15 Apps for Private Investigators

Forward

The most valuable tool a Private Investigator has is no long their camera or notepad.

In 2007 I was conducting surveillance out in Brisbane where I was asked to locate a very large amount of stolen property.

I decided to Google the Address I was looking at. A Google Earth Image came up, and the stolen property I was looking for was visible in the yard.
I sent it to a man I was working with, who glanced at it, called my boss and proceeded to tell my boss about how I was not working, and that I was ‘playing with my phone’.

The people I was working for agreed.

Soon after I stopped hearing from that company.

The Smart Phone

The phone has become so powerful, that if I forgot to take it work the job would be over. I could forget my wallet, my camera, my notepad, food, my GPS and my laptop and I would probably be fine IF I brought my phone.

My phone receives my emails, contacts my clients, conducts opensource background checks, markets my business, takes my notes, gets me to where I am going, orders food, pays for goods and services, takes photos and videos, networks with other investigators. The potential for what this device can do for a Private Investigator is massive and hasn’t even been fully realised.

The following is a list of 15 apps that I use at work every day.

1. WhatsApp

If you live in Australia there’s a good chance you don’t use WhatsApp, but if you go almost anywhere else in the world people aren’t asking for your phone number, they’re asking if you have WhatsApp.

WhatsApp is a cross-platform messaging service like texts or like Facebook chat with a number or easy to use benefits for the Private Investigator.

Group chats –

You’re never truly alone as a Private Investigator. You have yourself and a Client as a minimum but sometimes there’s Principal Companies with multiple Managers, multiple Investigators and other interested parties who all need to be updated as a job progresses. Before you know it, you’ve got to keep several people in the loop. It can be really time consuming having to send each person or group the same update. It can also be really messy. A game of Chinese Whispers can start to unfold.
With group just you can send one message, picture, video, voice chat and much more, and everyone involved in the chat will receive it.

You can also name group chats, as investigators we often will name the group chat after what we have nick named the job. E.g. Operation Dirty Ibis, Operation Touchy Subject and Operation Broke Back City are names I have given to group chats regarding real jobs. People do get busy and I have found a catchy operation name makes it easier to refer back to when necessary.

With WhatsApp group chats, you can now make one update, and everyone can receive it, and you can see that they have received/opened the message in the chat.

Sending high quality footage and photographs –

Have you ever tried to text message a video and it comes out the other end looking like it was filmed on a webcam in 1996? WhatsApp doesn’t have that issue. It is important to me to make my Clients feel as if they are sitting in the seat next to me. Often as soon as I have information such as footage and photographs, I am sending that through WhatsApp almost in real time.

Location sharing –

You can send your location to the chat as either a snapshot, or to be shared live for up to 8 hours. This can be used to locate fellow investigators in real time which is useful if you’re working on a multi investigator multi vehicle job where a follow occurs and you need to know where they’ve gone. Now you can do this without even asking.

Voice Chats –

Things happen fast in Surveillance, or they don’t happen at all. Sometimes relaying large amounts of information can be difficult particularly after 8 or more hours of nothing. WhatsApp’s ability to send fast, easy to use voice chats can help keep your eyes on the road, your hand on the steering wheel and you can deliver large amounts of information faster and more accurately than if you had to look away to type something.

Phone calls and texts –

WhatsApp not only has all the extra features; it has all the basics as well. Often, I will receive phone calls and texts on WhatsApp rather than through the traditional method, and it keeps everything in one neat place.

Documents -

Instructions, invoices, logs, running sheets can also be sent directly via WhatsApp. This makes WhatsApp almost completely a one stop shop for communication between your clients and colleagues and has been monumental for efficient communication since its inception.

Deleting messages –

WhatsApp also gives you the ability to delete messages. The chat will be notified that a chat has been deleted, but mistakes happen in Surveillance, and if a message is either irrelevant or incorrect rather than having to explain yourself you can simply delete it and move on.

2. Facebook

You hear people complaining about it all the time. “People are always on Facebook; they need to get off Facebook”. To that I say exactly.

Facebook has become so powerful that everyone is on it. It has become one of the most powerful tools for private investigators to gather intel, it has become one of the most powerful tools for private investigators to Market themselves and their business. A Facebook check of an individual, group or business on Facebook for myself as a surveillance operative is mandatory. I can’t imagine the embarrassment of conducting 20 hours of surveillance, coming up with nothing and having my client tell me that according to their Facebook they have moved country several months ago.

Some features unique to Facebook include;

Check ins –

Knowing where a Subject likes to go, or even where they are right now is like fishing with dynamite for the PI. I personally have found people thought to have been lost due to them checking into somewhere and publicly sharing it on Facebook.

Likes –

Similarly, to check ins what they like may give you an idea of where they like to go, but also may give you an idea of what they might do once they get there. If they like several camping pages and they start driving towards the bush it can be a great indicator of what to prepare for, and if you lose them, it may help to know where the local camping grounds are.

