How it works
An app that takes a picture when someone unlocks your phone
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You want the phone to photograph whoever picks it up. Neither iOS nor stock Android does this on its own — there is no setting for it, and no unlock log to check afterwards. WTMP adds it: a silent front-camera picture on every attempt, stamped with the time and the place.
What actually happens
- Someone picks up your phone and tries to get in.
- The front camera fires — no flash, no sound, nothing on screen.
- The picture is saved with the timestamp and GPS coordinates.
- You get a push notification and an email with the photo attached.
The timestamp and location are what turn a photo into something useful. A face on its own is ambiguous. A face at 14:12, at your office address, is not.
Unlock attempts are not the only trigger
This is the part most people miss when comparing apps. If someone lifts your phone off a cafe table and walks out, they never enter a passcode — so an app that only watches the lock screen sees nothing at all.
The DTMP alarm covers that case. It reacts to the phone being moved, picked up or unplugged from its charger, sounding a siren and capturing at the same time. On Pro, alerts also fire when the SIM is swapped or the phone is powered back on, which are typically the first things that happen after a theft.
On iPhone and on Android
The same app covers both: WTMP on the App Store (iOS 16+), WYTMP on Google Play. One account covers every device you pair, and the web dashboard shows captures from all of them together.
Android can do a little more, because the platform permits it — the dashboard there can also lock the phone, request a capture on demand, show a fake shutdown screen and wipe the device. iOS blocks all four for third-party apps, so on iPhone the dashboard sounds the alarm and requests a location. Everything above about the photo itself works identically on both.
Set it up before you need it
The uncomfortable part: an app installed today cannot photograph someone who went through your phone yesterday. It only sees what happens after it is running. If your phone spends time on desks, in lockers or on tables, the minute it takes to install is the whole cost.
Grant camera and location access during setup. Skipping either breaks the thing you came for — no camera access means no picture, and location set to "ask every time" means captures with no coordinates attached.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an app that takes a picture when someone unlocks your phone?
Yes. WTMP (Who Touched My Phone) triggers the front camera the moment someone tries to unlock your phone and saves the photo with the time and GPS location, then alerts you by push notification and email. It is free on both iPhone and Android.
Does it photograph them on a wrong password, or on any unlock?
Both are covered. A failed passcode attempt triggers a capture, and so does the phone simply being picked up or moved if you have the DTMP alarm armed — which matters, because a thief often never touches the keypad at all.
Does iPhone have this built in?
No. iOS has no intruder-photo feature and keeps no log of who unlocked the phone, so on iPhone it has to come from an app. Android does not ship it as standard either, though a few manufacturer skins have included something similar over the years.
Will the person know their picture was taken?
No. There is no flash, no shutter sound and nothing shown on screen. It is not undetectable — anyone who deliberately goes through the installed-apps list can find it, as with any app — but nothing about the capture itself gives it away.
Where is the picture saved?
Privately inside the app on your own device, not in your camera roll. It is also emailed to you, so you keep a copy even if the phone never comes back. Pro adds optional cloud backup, which is off unless you switch it on.
Can it record video instead of a photo?
With Pro, yes — a silent 10-second front-camera video with sound, alongside the still. It is usually the more useful of the two, because it captures movement, surroundings and voices rather than one frame.
Is it free?
Yes. The photo capture, GPS logging and the DTMP alarm are all in the free version on both platforms. Pro adds the intruder video, SIM-change and power-on alerts, the fake home screen and cloud backup.
Catch them in the act — free
Silent intruder selfie, GPS location, and instant alerts. Set up in under a minute.