Best Cheating Apps in 2026: 21 Apps Cheaters Use
Cheating has moved online, with digital infidelity amplified by the rise of AI. On this page, I cover the most common cheating apps cheaters use, and the best tools to catch a cheater.
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At a glance
A quick comparison of the cheating apps covered in this guide, what they do and what stood out in our testing.
| App | What it does | What stood out in testing | Read more |
|---|---|---|---|
| DailyNewsTalk | Disguised chats behind a news app | Easy to overlook on the Home Screen | Read more |
| Calculator Pro+ | Hidden messages behind a calculator | Convincing until a second calculator is noticed | Read more |
| Pure | Casual dating with disappearing chats | Identifying the app removes ambiguity | Read more |
| Illicit Encounters | Discreet dating | May be accessed through a browser | Read more |
| Kik | Messaging through usernames | Separates conversations from phone numbers | Read more |
| Session | Private messaging | Privacy sits in the account model | Read more |
| Calculator vault apps | Hidden files | A duplicate calculator is a clue | Read more |
| Photo vault apps | Locks photos, videos and private files | Usually obvious as a privacy tool, although the contents remain hidden | Read more |
| Burner-number apps | Adds a second number on one phone | The app may be visible even though the second number is not | Read more |
| App cloners and Secure Folder | Separates duplicate apps, accounts or files | Secure Folder can disappear from the app screen, but traces can remain elsewhere in Settings | Read more |
| Private browsers | Reduces locally stored browsing history | The app is visible; the missing history is the feature | Read more |
| Shared Notes | Private communication through shared Notes | Nothing about the Notes icon looks suspicious | Read more |
| AI companion apps | Supports romantic or intimate AI chats | Some app names give very little away about how intimate the conversation can become | Read more |
| Private messengers | Encrypted or disappearing private conversations | Usually visible as apps; the privacy sits inside the conversation | Read more |
| Affair-focused platforms | Dating services for discreet relationships | Current use is far more significant than a generic privacy app | Read more |
| Snapchat | Temporary messages, photos and private sharing | Once content disappears, there may be very little left to interpret later | Read more |
| Messages, disappearing media and multiple accounts | A second account is easy to miss during ordinary scrolling | Read more | |
| Locked chats, disappearing messages and media | A hidden locked chat can leave almost nothing on the normal Chats screen | Read more | |
| Signal | Encrypted messages and disappearing conversations | The app itself is visible; message history can be deliberately temporary | Read more |
| Telegram | Usernames, multiple accounts and secret chats | Secondary accounts and Secret Chats are more relevant than the Telegram icon itself | Read more |
| Tinder and other dating apps | Dating profiles and private messages | Current account activity matters far more than an old download | Read more |
Apps to catch a cheater – Nick’s top picks
These are monitoring tools, rather than the apps people may use to keep activity private. I tested them openly, with my wife’s consent. The right choice depends on the activity you need to understand and the phone’s supported setup.
Spynger
Best overall
Broader messages, apps and location view.
mSpy
Best for deleted and typed activity
Keylogging and supported phone activity.
Eyezy
Best for social and messaging
Supported social app activity and alerts.
Compare all 5 apps to catch a cheater
Use monitoring tools only where you have clear permission and lawful access. Availability and visibility vary by phone and setup.
What are cheating apps and how do they work?
Cheating apps are applications people use to have affairs, communicate privately or conceal activity from their partners. The apps cheaters use range from dating and affair-focused platforms to secret messaging apps, disguised calculators, hidden photo vaults, burner numbers and tools for keeping multiple accounts separate. Some are specifically designed for discreet communication, while others are everyday apps with features such as locked chats, disappearing messages and private browsing.
Not all cheating apps are hidden or designed for infidelity. WhatsApp, Signal, Instagram, Notes and secure folders have legitimate uses, but their privacy features can also make it easier to keep conversations, photographs or secondary accounts out of sight. That's why it's worth understanding what each app actually does, how it conceals information and whether there's evidence of recent activity.
AI companion apps have added another dimension to digital infidelity, allowing people to develop romantic or intimate relationships without another person being involved. In the 21 examples below, I'll explain how these different apps work, the features that make them relevant to cheating and what I found when I looked at how easily their activity could be hidden.
A note on testing
I installed and tested the apps and features in this guide, then asked my wife to identify them during ordinary phone use. Read the full testing methodology.
21 Most Popular Cheating Apps in 2026
Below I list the most common cheating apps people use to cheat on their spouse. Each section covers how the app or feature works, what stood out when I tested them with my wife, and what it actually revealed. If you're wondering what cheating apps to look for on your husband's, wife's or partner's phone, these 21 examples are your best bet.01 DailyNewsTalk
Disguised messenger
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How it works
DailyNewsTalk is one of the more literal secret communication apps I found. The private-chat function is deliberately hidden behind what looks like a news experience.
According to its current Google Play and App Store listings, private messages can appear as breaking-news-style notifications. Tap the notification, enter a PIN and the private chat opens. Leave the app and it returns to the news screen. The service also advertises private voice and video calls and usernames rather than requiring a phone number.
What happened in testing
I installed it alongside the apps I normally keep on the test phone and handed the phone to my wife. She didn’t pick it out from the Home Screen. Her first assumption was exactly the one the app is designed to create: that it was some sort of news app I had downloaded for testing.
The disguise became much weaker once I moved away from the Home Screen. The current store listing is considerably more explicit about what the app actually does, and an installed-app search gives you more to work with than the news interface alone.
The notification test was the bit I found more convincing. A generic news-style alert attracts much less attention than a notification containing a person’s name and part of a private message. If somebody only glanced at the phone, I can see how it would be overlooked.
What this tells you
I would take an unexplained DailyNewsTalk installation more seriously than WhatsApp or Signal because concealment is part of the product itself. It still can’t tell you who somebody is talking to or whether the conversation crosses a relationship boundary.
02 Calculator Pro+
Disguised app
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How it works
Calculator Pro+ is a much better disguise than the name initially suggests.
