Google has removed an app from the Google Play Store that allowed jealous girlfriends to hack their boyfriend's phone in order to keep track of where he is and who he is talking to.
The app, called "Rastreador de Namorados," Portuguese for "Boyfriend Tracker," was removed last week amid concerns that it could violate certain laws and be used for extortion or stalking.
The way the app works is, once it is installed on your significant other's phone, the app would then act as a "detective in your pocket," allowing jealous girlfriends to track their partner's location, forward duplicates of text messages and even force their partner's phone to silently dial their own, turning it into a make-shift bug to listen in on conversations, according to the Telegraph. The app has been downloaded 50,000 times since its launch about two months ago.
"In Brazil, we have this culture of switching partners really quickly, so this is a way of dealing with that," said Matheus Grijo, a 24-year-old Sao Paulo-based developer behind Boyfriend Tracker. "People really appreciate having a tool to help them find out whether they're being cheated on.
Grijo admits that the app has its critics but says the scale can be balanced by the positive feedback the app has received since its launch. He added that he had a lawyer vet the app before it was published and determined that it did not violate any Brazilian laws. However, some in the country are arguing that the idea violates an anti-online harassment and hacking law. Google does not comment on why it removes apps from its store.
"We are waiting for Google's position on the removal of 'Boyfriend Tracker' from Google Play, which we consider an error," read a posting on a Facebook page Grijo set up for the app.
Boyfriend Tracker is by no means the only app that offers people this functionality. Several apps do the same kinds of things and are marketed in the U.S. and Europe. Some of these are geared toward parents who want to monitor their child's smartphone use or keep track of them when out and about to help battle kidnapping.
