Ride the Lightning

Boyfriend Tracker App Removed from Google Play Store

August 29, 2013

Another story for our electronic evidence in family law presentations!

I heard about this story on NBC's Today Show – and then it was everywhere. We do seem to have an insatiable appetite for the salacious.

The particular app in question, "Rastreador de Namorados" (Portuguese for Boyfriend Tracker), was removed from Google Play last week, amid concerns that it could be used for extortion or stalking.

The app requires access to the phone to install it, but once installed, it would allow a woman to track her boyfriend's location, forward duplicates of text messages, and even force his phone to silently call hers, so she can listen in on conversations.

This nasty app was downloaded 50,000 times since it launched about two months ago. Apparently, there are a lot of jealous girlfriends in Brazil, where it debuted and spread like wildfire.

Needless to say, using this app is illegal in the U.S. Though supposedly it was vetted a by a lawyer and found to be in compliance with Brazilian law, there are arguments about that. There are similar apps, the use of which would all be illegal in this country.

One interesting exception to the use of illegal apps is "Spy Your Love," which allows partners to monitor each other's mobile activity, including phone calls, texts and Facebook messages. However, in that case the monitoring is mutual and consensual, whereas Boyfriend Tracker is covert. Just try getting a cheating boyfriend/spouse to install Spy Your Love. Hah! Only if they had a second phone . . .