The current Android version still works as a real calculator. Enter the secret PIN on the keypad and it opens a private area for SMS, app-to-app messages, calls and media. It also supports a fake PIN that opens an empty decoy inbox, automatic locking and fingerprint access.
On Android 10 and later, the icon remains visible as a calculator. Older Android versions can hide the icon entirely. The developer also advertises a companion setup that can route selected SMS conversations away from the normal inbox.
What happened in testing
I put it beside the standard calculator on the test phone and gave the phone to my wife. She noticed there were two calculators, but she didn’t immediately assume one of them was hiding messages. Her reaction was closer to ‘why have you downloaded another calculator?’ than ‘this is obviously a secret app’.
Opening it without the PIN did not help much because it behaved like a calculator. The decoy PIN was also more convincing than I expected. If you already knew the app was a vault, you would know what you were looking at. If you didn’t, there was very little in the normal interface to tell you.
The full installed-app list was more useful than the Home Screen. It confirmed there was an additional calculator installed and gave me an exact app name to search.
What this tells you
If you find a second calculator on a phone you are authorised to inspect, identify it rather than assuming it is redundant. I still wouldn’t treat the app itself as evidence of an affair. Calculator Pro+ can hide private material, but private material and cheating are not interchangeable.
If disguised or hidden apps are what concern you most, mSpy is one of the tools I’d look at first. Its Android keylogger, screen recording and app visibility were particularly useful in my testing when the activity wasn’t tied to one obvious messaging or social platform.
03 Pure
Dating platform
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How it works
Pure sits in a different category because it is openly a dating app rather than something pretending to be another utility.
Pure currently describes itself as a privacy-focused dating app with disappearing chats and consent-led media controls. Temporary conversations and media can leave less history than a conventional messaging thread, but those features can change and no app can stop somebody photographing a screen with another device.
What happened in testing
Once I had identified Pure on the test phone, there was far less ambiguity about what kind of app I was looking at. My wife recognised it as dating-related once she opened it, even though the icon itself would not necessarily mean much to somebody who had never seen Pure before.
I also tested what happened after temporary content disappeared. There was much less historical context left behind than you would have with a conventional SMS conversation. That is useful for privacy and safer casual dating, but it also explains why an old glance through the app may not tell you much about previous conversations.
What this tells you
If exclusivity has been agreed, recent use of Pure is more relevant than an old download. I would look for an active profile, current subscription or recent use before assuming that its presence means somebody is dating now.
04 Illicit Encounters
Affair-focused platform
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How it works
Illicit Encounters is particularly relevant to UK readers because the service is explicitly aimed at married people looking for discreet connections.
It supports private messaging without immediately giving another member your personal email address, and the service has promoted anonymous profiles, discreet billing and private photo controls.
What happened in testing
There is much less interpretive work to do here than there is with Signal or a vault app. If somebody has agreed to a monogamous relationship and is actively using an affair-focused dating service without their partner knowing, the purpose of the account is directly relevant.
One thing I would not rely on is the app drawer. Illicit Encounters can be used through a browser, so somebody could have an active account without a recognisable app icon appearing on the phone at all.
What this tells you
An old account, a browser visit, an active subscription and recent conversations still tell you four different things. I would want current context before drawing a conclusion. I would also look at the wider picture, including recurring subscriptions or unexplained payments. Romantic and financial infidelity can overlap, and sometimes the money trail tells you more than the icon on the phone.
05 Kik
Private messenger
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How it works
Kik allows people to communicate using usernames rather than requiring them to give another user their everyday phone number.
That separation is useful in online communities and other legitimate situations. It can also keep a conversation away from somebody’s normal calls, SMS records and phone contacts.
What happened in testing
When I put Kik on the test phone, there was nothing particularly hidden about the app itself. My wife recognised it as a messaging app, although she would not have known which account or contacts were attached to it simply from seeing the icon.
What this tells you
The account model is more relevant than the appearance. Somebody can have a Kik identity that is not obviously connected with the contact details a partner already knows.
06 Session
Private messenger
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How it works
Session takes identity separation further. You don't need a conventional phone number or email address to create an account, and it supports encrypted conversations and disappearing messages.
What happened in testing
I found the app itself fairly easy to spot once I knew I was looking through the installed apps. My wife did not recognise the Session name, though, and would not have known from the icon alone that it was a private messenger.
The privacy is mostly inside the account rather than in a disguised calculator-style interface.
What this tells you
There are legitimate reasons to use Session, particularly if somebody wants to reveal less personal information online. If it appears alongside an unexplained second identity or a wider change in behaviour, you have more context than the app alone gives you.
07 Fake Calculator Vault Apps
Disguised vault
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How it works
Calculator Pro+ is not the only app using this disguise. There are dozens of calculator-style vaults with names such as Calculator Vault, Secret Calculator and Calculator+.
Some simply protect photographs, videos or files. Others include browsers, notes, hidden contacts or additional private areas behind the calculator interface.
What happened in testing
I tested one basic calculator vault beside Calculator Pro+ and the phone’s normal calculator. Three calculator icons on one phone looked odd once my wife stopped and counted them, but none screamed ‘hidden photos’ from the Home Screen.
The weaker point was Settings. Once we opened the full installed-app list and searched the exact app names, it became much easier to work out what we were looking at.
What this tells you
If a phone already contains the calculator it came with, I would always identify an unfamiliar second calculator rather than dismissing it. The presence of a vault still only tells you somebody wanted additional privacy.
08 Photo Vault and Secret Folder Apps
Photo and file vault
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How it works
Keepsafe, Private Photo Vault and similar apps are much less deceptive about being privacy tools.
They put photographs, videos and files behind an additional password, PIN or biometric check. Someone may be storing passport scans, financial documents, intimate photographs, family files or confidential work. The same type of vault could also be used for screenshots, saved conversations or other material somebody does not want in the normal gallery.
What happened in testing
My wife spotted the purpose of a conventional photo vault much faster than the calculator versions. The icon and app name made it fairly clear that private files were involved.
What this tells you
What she could not tell was what was inside it, which is the part people sometimes skip over when they are already worried. Finding a vault does not answer that question, and it does not give you permission to bypass another adult’s password.
