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Re:Smartphone Security: You'll Never Guess Who Just Messaged... by caf on Sunday April 08, 2018 @08:27PM (#16789361)
For even greater effect, the app could apply heuristics when selecting target contacts, preferring names such as ‘Dad’ and ‘Mom’, or contacts that have nicknames.

The best heuristic would probably be the contact that has messaged you {first|second|third} most frequently in the last week.

Re:Smartphone Security: You'll Never Guess Who Just Messaged... by djrogers on Monday April 09, 2018 @12:02AM (#16790256)
On iOS at least, an app would have no way to determine that unless it was a callkit app that explained how to enable access to your sms history as well (they can’t request it - you have to go to settings and turn it on from what I’ve seen). That would be super suspicious and get extra scrutiny during app review.
Re:Smartphone Security: You'll Never Guess Who Just Messaged... by mafagafogigante on Sunday April 08, 2018 @08:39PM (#16789398)
The malicious app may not have a way to get these statistics.
Re:Smartphone Security: You'll Never Guess Who Just Messaged... by mirkules on Monday April 09, 2018 @01:11AM (#16790566)
An app could look in the "favorites" list to get the same info, which probably is available.