The app appeared on my phone without me installing it.
I noticed it on a Sunday morning, in the third row of my home screen, between two apps I use daily — an icon I didn't recognize, slightly different in style from everything else on my phone, with no text below it where the name should be.
I opened it.
It showed a live video feed. High resolution, no latency, sharp and clear. The camera appeared to be positioned across the street from my building, pointed at the entrance. I could see my building's front door. I could see the street in both directions. The timestamp in the corner was current.
I walked to my window. Nothing visible where the camera should be — no mounted device, no one holding a phone. The angle suggested something at roughly second-floor height across the street. The building across from me is a parking structure at that height.
I called the non-emergency line. An officer came, looked at the parking structure, found nothing. He looked at my phone with an expression I can only describe as reluctant. He filed a report. He told me to update my phone and change my passwords.
I deleted the app.
It reappeared the next morning.
I deleted it four more times over the following week. It reappeared each time. The feed was always live, always current, always pointed at my entrance.
On the eighth day, the camera angle had shifted. It was no longer showing the entrance from across the street. It was showing the entrance from much closer — from the right side of my building's entrance, ground level, looking straight at the door.
From inside the entryway.
I didn't delete it after that. I've been watching it instead. Watching who comes and goes from my building, looking for where the camera is, looking for who placed it.
Nothing. No device. No one placing it.
Just the feed, current and clear, showing my building from an impossible angle, from inside a space that should be empty.
It's still on my phone. The feed is running right now, while I type this.
The timestamp says 11:47 PM.
The entrance on the feed is empty.
I haven't left my apartment since 7 PM.
The entrance should be empty.