Is Grabify safe on my phone?

770    Asked by AndrewJenkins in SQL Server , Asked on Dec 10, 2021

Someone sent me a gratify link on discord. Now they claimed that they know my IP address, the device's name that I am using, my location, and IP address. I am wondering how much else do they know? I guesshe is probably using Grabify. Is Grabify Safe? Should I be worried?

Answered by Anna Ball

There is nothing to worry. Your phone isn’t hacked.


Essentially they send you a tracking link and they know from which IP address this link was accessed. They then can match this IP address to your ISP and might infer a more or less precise location depending on how your ISP assigns IP addresses. This is the kind of information which are visible by any website your visit, i.e. these are not actually secret private information. While the attacker could for example try to DDoS you it is likely more to just scare you in this case. Don't be scared.

You can try yourself what the "attacker" and also any website you visit can see. Just create your own link at gratify, visit it and check the result.

I've tried myself and for example, the location is way off (another town) and the claimed device name is actually only its IP address again. Not actually impressive and nothing to worry about. Depending on the capabilities of your device this might also include the battery level etc. Again, this information are not really secret but might be used to scare you since you don't expect the "attacker" to know this and wonder what else they know. Best check yourself.

Is Grabify Safe? - How can they know the location?

It’s as easy as sending them a link! Yea you heard right. You don’t have to be that weird kid who hasn’t got a life, always sitting in front of a computer screen, with hoodies on, the hacker way.

  • Find a link to any topic of interest that you’re sure your friend or “catfish” wouldn’t resist visiting.
  • Head on to Grabify and paste that link into the box that says “Enter URL or tracking code" you’d see this on the homepage.
  • Click on “Create URL”. You should see a pop-up that asks you to agree to their terms of use, you should click agree. If your URL was successfully created, you should now be taken to a new page with a handful of information.




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