APP REVIEW
Spy Tracking Device: There They Are, but Why Did I Give Them My Phone?

Spy Tracking Device, a tracking application by Scoutic, is available for 99 US cents at the App Store.

Let's start out by getting one thing straight: I have no desire or need to covertly track anyone. I'm not a stalker, secret agent, snoop, mole, private eye, suspicious husband, creep or Jack Bauer wannabe. But any time I see an iPhone app that offers to turn my phone into some kind of James Bond gear, curiosity compels me to try it out (if it doesn't cost too much).

A search for "spy" in the App Store yielded an application called "Spy Tracking Device" from Scoutic (once downloaded, the icon IDs itself simply with the name "Tracking"). Basically, it turns your iPhone into a tracker that reports its movements to Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Maps. If you "wonder where they go all day ... or where they have been," then this app will satisfy your nosy little mind.

Kind of an interesting concept. Sounds great for people who don't trust their spouses. Could also be a good tool for getting a new relationship off to a seriously bad start. If you happen to be the parent of a teenager, you could perhaps dream up some other use for it.

Where Are They?

The app's opening screen is simple: Turn the tracker on or off, or edit the distance interval (in meters) at which the app reports movement. A secondary screen lets you either review the movements recorded by the phone's latest tracking session or email yourself a link that will take you to a Google Maps page. This page will give you periodic updates about your phone's whereabouts.

The app does work on the iPod touch, but in that case it relies on WiFi, which means your updates probably won't be as precise.

Testing out Tracking on the iPhone yielded accurate results as far as my movements were concerned -- it plotted my course along a freeway every 500 meters, just like I told it to. The link I sent myself took me to a customized Google Maps page, which gave me markers along my route.

However, in any given tracking session, you're limited to 25 markers, indicating your phone's latest 25 positions. If you've set the phone to report every 100 meters, you'll only get information about the last 2.5 km it traveled. If the person you're tracking is cruising along at 80 miles per hour, that amounts to only a minute or so of history. Still, you can get continuous live updates if you're sitting at a computer, constantly casting your prying eyes on your mark's whereabouts.

Also, this app is a battery vampire. It must be left running throughout the tracking session in order to work properly, and it's constantly calculating GPS info and sending out a cellular data stream. After an hour-long drive, my iPhone was a lot warmer, and the battery indicator had been cut in half.

You Want Me to Put My iPhone Where?

In short, Tracking works. However, I have reservations about its practicality.

In order to use this app the way it's apparently intended -- tracking someone without his or her knowledge -- you have to use the phone itself as a tracking device. This isn't some kind of spyware that you secretly install on someone else's phone. You've got to take your own pricey iPhone and try to stash it under your victim's -- sorry, subject's -- car seat. Or in the trunk. Or in the purse. Or sew it into the liner of his jacket. Whatever scenario you come up with, it still involves parting with the phone (which, by the way, is probably chock full of your private info, or at least has access to it) and putting it in the proximity of someone you presumably do not trust.

I mean, if you're so suspicious about where someone's going and why that you have to use a secret tracker, what makes you so certain that this person will ever come back when you expect them to? Or maybe they'll just find your phone and keep it. Getting it back will make for a pretty awkward conversation.

OK, so maybe I'm suffering from a limited imagination here. Maybe you can think up plenty of instances in your own life where using this app, within the limitations described above, would be practical, beneficial and even fun, and would make you look and feel not at all like a snooping little cretin.

Mapping out a jogging route or a hike? Perhaps. But this thing's clearly aimed at spying, and other apps like iMapMyRide are built with workouts in mind.

Does Tracking work? Yes. But would I leave my iPhone alone around someone shady enough to warrant surreptitious surveillance, even if I hid it under a car seat? No.