09 Burner-Number Apps
Secondary number
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How it works
Burner, Hushed, TextNow, Phoner and similar apps can provide an additional phone number without somebody carrying a second physical phone.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons to do this. I have used separate numbers for work and online services myself. People selling things online, travelling or dating for the first time may also reasonably want to keep their main number private.
What happened in testing
On the test phone, the app itself was visible enough. My wife could tell Hushed or TextNow was some sort of communication service once she opened it, but the existence of a second phone number was not obvious from looking at the phone normally.
What this tells you
The extra number is more useful context when it appears alongside unexplained calls, another identity, a second account or communication somebody has deliberately kept separate.
10 Parallel Space, App Cloners and Samsung Secure Folder
Protected accounts
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How it works
This was one of the more interesting tests. Parallel Space, App Cloner and built-in tools such as Samsung Dual Messenger allow more than one version or account of the same app to exist on a phone. Samsung Secure Folder can go further by creating a protected space for duplicate apps, accounts and files.
What happened in testing
Samsung currently allows Secure Folder to be removed from the Home and Apps screens completely. It can also be renamed and given a different icon. I hid it from the app drawer and put a second test account inside it before handing the phone to my wife.
She didn’t find the second account during normal use. There was nothing on the Home Screen pointing her towards it.
Once we went into Settings, the picture changed. Secure Folder can still be accessed through the phone’s security settings, and recent Samsung users have also reported app or account information from Secure Folder appearing in ordinary Settings areas. In other words, hidden from the launcher does not mean erased from the device.
I found this more convincing than several of the ‘secret app’ disguises because it is a normal Samsung feature rather than a suspicious-looking third-party download.
What this tells you
There are equally normal reasons to use it. Work accounts, private photos and financial apps are obvious examples. I would pay attention to an undisclosed second account, not treat Secure Folder itself as evidence.
This is another situation where I’d lean towards mSpy if the aim is to understand wider activity across an authorised Android phone rather than one single app. Its combination of typed activity, screen recording and app visibility made it more useful to me here than a tool focused mainly on one supported messenger.
11 Private Browsing Apps and Hidden Browser Vaults
Private browser
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How it works
DuckDuckGo, Brave, Firefox Focus, Ghostery and other privacy-focused browsers can reduce how much browsing information is stored locally.
Some make clearing local traces deliberately quick. DuckDuckGo’s Fire Button is built around closing tabs and removing local browsing data in one action.
What happened in testing
The apps themselves were not difficult to spot on my test phone. The privacy sits in what is no longer left behind after browsing.
I use privacy browsers myself, so I would be very wary of treating one as suspicious. There are good reasons to reduce advertising tracking and local browsing history.
What this tells you
The same browser can obviously be used to access a dating profile, affair site, secondary email account or AI service. A blank browser history cannot prove that nothing was visited, just as the browser itself cannot prove something was.
12 iPhone Notes and Shared Notes
Shared notes
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How it works
Communication does not always need a messaging app.
Two people can collaborate inside a shared Apple Note and see edits without creating a conventional SMS or WhatsApp thread. Individual Notes can also be locked, although Apple puts limits around locking content that is actively being shared.
What happened in testing
I tested the basic shared-note idea with my wife and it felt almost comically ordinary. There was no new messaging icon to discover, no secret app and nothing unusual on the Home Screen. Unless somebody already knew which Note to open, Notes looked exactly like Notes.
I would not put much weight on frequent Notes use by itself. Most people opening the app are writing lists, saving links or keeping information they do not want to forget.
What this tells you
It’s useful mainly as a reminder that there is no complete list of apps somebody has to use to communicate privately.
13 AI Companion and Chat Apps
AI companions
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How it works
AI companion apps have changed this category more than I expected. Replika lets users choose a relationship status that can include a romantic partner, while its paid tier unlocks romantic conversations and other relationship features. Nomi openly offers AI girlfriends, boyfriends and emotionally intimate relationships built around long-term memory.
What happened in testing
I tried both because I wanted to see how obvious that side of the product was from the phone itself.
My wife recognised Replika as an AI app but didn’t immediately associate it with a romantic relationship. Nomi was even less obvious from the icon and name. You had to open the app or look at the store description before the girlfriend/boyfriend framing became clear.
Inside the products, the relationship potential was much more explicit. Replika allows the relationship status to be changed, and Nomi is designed to remember personal details and build an ongoing relationship rather than treating every conversation as disposable.
What this tells you
This is where I think couples need to have a conversation that barely existed a few years ago. There may be no other human involved, but somebody can still be spending time, intimacy and sexual or emotional attention inside a relationship their partner knows nothing about.
I asked my wife which part she would expect me to tell her about. Her view was less about whether the software was ‘real’ and more about whether I was deliberately building an intimate relationship and hiding it from her. I think that is a much more useful way to frame it.
Our guide to emotional bonding with an AI partner looks at that question in more depth.
14 Secret Messaging Apps
Private messenger
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How it works
Threema, Dust, CoverMe and similar services sit within a wider group of privacy-focused messengers. Depending on the product, they may offer encrypted communication, disappearing messages, protected inboxes, identity separation or private file storage.
What happened in testing
I didn’t find the apps themselves especially difficult to spot when installed normally. The harder part is understanding what the privacy controls inside them mean and whether any conversation history remains.
What this tells you
Older articles can also be misleading here. Wickr Me still appears on lists of secret cheating apps even though the consumer service closed at the end of 2023. Check that an app is current before worrying about advice written years ago.
15 Affair-Focused Platforms
Affair-focused platforms
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How it works
Ashley Madison, Gleeden and Victoria Milan sit apart from ordinary privacy tools because discreet or extramarital dating is central to how they are positioned.
What happened in testing
I wouldn’t put an active account on one of these services in the same category as an encrypted messenger.
If somebody has agreed to an exclusive relationship and is actively using an affair-focused dating service without their partner knowing, the account itself provides considerably more context.