Groups -

Groups can be broken down into categories including but not limited to interests/hobbies, community groups, buy swap and sells, crime watch and News. All of which are potentially useful to the Investigator.
Prior to going out on surveillance in an area I am unfamiliar with I always join a couple of local and relevant community groups in one or more of those categories, particularly if the Subject is a member. You can search their name in the posts and find out what they’re worried about, what they’re buying or selling, what they’re concerned about, what they like to do or where they like to go.

From that point you can get a finger on the pulse of an area. You don’t want to show up to a city dressed like a cowboy. You don’t want to show up to a town with a population of a few hundred people and park next to the post office / gun store and be caught wearing a suit. You can also gauge the awareness levels of a neighbourhood by looking for posts on unfamiliar vehicles or persons hanging around.

Events –

Fairly simple, if the Subject happens to be going to an event created on Facebook you can see where and when it will be and it makes things much easier. You can meet a Subject at the Event, you can follow them from home to the event, you can use the attendance at the event as evidence.

Marketplace –

A relatively recent addition to Facebook but it has become a useful tool particularly for Test Purchases, Brand Protection and Loss Prevention.
It can also be an indicator of a person’s financial situation or what they do for work, or be an indicator that they truthfully are not working. As an example, a tradesman might sell his tools.

3. Instagram

Instagram could be seen as Facebooks little brother. It has many of the same features, however, the features it doesn’t have are not necessarily a bad thing. Instagram is tidier, more simple and very user friendly.

The following is a few points I’d like to make about its uses for Private Investigators.

More adoption than ever before -

Question? When is it time to accept that an app has become a giant?

I believe the answer to that is when people start to adopt it that you never thought would have. Instagram’s users have become so diverse that I’m no longer using it for Intel on Subject’s aged 18 to 24, I’m checking the App for information on almost everyone.

Less adoption than Facebook -

Instagram still only has a fraction of users compared with Facebook, and this might seem like bad news however, when a platform has less adoption people tend to be more relaxed on it.

In short, if your Grandparents aren’t there, you’ll be more likely to be yourself.

- Location Tagging

When someone is creating a post on Instagram they are presented with an “Add Location” option. This can be either based on their GPS or they can add a specific location by using a search feature.

The benefits of this are obviously similar to Facebook Check Ins however on Instagram there’s far less stuff to get through as Instagram is based around just photos and videos, whereas Facebook mixes in the Political Opinions of your weird family members.

Stories –

It seems like every App has stories these days. The strength of stories is they are recent. They disappear after 24 hours of posting. Stories can also link up to Facebook directly, they can share location, times, dates even the temperature if that’s of any relevance.

This can be useful to know what a person has been up to almost in real time, however just because it’s been posted on a story doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a current event, you can post old photos and memories to the same story.

Post notifications –

If you manage to follow someone without it being too creepy or obvious, and they post regularly, you can “Turn On Post Notifications”.

In doing this, you will receive a notification each time the Subject posts, therefore you’ll be staying as up to date as possible on that person and their activities.

The alternative is to check the person’s posts regularly, which is much more time consuming and inefficient.

Hashtags -

Not exclusive to Instagram, as a matter of fact Hashtags got their start on Twitter, but certainly utilized heavily. Hashtags are used to categorize content making it easier for users to find topics that interest them.

From the Private Investigators perspective it can be a yellow brick road to Intel that may have otherwise gone unnoticed about a person or group.

4. Dropbox

Dropbox is a file hosting service. It can be accessed via an app on your phone or a Desktop computer.

Gone are the days of posting footage on Tapes, USB Drives or DVDs which can take up to a week domestically. With Dropbox, you can share large high-quality video files with ease. You can also share those large reports with too many high-quality photographs to fit into a single email.

It works by uploading the file to Dropbox, and either sharing it as a private link or sharing it to a certain persons email.

Dropbox is only as public as you want it to be, and only the authorized people will be able to view the links if you so choose, which is often the case for Investigators.

5. Adobe Clip (Or equivalent)

Adobe Premier Clip is a tool that allows you to Edit footage from your I-phone or Android. You can isolate individual clips or combine with others by selecting them, and using a simple drop and drag process you can rearrange them to ensure chronological order.

You can then “Trim the fat” as in remove useless or irrelevant footage from you story, before splicing it all into a finished product with out ever needing to get home to use a lap top.

You can then send that footage to Dropbox or even to Clients via WhatsApp immediately.

6. Time Stamp Camera (Or equivalent)

Simple but very important - Time and Date must be stamped on footage and photographs when presented as evidence in court. In the 90s Cameras always had this as a basic function and it was easy to turn on and off. Nowadays generally speaking unless you add the time and date post production, it won’t be there. Time Stamp Camera as an App for your Phone is essentially a Camera App, but it stamps the time, date and if you buy the premium version for a small fee, it will also add location.

7. Wotif (Or equivalent)

Wotif.com is a Website that provides reservation service for hotels, flights and rental cars in Australia and Internationally.

As a Surveillance investigator, I might start a job on the Gold Coast and finish on the Sunshine Coast 3 hours from home.

Assuming the job will continue on, often its cheaper for myself and for my Clients to spend the night in a hotel rather than drive home and back again. This is often a last-minute decision, and one that requires speed and convenience. Wotif is an App which can provide local options for accommodation instantly.

