FlexiSPY was the world’s first company to bring smartphone tracking to the masses back in 2006. Spy Phone Review takes you for a stroll down memory lane.
Spy Phone Review takes a look at FlexiSPY
The largest organization and market leaders with physical offices in Thailand and call centers in USA and Europe. The company makes spyphone software for iPhone, Nokia Series 60, Windows Mobile (WM), and Blackberry, as well as call recording software.
For full details of their products, features offered and just as important, the mobile phones they support please click here..
FlexiSPY is the market leader for mobile spy software and they seem to be consistently at the front of the market in offering new features and supporting more devices. Apart from the FlexiSPY iPhone basic, they do not offer quarterly terms (you need a license for a full year), so you have to shell out more in the beginning.
SMS/text messaging logging, email logging, incoming and outgoing voice call logging, and cell ID location tracking. For $50 more your can step up to FlexiSPY Pro, which contains all of the features of FlexiSPY Light, as well as the ability to remotely activate the microphone on the target handphone to monitor the surrounding environment, and notification if the SIM card in the target handphone is changed.
The top of the range FlexiSPY product is FlexiSPY Pro-X and for an additional $100 you get all of the features contained in the lower-end versions, as well as call interception and GPS tracking capability.
For an easy to understand snapshot of the features refer to the features matrix table.
Hidden or not?
The really nice thing about the FlexiSPY range is that after installation there is absolutely no trace of the application at all on the target handphone irrespective of which operating system the target handphone uses, or which FlexiSPy product is purchased.
This makes FlexiSPY the true leader in the spyphone software market.
Documentation
FlexiSPY has a very detailed web site and provides a lot of online documentation for their products and how they work. There are even Flash video files showing how to install the software, and screen shots showing what the captured data looks like. More importantly, the company’s documentation has been tailored to each handphones unique operating system so when you are installing and learning the software the documentation reflects exactly what you see on screen. FlexiSPY even has its installation manuals for Symbian and Windows Mobile versions available in German, French, Spanish, Russian and Italian.
When it comes to documentation FlexiSPY seems to have thought of everything. Its manuals contain step-by-step installation instructions, including screen shots showing what you can expect to see after each step, as well as detailed instructions for its FCTL controlling software (see below). The installation manuals also contain very detailed information on how to read reports, along with screen shots and extensive troubleshooting information.
Installation
FlexiSPY makes installation a breeze and most people should be able to successfully install any of their products in 10 minutes. After purchasing FlexiSPY you are supplied with a FlexiKEY, a User ID and a password, as well as a direct link to a web page containing FlexiSPy’s extensive list of installation manuals. The FlexiKey is used to validate the installation onto the target handphone, while the user ID and initial password provide you with access to the online database where the spyphone event reports are stored.
To install FlexiSPY is a simple matter of entering the company’s download web address into the target handphones browser and once connected entering the FlexiKEY number provided at the time of purchase. The application will download onto the target handphone and be complete in a matter of minutes. Restart the target handphone and enter an activation code followed by the FlexiKEY number and you will then receive confirmation that the software has been installed.
True spyphone software
There are a number of products on the market that claim to be spyphone products, but none deliver the functionality and integration that FlexiSPY does.
At the entry level FlexiSPY Light delivers a basic suite of integrated spyphone functions that will fulfills the needs of many people. FlexiSPY Light captures SMS/text messages, voice calls, and the contents of emails sent from or to the target handphone. In addition it also gives cell identity and the cell name of where the target handphone is located. For many people reading the incoming and outgoing SMS/text messages and emails, as well as details of voice calls made or received will be enough.
For those who require more, the next step up, FlexiSPY Pro, adds the ability to remotely activate the microphone on the target handphone to listen in to the room environment. This could be used by people to monitor a meeting, or to check on a baby left with a sitter.
For an additional $100 FlexiSPY Pro-X takes all of the features and functions of the lower-end models and adds real-time GPS tracking, as well as the ability to secretly listen to voice calls made to or from the target handphone. With this last feature you have the option to define a list of up to 10 telephone numbers you want to monitor (or you can monitor all) and as soon as a call is received or made by or to the target handphone from one these numbers you will be notified by SMS/text message and able to secretly call the target handphone and listen in to the conversation.
Without a doubt, FlexiSPY Pro-X can truly claim the title of being a true spyphone application. Users can see what is written in SMS/text messages or emails, can hear what is going on around the target handphone, can listen to voice conversations in real-time and also see where the target handphone has been. In addition, all of the FlexiSPY products access the target handphones internal address book and use the information contained there when displaying which telephone numbers called or were called, as well as for displaying information on emails or SMS/text messages sent or received.