What this tells you
Current use still needs to be established. An abandoned account, a one-off browser visit, a paid subscription and recent messages are not interchangeable. If there are unexplained dating subscriptions, hotel charges, gifts or other payments alongside the account, that wider financial pattern is worth understanding too.
16 Snapchat
Disappearing messages
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How it works
Snapchat is one of the most familiar examples of temporary communication. Photographs, videos and messages can disappear after they are viewed or after a selected period, and private sharing can limit who sees particular content.
What happened in testing
I ran a basic disappearing-message test and handed the phone back to my wife afterwards. Once the temporary content had gone, there was much less for her to interpret than there would have been in an ordinary SMS thread. She could still see that Snapchat existed and, depending on the interaction, that a contact or conversation had been present, but not reconstruct everything that had already disappeared.
What this tells you
Snapchat is also a huge mainstream platform. I would never treat installation as meaningful on its own. A sudden change in how somebody uses it is more useful than the icon.
17 Instagram DMs and Multiple Accounts
Secondary accounts
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What happened in testing
Instagram surprised my wife more than some of the explicitly private apps. I added a second test account, muted its notifications and then handed her the phone while the main account was open.
She did not notice the second account during ordinary scrolling. Once she opened the profile/account switcher, it was easy to find. Until then, the main Instagram experience looked completely normal.
That is useful context if you are checking your own or a jointly managed device. One Instagram icon can contain several identities, and notifications can be managed separately.
What this tells you
Instagram itself is not suspicious. A deliberately undisclosed second dating or messaging identity is a different question.
I found Eyezy particularly useful for this kind of activity in my separate monitoring tests. It captured the Instagram DMs and wider activity my wife and I generated on our Android test phone, giving me more to work with than the app icon or account switcher alone.
18 WhatsApp
Locked chats
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How it works
WhatsApp was the strongest example of a mainstream feature being more discreet than some apps marketed as ‘secret’.
What happened in testing
I locked a test chat, created a secret code, hid the locked-chat folder and muted the conversation. WhatsApp’s current design allows hidden locked chats to disappear from the normal Chats view and be reopened through the secret-code search flow. Notifications for locked chats can also hide the contact name and message content. I then gave the phone to my wife.
From the normal Chats screen, she didn’t spot the locked conversation. There was no obvious folder sitting there telling her I had hidden something, and the notification gave her very little to work with.
Once she knew there was a locked conversation and started looking more deliberately, there were other routes that could reveal that something existed. Recent WhatsApp users have also pointed out that searching contacts or approaching the conversation through other parts of the app can sometimes expose the fact that a chat is locked, even when the normal folder is hidden.
So I wouldn’t describe Chat Lock as invisible. It’s simply much easier to miss during ordinary use than most people realise.
What this tells you
There are also many legitimate reasons to lock a WhatsApp conversation. Financial information, work, private family issues or simply wanting another person who borrows your phone not to read a chat are all reasonable examples.
If hidden chats, messages and broader phone activity are the main concern, Spynger is the monitoring app I’d start with. It gave me the strongest overall balance of supported messages, app information and location in one dashboard during testing. My Spynger review goes through exactly what I could see.
19 Signal
Private messenger
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How it works
Signal is built around private communication rather than pretending to be another type of app.
It offers end-to-end encryption, disappearing messages, View Once media, usernames and privacy controls around notifications and the app screen.
What happened in testing
My wife spotted Signal immediately as a messaging app. What she couldn’t tell from the phone was what had previously happened inside a disappearing conversation.
I would be particularly careful about calling Signal a cheating app. Journalists, security professionals, activists and ordinary privacy-conscious users choose it precisely because it collects and exposes less information.
What this tells you
Privacy and deception are separate questions. Behaviour around the app carries more weight than the logo.
20 Telegram
Private messenger
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How it works
Telegram supports usernames, multiple accounts and a mix of public and private communication. Secret Chats add device-specific encryption and self-destruct timers.
What happened in testing
I found Telegram itself completely ordinary to spot. The account structure was more interesting.
A second account could sit behind the same app icon, and a Secret Chat looks different only once you are inside Telegram and know what you are looking for. Telegram’s own documentation notes that Secret Chats are identified with a lock icon and can use self-destructing messages.
What this tells you
For plenty of people, Telegram is simply where work groups, communities, friends or news live. I would pay more attention to an unexplained second identity than to Telegram being installed.
21 Tinder, Facebook Dating and Other Dating Apps
Dating platforms
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How it works
Tinder, Bumble, Hinge and Plenty of Fish remain among the most recognisable dating platforms.
Facebook Dating is easier to miss because it sits within Facebook rather than necessarily appearing as a separate dating-app icon. Somebody can have a distinct Dating profile while the only obvious app on the phone is Facebook.
What happened in testing
An old download is weak evidence. People delete dating apps without deleting accounts, and app-store histories can hang around for years.
What this tells you
Recent usage, a current subscription, an active profile, dating notifications or repeated reinstallation tell you considerably more.
AI is also making this area harder to read. Dating platforms increasingly use AI to help with profiles, matching and safety, while generative tools make it easy to create convincing photographs, messages and even voices outside those platforms.
If the person behind an unfamiliar profile has never been met or independently verified, I would consider the possibility of impersonation or a romance scam as well as infidelity. If that is part of what you are dealing with, our guide to verifying someone’s identity online can help you check whether the person behind an account is who they claim to be.
A convincing profile is no longer enough to establish that the person pictured exists in the way you assume.
If dating apps are the main concern, Spynger is again my strongest overall pick from the monitoring apps I tested. If the activity you are trying to surface is less obvious, particularly typed searches, screen activity or apps without a dedicated integration, mSpy is the other option I’d compare closely.
What I learned from hiding cheating apps in plain sight
The apps I expected my wife to spot were not always the ones she noticed. The explicitly disguised apps were convincing from the Home Screen, but several became easier to identify once she used the full installed-app list or Settings. Mainstream features such as WhatsApp Chat Lock and Samsung Secure Folder were almost the reverse: the apps themselves looked completely ordinary because they were ordinary, while the private activity sat one or two layers further down.
