Can WhatsApp messages be monitored?

[frazzledasarock]

A friend is currently trying to get divorced from a very abusive and manipulative man.

She thinks he’s monitoring her WhatsApp messages as he keeps bringing up things we are discussing on WhatsApp. Nothing we’re discussing is actually nasty or mean. She’s a lovely woman and desperately wants an amicable divorce (not gonna happen with him).

How can she check to see if her WhatsApp is being monitored?

I’ve told her to turn on two factor notification, she’s changed passcode on her phone, and checked linked devices on her WhatsApp (there are none).

He doesn’t want to divorce. And keeps telling her she has nothing to complain about as he isn’t currently having an affair and hasn’t hit her in a long time. Truly he’s a prince among men. 🙄

Lovely guy, i was going to suggest linked devices, but obviously that's been checked.

I don't know any way of checking messages without him checking her phone.

Even when I have apps to monitor my child's safety you can't see any content.

Maybe he's doing it while she sleeps somehow .

Well yes you can log in to a WhatsApp account on a desktop if he knows her details.

Can she log on to the desktop app and see if there’s anyone logged on?

He can't just log on even if he knows her password. He would have to use her phone to scan the QR code given on the laptop

The only way he can is if this was preciously done and its already linked

If she has viewed whatsapp on her desktop yes potentially.

If I was her I would uninstall all my apps then reinstall them with different passwords. Unlink any devices where that is an option. And potentially chat to you using a different medium. I would change passwords for everything she can and not save them to safari as he might have access to that. Poor woman ☹️

He has had access to her phone and knew her pin till she started to suspect she was being spied on and changed her phone pin a month ago.

they live in the same house. Atmosphere is horrible.

A friend of mine wondered the same about text messages. She was given the phone (iPhone) by her ex and she thinks he might have put something on there. Tracking too. Though she's tried an anti virus checker and that has brought up nothing.

Similar situation of separation, getting divorced and the ex to be not as keen to hurry along the process.

Only way he can access her messages is if there is a linked device or computer set up.

She can easily check this. On her phone go to WhatsApp and from the menu click Linked Devices. It will list any devices which are linked and show the last time they were used

Worth try googling 'how to find and remove spyware from phone' and following as many of the suggestions on as many articles as possible.
I doubt it's whatsapp Web- although it might be! He might have installed a tracking app though. Your poor friend, wishing her well.

Can she afford to buy a new phone and just pretend the other one is her main phone?

Would a complete reset of the phone remove anything like that too?

I think I’ll send her a brand new phone. I’m scared for her to be honest.

Yes & no
A factory reset ought to wipe the phone, but then restoring a backup against the account could bring back dodgy software

If he’s very technical then there’s the possibility that an iPhone has been ‘jail broken’ with a hacked version of ios, and a reset could just reset the normal installed apps. However jail broken iPhones are usually set up to bypass App Store and (when I last saw one) was obviously different to ‘normal’ iOS

https://www.alphr.com/check-iphone-spyware/

I think I’ll send her a brand new phone. I’m scared for her to be honest.

make sure she keeps chatting to you in a similar manner on the phone she has now as well as the new one!

She needs a new phone