📱 Create Parallel and Decoy Apps

Last updated on : 2021-06-11

What you should know

  1. A Parallel App allows you to log into the same app with multiple accounts, a Decoy App** allows you to main a 'safe' version of the application while hiding your sensitive activity in another copy of the app. The concepts are related, as you may use the Parallel App feature to create Decoy Apps.
  2. Though remember, a decoy app is only as good as its similarity to a person's real app use. So you need to populate the app with messages, photos, documents and activity in order for it to hold up to scrutiny.
  3. This effort of maintaining two sets of apps may be too much effort for you - so please consider the trade-offs between the added security and benefits of plausible deniability, and the additional effort of maintaining the ruse.
  4. Kindly note that you don't need to create decoy apps for everything - so you can be selective about what apps and file types you want to hide.

What you should prepare

  1. It might take quite a while to complete the full process of setting up decoy apps as you also need to add decoy information, so set aside sufficient time (between 30 minutes and two hours), depending on how many apps you use, to complete the steps.

What you should do

1. Setup Parallel Apps or Shelter

On 🤖 ANDROID, setup will depend on the brand you have:

On 🍏 iOS, there are no true options for cloning apps that do not compromise your device in other ways. So despite the information you can find online, we advise against installing alternative app stores (as discussed in 📱 Install Apps From Trusted Sources), or jail-breaking your phone. Both methods open your iPhone up to exploitation.

There are apps that allow limited 'multiple app' functionality, typically by offering a web-browser based version of the application, instead of offering a true copy. We don't think it's worth installing an additional app for as you already have the option to use your apps from the browsers if you 📱 Setup a Secure Browser.