Are you a woman? Are you easily getting jealous? Does your boyfriend own an Android cell phone? If you answered all of these questions with “yes”, then a new Android app called “Karelog” [JP] (Boyfriend Log) might be the right thing for you. In a nutshell, it’s a piece of “spyware” that you secretly install on your boyfriend’s Android handset and that runs in the background.
The way it works is that after downloading, you install the app on your boyfriend’s cell phone and provide an ID and password. After you’re done, you can track your boyfriend’s whereabouts via a website you can access with the ID and password you provided during the installation process, as seen below:
Karelog itself can be downloaded and used for free for 3 days. After that, membership costs between costs 525 Yen a month (or 840 Yen for 3 months or 1,980 Yen for a year). For that money, you can not only track a person’s location via GPS but also check the battery status of the Android phone they use.
Platinum members (1,980Yen/month, 4,980 Yen/3 months or 8,980 Yen/1 year) can also check their boyfriend’s call log and what kind of apps he has downloaded (to uncover dating or erotic apps, for example).
Needless to say, Karelog can not only be used to control boyfriends but any kind of Android user (you need Android 2.2 and up by the way). As such, the Japanese blogosphere isn’t only abuzz with the appearance of the app itself currently but also sees some users discussing privacy issues (example).
I myself wouldn’t be too surprised to see the app getting the axe rather sooner than later.
Update September 2, 2011:
The maker of the app apologizes over privacy problems the app may cause and pulls the app to “redesign” it.
Serkan Toto
I’m quite curious about the legality of this product–whether it would fall under “wiretapping” or such. Thankfully, technology evolves faster than the rules!
there are lots of cell spy programs out there that can do much more than this
Agreed. There are many of such applications. Probably this got buzzed in Japan because targeting specific girlfriends was far more understandable than general spy-something application.
Anyway, too much buzz and critics (saying it could be illegal) seemed to scare the publisher. They stopped the distribution and promised to re-design the app.