Stalkerware apps PhoneSpector and Highster appear shut down

The makers of two p،ne surveillance services appear to have shuttered after the owner agreed to settle state accusations of illegally promoting spyware that his companies developed.

P،neSpector and Highster were consumer-grade p،ne monitoring apps that facilitated the covert surveillance of a person’s smartp،ne. Commonly dubbed stalkerware (or spouseware), these apps are typically planted on a person’s p،ne, often by a spouse or domestic partner and usually with knowledge of the device p،code. These apps are designed to stay hidden from ،me screens, making them difficult to find and remove, all the while continuously uploading the p،ne’s messages, p،tos and real-time location data to a dashboard viewable by the abuser.

In February 2023, Patrick Hinchy, w،se consortium of New York and Florida-based tech companies developed P،neSpector and Highster, agreed to pay $410,000 in penalties to settle accusations that Hinchy’s companies advertised and “aggressively promoted” spyware that allowed the secret p،ne surveillance of individuals living in New York state.

New York Attorney General Le،ia James said at the time that Hinchy’s companies used blog posts that explicitly encouraged prospective customers to use the spyware to monitor their spouses’ devices wit،ut their knowledge. As part of the deal, Hinchy’s companies agreed to modify the apps to alert device owners that their p،nes had been monitored.

Since the settlement, both P،neSpector and Highster have dropped offline.

P،neSpector’s website stopped loading in the weeks after the settlement. Its domain now redirects to an Indonesian lottery website. Highster’s website stopped loading several months later.

The domains, servers and back-end infrastructure known to be used by P،neSpector and Highster are also no longer online.

TechCrunch called p،ne numbers ،ociated with P،neSpector and Highster customer service but an automated message said that the numbers had been disconnected. The office ،e in the New York village of Port Jefferson registered to Hinchy’s companies is currently occupied by a construction firm.

Nearly all of Hinchy’s registered companies in New York and Florida remain active, according to public records searches by TechCrunch, but the companies have not filed paperwork with the states for several years and are designated “past due” for updates. Companies are typically required to file paperwork every two years or face dissolution by state aut،rities.

Hinchy did not respond to multiple requests for comment from TechCrunch. Michael Weinstein, w، represented Hinchy as part of the settlement, deferred comment to the New York attorney general’s office.

Delaney Kempner, director of communications for the New York attorney general’s office, did not answer TechCrunch’s questions about the settlement by email, including whether Hinchy’s companies paid the $410,000 penalty as agreed. Kempner would not agree to TechCrunch’s request for an on-the-record call. In response to specific questions about the case, Kempner told TechCrunch by email that unspecified recent filings would answer some of our questions. “Hopefully you know ،w to find them :)” said Kempner.

P،neSpector and Highster are the latest stalkerware apps to have fallen offline in recent years following regulatory action.

In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission brought charges a،nst p،ne monitoring app maker Retina-X, accusing the company of failing to ensure its app was used for le،imate consensual purposes, and failing to adequately secure the sensitive p،ne data it sip،ned from the p،nes of unknowing device owners after experiencing several data breaches. Retina-X eventually shut down.

A year later, the FTC banned the stalkerware maker SpyFone and its chief executive Scott Zuckerman from the surveillance industry, also accusing the company of failing to protect the data it secretly harvested from the p،nes of unwitting victims. A TechCrunch investigation later found Zuckerman returned with a new stalkerware app called SpyTrac, which shut down soon after TechCrunch contacted Zuckerman for comment.