The second Instagram account was another good example. There was no second suspicious Instagram icon to find. Until she opened the account switcher, the phone looked exactly as it normally would.
AI companion apps created a different problem. They were not necessarily hidden at all. The name and icon simply didn't tell her how intimate the relationship inside the app could become.
After testing all of them, the biggest lesson was that the technology itself is only one part of the picture. I would look for patterns across apps, accounts, subscriptions, second numbers, payments and changes in how somebody uses their devices rather than treating one icon as proof of anything, or invest in a more concrete tool that could give you the evidence you need.
I'd also pay attention to what is happening on your side of the relationship. If you're seeing unfamiliar logins, permissions you didn't grant, apps you didn't install or a partner knowing things they shouldn't know, our guide to signs someone may be snooping on your phone explains what to check. At that point, it's no longer only a question of infidelity. It's a digital safety issue too.
If the concern goes beyond one unfamiliar app, our how to catch a cheater page looks at the wider signs, digital evidence and other ways to work out what is happening.
If you already know you want more visibility from the phone itself, see my tested comparison of apps to catch a cheating partner. For most people, Spynger and mSpy are the two I’d start by comparing, depending on the kind of activity you are trying to uncover.
How Secret, Hidden and Decoy Cheating Apps Work
Secret cheating apps don’t all hide activity in the same way. Some are deliberately disguised, while others use privacy features already built into messaging, social and dating apps. After testing the apps above, I found that most hidden activity falls into a few recurring patterns:
- Disguised and decoy apps: Apps such as DailyNewsTalk can make private communication look like ordinary news activity, while Calculator Pro+ and other calculator vaults put messages, photographs or files behind a working calculator. In my testing, these disguises were much easier to identify once I checked the complete installed-app list rather than relying on the Home Screen.
- Secret messaging and texting apps: Snapchat, WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and Instagram can all support temporary, locked or disappearing communication in different ways. Dedicated private messengers may also separate conversations from somebody’s ordinary calls, texts or contacts. The app itself may remain completely visible while much less conversation history is left behind afterwards.
- Locked chats, hidden folders and vaults: WhatsApp Chat Lock, photo vaults and protected spaces such as Samsung Secure Folder can keep conversations, photographs, files, accounts or apps away from the normal screen. Some of the built-in privacy features I tested were actually easier to miss than third-party apps marketed as ‘secret’.
- Secondary accounts, burner numbers and cloned apps: One app icon can contain more than one identity. Instagram and Telegram support multiple accounts, burner-number apps can provide another phone number and Android features such as Dual Messenger and Secure Folder can separate different accounts or copies of the same app.
- Private browsing and browser-based services: Not every dating, affair or private-chat service requires an installed app. Illicit Encounters can be accessed in a browser, Facebook Dating sits inside Facebook, and AI companion or communication services can also be browser-based. Private browsers can reduce the local history left behind afterwards.
That’s why I’d be careful with lists of ‘secret apps for cheaters’. The technology tells you how somebody could keep activity separate or less visible. It doesn’t tell you why they’re doing it.
After years of testing privacy, security, communication and monitoring software, I tend to look for the wider digital footprint as well. A hidden app may sit alongside a second account, burner number, subscription, unusual payment, new email address or a sudden change in how somebody uses their device. Those surrounding signals can be much more useful than the app icon itself.
Disappearing messages, secure folders, second numbers and private browsers all have legitimate uses. They show where activity can be separated, concealed or made harder to reconstruct later.
Popular Hidden Apps for Cheaters
Hidden apps let someone keep messages, photographs, videos or other apps away from the phone's ordinary screens. Some disguise themselves as a working calculator or audio manager, while others provide a locked vault for private files. That makes their purpose harder to recognise from an icon alone.
If you're concerned about cheating apps, it's useful to understand how widely available these tools are. An ordinary-looking utility can provide a separate space for communication or stored content, and checking only the usual messaging apps or photo gallery may leave that space out of the picture. The official Google Play listings below show the reach of five examples.
| Hidden app | Google Play downloads | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Hide It Pro | 50 million+ | Disguised as an audio manager; hides private content |
| GalleryVault | 50 million+ | Hides photos, videos and its own app icon |
| Keepsafe Photo Vault | 50 million+ | Private photo and video storage |
| Calculator Vault – App Hider | 10 million+ | Disguised calculator that hides and clones apps |
| Calculator Pro+ | 1 million+ | Disguised calculator for private messaging |
Source: Google Play download milestones, checked 13 October 2026.
These figures cover Android downloads on Google Play only. Some apps also have iPhone versions.
These figures show that hidden storage and disguised messaging are established tools with substantial reach. Hide It Pro, GalleryVault and Keepsafe have each passed 50,000,000 downloads on Google Play, while Calculator Pro+ has passed 1,000,000. For someone concerned about a partner's activity, the practical issue is that private content can sit outside the screens they would normally recognise.
The figures are cumulative download milestones, so they don't tell us how many distinct people currently use each app or how many use it for infidelity. They can't establish that your partner has downloaded one. If you suspect a partner is using hidden apps to conceal activity, my guide to the best apps to catch a cheater compares the tools I've tested, the activity they can capture and their limits, for devices and accounts you need to monitor.
Cheating Spouse Apps on iPhone and Android
The same broad types of cheating apps exist on iPhone and Android, but the ways apps, accounts and private spaces can be hidden are different. A hidden cheating app on Android may leave a very different trail from the same type of activity on an iPhone.
iPhone
Cheating Apps on iPhone
DailyNewsTalk, Kik, Session, Threema, Dust and CoverMe are examples of private communication apps available on iPhone. DailyNewsTalk has US and UK App Store listings; the checked UK listing requires iOS 18 or later. Ashley Madison has a US iPhone listing, while UK-focused Illicit Encounters can be used in a browser. Check the exact listing and compatibility rather than assuming an Android product with a similar name has an equivalent iPhone version.
iPhone can lock compatible apps with Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode, and hide compatible downloaded apps in the Hidden folder in App Library. Locking can reduce what appears in notification previews, search and Siri suggestions. These are ordinary privacy protections, separate from a disguised interface such as DailyNewsTalk’s news screen.