Similarly, if a job requires me to fly somewhere for a job, Wotif provides both flights and rental car reservations. Once again, I might receive a phone call and need to be on a plane ASAP. I can have a flight and rental car booked within minutes and I am on my way.

Wotif is not the only App that provides such a service, but it is the one I have used with a lot of success.

8. LinkedIn

Think of LinkedIn as Facebook for business. It is designed as a social network specifically for business professionals to connect. Besides being a Marketing tool for your own business, LinkedIn is a fast way to find out where a Subject is working currently, as well as previous work history.

There are paid Subscription Services to see who has been viewing your profile so be aware of that whilst ‘Stalking’ a Subject’s Profile.

9. Photogrid (Or equivalent)

Photogrid is an editing application that enables users to make collages.

I have only one purpose for this App despite its many uses, but it’s very important.

If I am on Surveillance and I see someone who looks like the Subject, I can take a photo of their face and put it besides another photo of them from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or any other photo I might have of the Subject.

This provides me with a side by side comparison, which I can immediately send to a client for a second opinion.

There’s not many things more embarrassing than taking off after the wrong person. It can happen easily and it can be extremely costly. Work closely with your Clients, don’t assume anything and ask for a second or even a third opinion if possible.

10. Uber Eats (Or equivalent)

Uber Eats allows you to order food and drink from restaurants near you, usually within 30 minutes. I always try to make sure I am prepared with enough food and water for a 12 + hour day, however this can fall apart quickly especially when I am taking on a last minute high priority job.

The great thing about Uber Eats for surveillance Investigators is that you can meet the Driver anywhere, contact them anytime, and order food and maybe even more importantly coffee at any time. There are other such services should Uber Eats not be available in the area you’re in such as Menulog and Deliveroo.

11. Waze

Waze is a GPS navigation App owned by Google. Not only does Waze get you to where you’re going like any other GPS App would, users of Waze are in a way connected.

Users can report on nearly any issue with the road such as Traffic Jams, Accidents, Debris, Weather Conditions, Police, Speed Traps and even Road Kill. As you pass the reported incident, you can confirm the Intel using your App, or deny it. That being said, a piece of information with 10 confirmations is very likely to be accurate.

Waze can also help you navigate the fastest route by avoiding heavy traffic and obstructions.

12. Snapchat

Caution needs to be used with Snapchat, it’s not uncommon for a person to have less than 20 connections, therefore a little rummaging is hard to go unnoticed on this form of Social Media.

However, Snapchat can be a full time GPS with Snapchat Map, (sometimes called Snap Map).
Its stories are very commonly used and again, it’s one of those Apps people are more likely to be open on, as Grandma isn’t likely a connection. Snapchat can also be linked to a person’s phone number, so makes for a simple cross check as to whether or not a phone number actually belongs to the Subject.

13. Tinder

This is a powerful location based Online Dating App. There are several like it, but none as large as Tinder. Besides the obvious (People being on Tinder who shouldn’t be) I have found another very useful application for it.

Tinder allows you to set certain parameters such as age, gender and location. If I know my Subject is Single, 24 years old, Female, and where they live, you can set those to a search. By setting the search to 1 kilometre you can narrow down the results vastly, and therefore, figure out their exact location.

Granted this is creepy, but it does work.

14. YouTube / Spotify

I always say, as much as you need to be prepared for a busy day, you need to be equally prepared for a quiet day. It’s not all car chases and explosions out there, I can remember sometimes going days without speaking to a soul. Starting before sunrise, and going home way after dark, without seeing a single piece of action.

Listening to some music, or your favourite podcast can keep your mind from slipping into insanity.
I would suggest signing up to either Spotify’s or Youtube’s premium services to avoid Ads, and unluck better features, such as being able to lock your phone leaving YouTube running. This will keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the steering wheel.

15. Horizon

A lot of my work is done through my phone and shooting critical footage of a Subject is no exception. Phone Cameras are high quality and they’re so easy to conceal that you don’t even have to try to conceal it anymore. You can walk down the street holding a phone and no one is going to question it.

However therein lies a problem. Trying to obtain footage using a phone, whilst trying to pretend you’re doing something else, lead to poor quality.

Horizon is a stabilization App that allows you to tilt the phone whilst filming, but the picture will stay levelled out. That means if you hold it in your hand, put it in your backpack side pocket or pretend to be talking on the phone whilst obtaining footage, the final product will be nice, level professional footage.

Summary

A Private Investigators main concern is gathering information. This is currenly easier than it’s ever been before.

Since 2006 things have changed, yet still any new piece of technology is being strongly resisted. It was digital cameras, then it was Google, Social Media, Smart Phones and Online Learning. More recently it’s been Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones), Digital Currencies and Virtual Reality.

I have a message for any Private Investigator particularly new ones. Don’t turn your nose up at any new technology trend. You will get left behind.

I have a question for any experienced Private Investigator as an Individual, or as an Organisation who still resist change.

Do you think we’re going back?