{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T15:27:23Z","timestamp":1772119643544,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]],"date-time":"2025-10-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761350400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]],"date-time":"2025-10-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761350400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Discov Computing"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Tencent QQ, established in 1999, ranks among the most extensively utilized instant messaging applications globally. At its peak, it attracted approximately 900 million users (Business Daily in Sohu 2023). Despite the emergence of numerous similar applications such as WeChat, QQ continues to hold a strong position within business and interest-based communities, particularly appealing to young adults. Forensic examinations of QQ have been ongoing since 2009, primarily addressing its memory function, instant messaging capabilities, and desktop version. However, there is a notable lack of thorough research on the many beneficial functions of the mobile version of QQ on both Android and iOS platforms. Additionally, online fraudsters, especially scam groups in Southeast Asia, have taken advantage of the app. Inadvertently, QQ provides scammers with the means to contact victims and extort property. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study performs a forensic analysis of QQ\u2019s new features on Android and iOS. Our study covers new capabilities such as device detection, file editing and transferring, the integrated camera, document sharing, payment, and service functions, message withdrawal, real-time location sharing, phone numbers, contacts, QQ group activities, chat history with its backup, QQ zone, and privacy preservation and protection measures. The objective of this research is to assist investigators by enhancing the use of forensic tools concerning QQ and its new functionalities to discern what evidence can be acquired and recovered, thereby closing the existing knowledge gap.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s10791-025-09725-9","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]],"date-time":"2025-10-25T18:21:04Z","timestamp":1761416464000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Forensic examination of tencent QQ mobile application features for evidence collection on android and iOS devices"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"28","author":[{"given":"Yufeng","family":"Gong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Umit","family":"Karabiyik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"9725_CR1","unstructured":"Business Daily S. QQ is 24 years old. What is your registered QQ number ranking in the world? Sohu 2023. https:\/\/www.sohu.com\/a\/640813315_121010226"},{"key":"9725_CR2","unstructured":"Ai K. The latest number of QQ and WeChat users is released: QQ has 807 million monthly active users and WeChat has 1.098 billion monthly active users 2019. https:\/\/www.pc841.com\/shoujijiqiao\/94630.html"},{"key":"9725_CR3","unstructured":"DT, BO. A Trending Topic: Nearly 600 million people still insist on using QQ. Are you still using QQ? Point of Interest 2024. https:\/\/m.yicai.com\/news\/102026701.html"},{"key":"9725_CR4","unstructured":"Shi Y. Is QQ really dead? 500 million people still use QQ, with the majority under 25 years old 2024. https:\/\/new.qq.com\/rain\/a\/20240311A07TKD00"},{"key":"9725_CR5","unstructured":"QuestMobile: QuestMobile 2024 Young People Marketing Insights Report 2024. https:\/\/www.questmobile.com.cn\/research\/report\/1782620308592758786"},{"key":"9725_CR6","unstructured":"Police SZ. Behind the madness of fraud in Southeast Asia is an all-round dimensionality reduction attack launched by the fraud group! 2019. https:\/\/baijiahao.baidu.com\/s?id=1637484687212492298%26wfr=spider%26for=pc"},{"key":"9725_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gong Y, Karabiyik U. Forensics analysis of android social networking application: Tencent qq revisited. In: 2024 International Symposium on Networks, Computers and Communications (ISNCC), 2024: 1\u20138. IEEE","DOI":"10.1109\/ISNCC62547.2024.10758981"},{"key":"9725_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Moffitt K, Karabiyik U, Hutchinson S, Yoon YH. Discord forensics: The logs keep growing. In: 2021 Ieee 11th Annual Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference (ccwc), 2021:0993\u20130999. IEEE","DOI":"10.1109\/CCWC51732.2021.9376133"},{"key":"9725_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Peng L. Forensics method of dialects combine with asr post-processing correction. In: 2023 IEEE 6th International Conference on Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence (PRAI), 2023:889\u2013892. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/PRAI59366.2023.10332108","DOI":"10.1109\/PRAI59366.2023.10332108"},{"key":"9725_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Peng L, Zhu X, Zhang P. Machine learning-based speech recognition of chinese dialects method for mobile forensics. In: 2021 13th International Conference on Communication Software and Networks (ICCSN), 2021:332\u2013336. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/ICCSN52437.2021.9463649","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCSN52437.2021.9463649"},{"issue":"4","key":"9725_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"541","DOI":"10.4304\/jcp.5.4.541-548","volume":"5","author":"Y Gao","year":"2010","unstructured":"Gao Y, Cao T. Memory forensics for qq from a live system. J Comput. 