On an iPhone you have permission to inspect, the Home Screen is therefore only a starting point. WhatsApp’s locked chats and Instagram or Telegram account switching sit inside familiar apps. Facebook Dating sits inside Facebook, and shared Apple Notes can support an exchange without a new messaging icon. A shared Note does not have all the locking options of a private Note. An old App Store download tells you less about present activity than a current login, subscription or recent notification.
iPhone also has built-in privacy features that can make downloaded apps less obvious during normal use. Apps can be locked behind Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode, while compatible apps can also be hidden from the Home Screen and moved into the Hidden folder in App Library.
Locking an app can reduce what appears in places such as notification previews, search and Siri suggestions. These are legitimate privacy protections built into iPhone rather than features created for cheating.
I’d also distinguish between an old app and current activity. A dating app sitting in an App Store history tells you much less than a live profile, current subscription, recent notification or account that’s still being used.
Android
Cheating Apps for Android
Calculator Pro+ is the specific Android messaging disguise described above; a similarly named photo vault may only store files. DailyNewsTalk, Kik, Session, Threema and CoverMe provide other communication models, while Keepsafe and GalleryVault protect stored media. Their exact names and developers are more useful than an unfamiliar icon.
Android’s additional separation tools depend on the manufacturer. Parallel Space and App Cloner provide separate app environments, Samsung Dual Messenger duplicates selected messengers, and Secure Folder can hold separate accounts, apps and files. Secondary users and work profiles add other possibilities. Finding a protected space establishes that it exists, not what every account inside it contains. Our Secure Folder exercise showed why ordinary phone use can miss a second account even when Settings identifies the protected space.
For an agreed phone check, consider the complete installed-app list, account switchers and any supported protected spaces together. Digital Wellbeing can help establish whether an app is currently used, but it cannot show a private conversation. Instructions for one Samsung, Pixel or Xiaomi phone won’t necessarily apply to another. Browser services and accounts on a second device also remain outside an installed-app check.
Number availability is another separate question. TextNow is primarily relevant to North America; Hushed documents US, Canadian and UK numbers with plan-specific calling and texting terms. The fuller regional explanation is in the burner-number entry above.
If the concern is less about one visible app and more about wider Android activity, mSpy is one of the tools I’d look at first. Its combination of typed activity, screen recording and app visibility was particularly useful in my testing when the activity was spread across several apps or wasn’t tied to one obvious platform. See how these tools compare.
Are There Free Cheating Spouse Apps?
Most of the apps cheaters use to keep conversations or accounts private are completely free. WhatsApp, Snapchat, Instagram, Signal and Telegram all cost nothing for ordinary use, while burner-number apps, private browsers and dating platforms often have free or freemium versions.
AI companion services can also offer a free starting tier, with subscriptions unlocking additional messages, relationship or customisation features. Price still tells you very little about whether a conversation is casual, intimate or being deliberately concealed.
That’s why searches for free cheating apps can be misleading. There isn’t a special category of free apps reserved for cheating. Often, the same messaging, dating and privacy tools millions of people use legitimately can also be used to keep a conversation, second account or dating profile separate.
Affair-focused and dating services work slightly differently. Some allow free registration or limited browsing before charging for messaging, subscriptions or other features. If you find one on a phone, current account activity or a recent subscription tells you considerably more than whether the app itself was free to download.
Those payments can be relevant in their own right. Dating subscriptions, unexplained transfers, hotel bookings, gifts or other spending can form part of a wider pattern of financial infidelity, even when the app itself doesn’t tell you exactly what’s happened.
AI Girlfriends, Boyfriends and Companion Apps
The Replika and Nomi exercise above raised a question that an installed-app check cannot resolve: what kind of relationship has someone developed inside it? Romantic AI, EVA AI and Candy AI are further examples of services offering romantic or intimate interaction. Their subscriptions, features and app-store availability differ, and some can be accessed in a browser.For couples, the relevant context is secrecy and the agreement around intimacy. An ongoing romantic or sexual dynamic, concealed spending or emotional attention that conflicts with that agreement deserves a different conversation from occasional use of an AI tool. There may be no other human involved, but the impact on trust can still be real. Our guide to setting AI relationship boundaries develops those questionWhat to Do If You Find a Cheating App
Suspecting infidelity puts you in an impossible position. But if you can prove that your partner is cheating, you can start making informed decisions about what happens next. Whether that means confronting them, trying to rebuild trust or preparing for separation, having reliable evidence can help you understand what's actually happened and protect your interests.If you find an unfamiliar app, hidden account or private space, start by working out exactly what you’ve found.Preserve the record and its original context
Write down the exact application and developer, when you identified it, where the information came from and what you could actually see. Retain relevant timestamps, account names and the full surrounding exchange. A screenshot of the app icon, a message export and a dashboard’s typed-input record are different sources and should be labelled accordingly.Keep original screenshots or exports unchanged in a secure location. Use copies if you need to highlight a passage or make notes, and keep your annotations separate. Cropping away a date, participant name or preceding reply can remove information that changes the meaning. Record when the capture was made, the source device or account and any time-zone difference. If a professional may need the device or original account, ask how to preserve it before deleting content, resetting the phone or changing the relevant records.Distinguish what the record directly shows from your interpretation. ‘A location point was reported at 8:10 pm’ is a different statement from ‘they met someone there’. ‘This text was typed’ differs from ‘this text was sent’. An original message with a known source is also different from a forwarded screenshot whose origin you cannot verify.Build a chronology you can explain
Bring communications, app activity, relevant location records, shared financial statements, travel information and known relationship events into one timeline. For each item, include the event date, capture date, source and a brief factual description. Keep uncertain dates or gaps visible rather than filling them with assumptions.A payment posted two days after a booking, a GPS point uploaded late and an old dating profile can otherwise look like events from the same evening. Compare transaction dates, message timestamps and synchronisation times before connecting them. A clear chronology is useful for a conversation, a decision about rebuilding trust or a family-law consultation, even where the records do not establish an affair.Shared assets, debts, support and financial disclosure
