while rooting the Samsung Android phone.
Disconnecting the USB cable from your PC while upgrading the firmware using Kies
Anything else that causes the PC that the Samsung Android phone is connected to lose power (e.g. power failure) that stops whatever process is taking place (rooting, firmware upgrade etc.) to not complete.
Can a Samsung Android phone that is soft bricked be fixed?
As long as the phone turns on then the phone can be fixed.
As long as the phone can boot up in to Download mode it can be fixed.
We will now detail how to recover a soft bricked Samsung Android phone.
note: if the device is soft bricked there is no way to back it up before following any of these steps. flashing the stock firmware as shown below will delete all data on the samsung android phone – it will all be lost and cannot be recovered.
Our scenario:
For this article we are using a second Samsung Galaxy S4 that is running OS 4.4.3 which has never been rooted before. Now usually rooting is a very simple process and only takes a few minutes and we have a working guide to root the S4 here but, in the nature of science, using a different Samsung Galaxy S4 than the one we usually use resulted in Odin getting stuck during the root process.
On the second Samsung Android phone we used our Odin output looked like this:
It never got past this point and so the Samsung Galaxy S4 was never rooted and we waited an hour but the progress bar on the Samsung Galaxy S4 and on Odin on the PC failed to move so we disconnected the USB cable and now the device is soft bricked.
This means that, right now, when we turn on our Samsung Android phone (the S4) we get the following message:Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again.
How do we fix it?
First of all, try Kies
As the steps say, try Kies to fix the issue.
We connected the S4 to our PC and ran Kies but it never actually recognised the phone. It just constantly said that the device was ‘connecting’ but failed to find out what the phone was which means that no options inside Kies can actually work and the steps given on the screen of our soft bricked Samsung Android phone cannot be followed.
Second, reinstall the stock OS software version
If Kies does not work (and, to be honest, it usually won’t), the next thing to do is get technical. This simply involves flashing the stock operating system software (the software that powers the phone which comes from Samsung) to the Samsung Android phone which should then allow it to boot up and everything should be fixed.
But how is this done?
First, for our soft bricked phone we put it in to Download mode.
Turn off the S4 completely
Hold down the volume down, home and power buttons together
Wait for the S4 to turn on and it should boot in to download mode
If you have done it correctly it boot in to recovery mode and you then press the Volume up button to continue and it will be in download mode.
We then downloaded the stock firmware for the Samsung Galaxy S4 that we were using and we connected the soft bricked Samsung Android phone to our PC and flashed the stock ROM using Odin
The flashing process will take quite some time and, as you have gathered, Do not disconnect the phone from the pc in any way while this is in progress.
When it’s finished, the Samsung phone will reboot and Odin will display a Blue RESET! notification. Then, after the phone boots up for the first time it will display a Green PASS! notification
However, now that the hard part is done, some things may still remain.
The Samsung Android phone may get stuck booting up on the Samsung logo
The Samsung Android phone may boot up to the Samsung logo and continually restart itself.
The phone no longer has a working IMEI number and cannot make calls (‘Mobile Network not available’).
These are easy to fix, to fix them you put the Samsung Android phone in to recovery mode.
To do this you do the following.
Turn off the Samsung Android phone completely (remove the battery if needed).
Disconnect the phone from the PC.
Press and hold the Volume up key, the home key and the power key.
Keep these buttons pressed and held until the Samsung model number appears
Let go and then the phone should be in recovery mode.
On our S4 we performed the following steps and it looked like this:
Using the Volume up and Volume down keys to navigate the menu and the Power button to select an option you need to do the following.
Navigate to wipe data/factory reset and select the option.
Navigate to Yes – delete all user data and select the option.
Wait for it to complete.
Now that you have performed a factory reset you also need to reset the user cache.
Navigate to wipe cache partition and select the option.
Wait for it to complete.
The Samsung Android phone will reboot itself and will boot up properly for the first time. This can take a while so please be patient.
If, after the phone has booted up you find that you no longer have a cell signal and that your IMEI number is incorrect – e.g. 004999010640000/01 (Settings > More > About Device > Status > IMEI) then you need to download the modem file from here, save it to your PC and extract it.
Put the Samsung Galaxy S4 in to download mode again and connect it to your PC and run Odin (see step 4 for more information).
It will look like This Picture once connected as we have seen before
Click the CP button and then point to the Modem binary file shown in the last screenshot
Odin should now look like This Picture . You can see the S4 has been added and the modem file is selected.
Click Start to flash the modem and wait.
DO NOT DISCONNECT THE S4 FROM THE PC OR TURN IT OFF IN ANY WAY
Once it has been done wait for the S4 to reboot and you should now have your working IMEI back and the phone will work as normal and you can now make calls.
Can this be used to fix any soft bricked Samsung Android phone – not just the S4?
Technically yes. Simply make sure that you choose the correct stock ROM for whatever Samsung Android phone you are working on – the rest of the steps are the same.
In fact we have already discussed this in several articles relating to the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Samsung Android phones because the process for downgrading an OS, upgrading an OS or returning the Samsung Android phone to the OS it came with from the factory (which should fix the soft brick issue) have already been covered and are the same for every Samsung Android phone.
For example you can use this article to both fix a soft bricked Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and downgrade a Samsung Galaxy Grand – it is not limited to just the Samsung Galaxy S4.
To find and download the stock OS we use the website here.
Click Firmware Database to be taken to the page below
Under TYPE, OS, MODEL and COUNTRY select the values that match your Samsung Android phone.
Click the ROM you want to download
Make sure the details are correct for the Samsung Android phone you are working with and then click the Download button
Once it has been downloaded extract it to your computer as shown in This Picture
Please note that the ROM files can be several gigabytes in size and downloading them may take some time
You now need to flash the firmware that was downloaded on to the Samsung Android phone you are working with which we have already explained here and in several other articles on the FlexiSPY blog and that should fix the soft brick issue.
NOTE: WHEN FIXING THE IMEI ISSUE YOU MUST LOOK FOR THE CORRECT MODEM BINARY FILE FOR THE SAMSUNG ANDROID PHONE YOU ARE WORKING WITH – TRY SITES SUCH AS XDA FORUMS FOR THIS.
As you can see Odin and the ability to flash ROMS is a very important skill to have when working with Samsung Android phones. Obviously there is some risk involved if you pick the wrong OS or if you try to root the phone and it fails or if you flash the incorrect modem binary file (or cannot find it) to fix the IMEI issue but as long as the phone can get in to Download mode then nothing is ever really broken.
Samsung in fact make it much easier than other Android phone manufacturers to work with custom ROMS and performed advanced technical operations on the Android when compared to, say, HTC for example.
Let us know in the comments if you have any questions or issues about fixing a soft bricked Samsung Android phone and we will be happy to help.