2010;5(4):541\u20138.","journal-title":"J Comput"},{"key":"9725_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang J, Chengyuan E, Hu A. A method of android application forensics based on heap memory analysis. In: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Computer Science and Application Engineering, 2018:1\u20135","DOI":"10.1145\/3207677.3277934"},{"key":"9725_CR13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Zhang Y, Li B, Sun Y. Android encryption database forensic analysis based on static analysis. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Science and Application Engineering. CSAE \u201920. Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA 2020. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3424978.3425068.","DOI":"10.1145\/3424978.3425068"},{"key":"9725_CR14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"50","DOI":"10.1016\/j.diin.2019.01.011","volume":"28","author":"J Choi","year":"2019","unstructured":"Choi J, Yu J, Hyun S, Kim H. Digital forensic analysis of encrypted database files in instant messaging applications on windows operating systems: case study with kakaotalk, nateon and qq messenger. Digit Investig. 2019;28:50\u20139.","journal-title":"Digit Investig"},{"issue":"1","key":"9725_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"412","DOI":"10.11591\/ijeecs.v29.i1.pp412-420","volume":"29","author":"Y Li","year":"2023","unstructured":"Li Y, Mogos G. Digital forensics on tencent qq-instant messaging service in china. Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. 2023;29(1):412\u201320.","journal-title":"Indonesian Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science"},{"key":"9725_CR16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Yu F, Zhao X, Ji Q, Zhang L. Security analysis of mobile qq. In: 2014 Sixth International Conference on Wireless Communications and Signal Processing (WCSP), 2014:1\u20135. IEEE","DOI":"10.1109\/WCSP.2014.6992183"},{"issue":"3","key":"9725_CR17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"775","DOI":"10.1305\/jwe1540-9589.20310","volume":"20","author":"M-H Wu","year":"2021","unstructured":"Wu M-H, Chang T-C, Li-Min Y. Digital forensics security analysis on ios devices. J Web Eng. 2021;20(3):775\u201394. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1305\/jwe1540-9589.20310.","journal-title":"J Web Eng"},{"key":"9725_CR18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chen Y, Fu X, Luo B, Du X, Guizani M. Cloud storage forensics: Baidunetdisk, weiyun, and 115yun on a wireless network. In: GLOBECOM 2020-2020 IEEE Global Communications Conference, 2020:1\u20136. IEEE","DOI":"10.1109\/GLOBECOM42002.2020.9348005"},{"key":"9725_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Liu S, Wu S, Luo Q. Research on fast forensic analysis method of fraud cases based on social software. 2021 4th International Conference on Information Communication and Signal Processing (ICICSP) 2021 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1109\/icicsp54369.2021.9611915","DOI":"10.1109\/icicsp54369.2021.9611915"},{"key":"9725_CR20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhou J, Karabiyik U. Watch your wechat wallet: Digital forensics approach on wechat payments on android. In: International Conference on Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime, 2022:97\u2013110. Springer","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-36574-4_6"},{"issue":"21","key":"9725_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"11180","DOI":"10.3390\/app122111180","volume":"12","author":"MM Mirza","year":"2022","unstructured":"Mirza MM, Ozer A, Karabiyik U. Mobile cyber forensic investigations of web3 wallets on android and ios. 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Gaithersburg: National Institute of Standards and Technology; 2014."}],"container-title":["Discover Computing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10791-025-09725-9.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s10791-025-09725-9\/fulltext.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s10791-025-09725-9.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]],"date-time":"2025-10-25T18:21:06Z","timestamp":1761416466000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s10791-025-09725-9"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]]},"references-count":22,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12]]}},"alternative-id":["9725"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s10791-025-09725-9","relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.21203\/rs.3.rs-6803566\/v1","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2948-2992"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2948-2992","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,25]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2 June 2025","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"8 September 2025","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"25 October 2025","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"order":1,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval"}},{"value":"All authors give consent to participate in this research.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent to participate"}},{"value":"The authors give consent for publication of this work.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"One of the authors, Umit Karabiyik, declares a non-financial competing interests due to his role as an Editorial Board Member and confirms that he was not involved in the handling or decision-making regarding the submission of this paper.","order":5,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"232"}}