If separation is a possibility, establish what you already know about joint accounts, marital property, separate assets, mortgages, other debts and regular expenditure. Keep statements and financial agreements you are entitled to access. A lawyer may need a clearer record of balances, income, liabilities and unexplained spending than a collection of suspicious messages. Avoid moving assets or running up joint debt in reaction to a discovery.US states differ in property division, spousal support and the relevance of marital fault. North Carolina’s court guidance, for example, explains equitable distribution of marital assets and debts and circumstances in which illicit sexual behaviour affects alimony. That is a state-specific example. It should not be read as a national rule that proving cheating guarantees more property or support. The right to request particular financial remedies can also depend on procedural deadlines, so seek advice before a divorce is finalised.Financial disclosure serves a different purpose from proving an affair: establishing the assets, debts and income relevant to a settlement. Records of a dating subscription or hotel payment may be useful context, but their importance depends on the issue being decided and the applicable law. Married spouses and unmarried partners can have different rights, even where they have shared bills or devices.Prenuptial agreements and your next decision
A prenuptial agreement may address property division, separate assets and spousal support. Any infidelity-related provision needs review against the agreement’s wording and state law; it is not automatically enforceable because it appears in a signed document. North Carolina’s premarital-agreement legislation, for example, distinguishes permitted terms from enforceability requirements and support-related exceptions. An attorney should assess the agreement that actually applies to you.The 21 entries are a way to identify unfamiliar technology and understand the records it may leave. An active affair account, a protected photo vault and a mainstream messenger each tell you something different. I’d give the greatest weight to current, attributable activity that can be explained in context, with any gaps still visible. That can help with a conversation, rebuilding trust or preparing for separation; it does not commit you to divorce.For broader investigation options, read how to catch a cheater. Start with what you've actually found and the question it can reasonably answer.How Cheating Tracker Apps Can Help Gather Evidence
Cheating tracker apps are designed to collect information about activity on a phone, including messages, calls, app usage, browsing history and location. They're very similar to spy apps, but their use-case depends on your needs. Depending on the software, device and permissions, they can help establish whether a suspicious app is being used, when conversations took place and whether other activity supports what you've been told.The most useful features include:- Text messages and social media monitoring: Supported tools can capture SMS conversations and activity across apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and Telegram. This can help identify recent communication, although coverage varies considerably between apps and operating systems.
- Keylogging: Records supported keyboard input, potentially including messages, usernames and searches. If somebody types a message and deletes it, the original keystrokes may still be available if they were captured beforehand. That doesn't mean the message was sent or that previously deleted conversations can be recovered.
- Screen capture: Screenshots and screen recordings can preserve activity displayed on a device, including conversations in supported apps. This can be particularly useful where messages disappear, although the software must capture them while they're still visible.
- App activity and browsing history: Can identify installed applications, websites visited and, where supported, when particular apps were used. This helps distinguish an old download from more recent activity.
- GPS tracking and location history: Can show reported locations, journeys and, with supported geofencing features, alerts when a device enters or leaves a designated area. Location data needs to be interpreted alongside timestamps and accuracy information. It cannot establish who someone met or why they visited a location.
Why Gathering Reliable Cheating Evidence Matters
The importance of evidence extends beyond discovering whether someone has cheated. If the relationship breaks down, accurate records may help you make decisions about shared finances, property and your next steps.In its 9 June 2015 survey release, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers reported that 97% of responding attorneys had seen an increase in evidence from smartphones and other wireless devices over the preceding three years. The corresponding figures were 99% for text-message evidence and 67% for evidence from apps. Texts, emails, call records, browsing information and GPS were among the types identified.
Although those figures are historical, they illustrate how digital information has become part of relationship and divorce disputes. What matters is being able to establish where a record came from, when it was created and what it actually shows.Getting your financial affairs in order before making major decisions. That means understanding your joint accounts, savings, debts, regular commitments and any unusual spending you can legitimately review. Dating subscriptions, unexplained hotel bookings or transfers may raise questions, but they can also be relevant when trying to understand the wider financial picture.The legal implications are especially important. Privacy laws, the rules governing digital evidence and the relevance of infidelity in divorce proceedings vary by location. Material obtained without permission could create legal problems or prove unusable in a dispute.Our guide to how to catch a cheater the right way explains how to approach your concerns responsibly, what evidence may be useful and the legal considerations to understand before taking further action.Cheating Apps and Financial Infidelity
Cheating doesn’t only leave a trail in messages and apps. Sometimes the clearest clue is financial. Dating subscriptions, hotel bookings, gifts, unexplained transfers, new payment accounts or spending that suddenly stops making sense can all add context to what you’re seeing on the phone.
That can become financial infidelity in its own right too. Hidden debt, secret accounts or money being deliberately kept from a partner can damage trust even when there isn’t a physical affair involved.
If an unfamiliar app, second account or hidden conversation appears alongside unexplained spending, I’d look at those things together. A dating app tells you one thing. An active account, regular payments and a second identity start to give you a much clearer picture.
For the wider behavioural signs, including sudden phone secrecy, unexplained payments, changing routines and repeatedly deleted conversations, use our guide to digital cheating signs. This page is better used to identify the app itself and understand what finding it can realistically tell you.
Can Cheating Spouse Tracker Apps Detect Cheating Apps?
Yes. Monitoring tools like cheating spouse tracker apps can help surface activity that’s difficult to spot during an ordinary phone check, including installed apps, messages, typed searches, screen activity, browser activity and location, depending on the device and setup.
That can be useful when you’ve found one suspicious app but still don’t know whether it’s actually being used, or when the activity is spread across several apps, accounts or parts of the phone.
Android generally gives monitoring tools more visibility than a standard iPhone setup. That was one of the clearest differences I found when testing these products on real devices.
Even then, visibility is incomplete. Encrypted or disappearing chats, protected spaces, browser sessions and unsupported apps can limit what appears, while standard iPhone setups are usually more restricted than Android. A monitoring tool may surface app use, typed activity, screenshots, browser history or location without showing the full conversation, and it still cannot determine whether somebody has cheated.