While this might seem like a trivial matter, let me assure you that if you are trying to identify who the user of the target handphone is contacting, or who is contacting them, it is much easier if the name of the person from their address book is displayed instead of just a long list of telephone numbers.
This is real James Bond stuff and something the likes of the the Cambridge five, Nathan Hale or Aldrich Ames, or those who tried to apprehend them, would have found invaluable at the time.
Controlling spyphone software
FlexiSPY provides an incredible range of options when it comes to capturing events from the target handphone. After successfully installing any of the FlexiSPY products you are able to set-up the initial event capturing and reporting functions for the various features that apply to whichever version you have installed. It is in this area where FlexiSPY really excels. For events such as SMS/text messages, voice calls, emails and GPS positioning you can choose from the provided presets of every single, fifth or 10th event, or define your own number of events between reports if less frequent reporting is sufficient, or if you want to reduce the GPRS/internet costs incurred by the target handphone.
For handphones with GPS capability you can also set the time between location reports being uploaded to the online report repository to every five, 10, 20, 40, or 60 minutes, providing further savings to both battery life and communications charges on the target handphone.
For the FlexiSPY Pro and FlexiSPY Pro-X versions you also enter the telephone number of the monitoring handphone so that you can receive SMS/text message alerts of telephone numbers you enter in the watch list and which you want to listen in on, and in order to remotely activate the target handphone microphone.
Perhaps the pice de resistance though is the FCTL remote control software that you can install on the monitoring handphone to change any of these settings at any time in the future.
The FlexiSPY manual contains a list of SMS commands that can be sent invisibly to the target handphone to activate or alter the initial event capture and reporting features, but these all require manually keying in command key combinations, and the FlexiKEY number issued at the time of purchase. To overcome this and make life easier and simpler the company has developed a control applications that can be installed on any Java enabled handphone to control or monitor the target handphone. FCTL is an intuitive menu driven application that lists the various change and control options available. To activate, deactivate or change event reporting parameters simply scroll through the list and make your selection, without the need for keying in any lengthy command or FlexiKEY numbers. This is simply brilliant, very easy to use, and means you can change reporting parameters as and when required without having to refer to the instruction manual.
Cost of ownership
FlexiSPY uses the target handphone to transmit the captured spy information. Using this method the costs incurred by the target handphone can be minimized, with reports set to be uploaded to the online repository at times when the target handphone is unused, such as 4.00am, once a day. This also preserves battery life of the target handphone and has the added advantage that the URL used for uploading data packets is impossible to detect on a telephone bill.
Support
FlexiSPY are no slouch in the area of support and provide telephone support via call centers in the USA, UK, and Hong Kong. In addition the company provides support via Skype, as well as via live chat on its website in English, German and Spanish. Voice support is also available in English, French, Russian, Hindi and Thai through its Bangkok head office.
In the process of conducting this spyphone software review I had a number of questions that I wanted answers to and I tried FlexiSPy’s online live chat, Skype and telephone call support options. My attempts to contact the company via Skype and the call centers was answered promptly on each occasion. Of seven attempts I made to contact the company using its online live chat facility my attempts were met by a live chat operator on five occasions. Of the two times that I was unable to contact a live chat representative I was presented with the option of submitting my request by email, which I did, and received an accurate and informative answer within a few hours. Overall, very impressive.
Conclusion
FlexiSPY is a very polished and capable spyphone application. The fact that FlexiSPY leaves no trace on the target handphone, coupled with the ability to tailor what events on the target handphone are recorded and the frequency that these reports are transmitted to the server, along with its telephone and IM customer support put.
The company’s web site contains a wealth of information on its products, what they can do, how they operate and how to gain the maximum benefits without being caught. The ability to reduce the costs incurred on the target handphone, along with the simple installation process and the the way all of the features and functions are supplied in one tightly integrated package make it a product that truly belongs in the world of secret agents.
After very thorough testing I can confidently say that if you have the need for spyphone software the products available from FlexiSPY are ones that you can use confident in the fact that they will do what they claim to do while remaining totally undetectable on the target handphone.
If you should happen to upgrade the target handphone to a newer model, or loose the original target handphone, FlexiSPY can also be easily deactivated from the original target handphone and installed onto the new handphone, provided both the old target handphone and the new one have the same operating system.