Of the tools I’ve tested, Spynger is my strongest overall pick when you want messages, app activity and location together in one place. It gave me the best overall balance of visibility and ease of use on Android. You can see exactly what it showed me in my Spynger review.
mSpy is the one I’d compare most closely when typed activity, searches, screen recording or harder-to-spot apps are the bigger concern. Its Android keylogger and screen recording were particularly useful when there wasn’t a dedicated integration for the app I was looking at. My mSpy review goes through that testing in more detail.
If your main goal is to catch a cheating partner, I’ve compared Spynger, mSpy and the other tools I tested side by side, including what each one can actually show and where Android and iPhone differ.
I test monitoring software on real devices rather than relying on provider feature lists. You can read more about how we research and test digital safety tools.
Only use monitoring software on a device you own, manage or have permission to monitor.
When Cheating Apps Become a Digital Safety Issue
I've spent years looking at how technology affects our privacy and security, and cheating apps are an interesting example of how the same features designed to protect us can also be used to deceive someone. Encryption, disappearing messages, hidden folders and secondary accounts all have legitimate purposes. But they can also make it much easier to keep parts of your digital life hidden from the people closest to you.
That's why I wanted to look more closely at these apps. Some, like Calculator Pro+ and DailyNewsTalk, are deliberately disguised, while others rely on privacy features built into apps millions of people use every day. What surprised me was how easily a second account or private conversation could go unnoticed, even when the app itself was sitting in plain sight.
But sometimes the concern goes beyond what somebody's hiding on their own phone. If a partner is also trying to access your accounts, checking your location, reading your messages or getting into devices you thought were private, you're dealing with more than broken trust. Your own digital safety is involved too. In every scenario, it;s important to watch for login alerts you don't recognise, passwords changing unexpectedly, unfamiliar apps or permissions, devices appearing on your accounts or a partner knowing private information you never shared with them.
If any of that sounds familiar, our guide to signs your partner may be snooping on your phone shows you what to check.
For me, the most important thing is understanding the technology you're dealing with. Recognising how these apps work, what they can conceal and what traces they leave behind puts you in a better position to make informed decisions, both about your relationship and your own digital safety.
Nick Francis
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the most common cheating apps?
There is no reliable evidence showing one universal ‘most common cheating app'. Mainstream services such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and dating apps have enormous user bases, while affair-focused platforms such as Ashley Madison and Illicit Encounters are much more specifically associated with infidelity. The significance of an app depends more on how it is being used than how many people have installed it.
What secret apps do cheaters use?
Secret apps associated with cheating can include disguised communication apps such as DailyNewsTalk, calculator vaults, photo vaults, burner-number apps and private messengers. Mainstream apps can also contain hidden chats, secondary accounts or disappearing messages. None of these proves that somebody is cheating simply because it is installed.
What are disguised cheating apps?
Disguised cheating apps are apps that make their private function less obvious from the normal phone interface. A calculator vault may behave like a normal calculator until a PIN is entered, while DailyNewsTalk presents private communication behind a news-style interface. The disguise is designed to make the app easier to overlook during ordinary phone use.
Can cheaters hide apps on iPhone?
Apps can be made less prominent on iPhone using legitimate Apple privacy and organisation features, including locking or hiding compatible downloaded apps. Services can also be accessed through browsers or inside another app, as with Facebook Dating. The absence of an icon from the Home Screen does not establish that no account or service exists.
Can cheaters hide apps on Android?
Android phones can offer several ways to separate apps and accounts, depending on the manufacturer. These can include cloned apps, secondary profiles and protected spaces such as Samsung Secure Folder. They are widely used for legitimate work and privacy purposes as well, so finding one does not establish why it is being used.
Can an app tell me if somebody is cheating?
No app can reliably tell you whether somebody is cheating. Monitoring software may show supported phone activity on a device you are legally entitled to monitor, while dating or affair accounts may provide useful context. The software cannot decide whether a relationship boundary has been crossed.
Can AI make cheating harder to spot?
Yes. AI can make digital activity harder to interpret by creating or altering photographs, profiles, messages, voices and video. It can also support romantic, sexual or emotionally intimate relationships through AI companion apps, which means a concealed relationship may not involve another human at all. Separately, locked chats, disappearing messages and auto-delete features can leave less conversation history behind. For more detail, see our guide to AI and relationship boundaries.
Can AI be used for cheating?
Yes, depending on what a couple considers cheating. AI companion apps can support romantic, sexual and emotionally intimate relationships, while generative AI can also be used to create profiles, photographs, messages, voices and video that make online identities harder to verify. Our guide to AI relationship boundaries looks at the conversations couples may want to have around this.
What apps should you check for cheating?
If you are looking at a phone you own or have permission to inspect, I would check unfamiliar dating or affair apps, secret messaging apps, disguised calculators, photo vaults, burner-number apps, private browsers, app cloners, secondary accounts and AI companion apps. Mainstream services such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Signal and Telegram can also contain locked, private or disappearing conversations, but finding one installed does not prove somebody is cheating.
What apps do cheaters use to communicate?
There is no single messaging app used by cheaters. Private communication can happen through mainstream apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Signal and Telegram, dedicated private messengers such as Session or Threema, username-based services such as Kik, burner-number apps, shared Notes or even browser-based services. Some leave less history behind than others, but the presence of a private messaging app alone does not establish why it is being used.
Are there free cheating apps?
Many apps associated with digital infidelity are free or offer free versions. WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Signal and Telegram are free to use, while some dating apps, vaults, burner-number services and AI companion apps offer limited free tiers. Affair-focused platforms may charge for particular features. Whether an app is free tells you very little about how somebody is actually using it.
Are there really 7 most popular cheating apps?
There is no reliable evidence supporting one universal list of the seven most popular cheating apps. The apps people use vary by country, age, device and what they are trying to conceal. Mainstream messaging and social apps have the largest overall user bases, while services such as Illicit Encounters and Ashley Madison are much more specifically associated with affairs. I would use a current list of common cheating apps as a way to identify unfamiliar technology rather than treating any seven apps as definitive.
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