10 creepy iPhone, iPad apps and software

The 'Girls Around Me' application, enjoying over 70,000 downloads, allowed a user to view the location of women on a map and their publicly available data and photographs -- pulled from Facebook and Foursquare. Users were also able to then contact the girls based on this information.

The website states:

Do you ever wonder where to go for a night out, where the coolest place is, where there are lots of pretty girls, or how to meet someone new and interesting? Girls Around Me helps you do all this! Girls Around Me scans your surroundings and helps you find out where girls or guys are hanging out. You can also see the ratio of girls to guys in different places around you. 

In the mood for love, or just after a one-night stand? Girls Around Me puts you in control! Reveal the hottest nightspots, who's in them, and how to reach them...

Due to subsequent privacy concerns, the application has now been pulled from the app store after Foursquare chose not to support it further -- rendering the app useless.

Image credit: Girls Around Me

Make me babies is free, downloadable software that takes your image, another individuals, and creates a hypothetical child's image based on these characteristics using 'advanced facial recognition' technology.

Photos can be of celebrities, friends, connections on Facebook or even dating site profile images.

Be aware that this app asks for a lot of permissions. 

Image credit: Make me babies

Facebook, especially with its new Timeline feature is considered a stalker's paradise by some -- and that has now been raised to a new level.

For the photo-flipping stalker types, if you fancy fantasizing about your crush (or obsession) without their kit on, then 'False Flesh' software can provide the means to do so.

The software allows you to save photos from social networking sites and edit out the clothing -- to show the body parts underneath. Of course, the body underneath will not be the actual natural body -- but users can substitute with a stockpile of 'prefabricated images'.

Not enough? You can customize the body how you like -- including size and type.

The software's advertising is obviously geared for men (considering the images of women), but the developers have said that the software has also been used by vengeful, female ex-partners.

Image credit : False flesh

iAmAMan -- an app that will 'help you with your private life planning'.

In other words, track several girls and their cycles in order to either stay away from the stereotypical days of fury and ice cream consumption, or for the less noble, plan your nights around who is on what cycle -- and what you can expect. 

For the Android users among us, there is an alternative called 'Harem period tracker'. The app's developers have this to say (broken english left in tact for comedy value):

"Do not waste your time. You will always know if your girlfriend bleeding today. Are you popular with the girls? Are you familiar with the situation when you invite a girl for a date and at the end of the evening you hear: 'Sorry, but I have "special days"?'

Then this application is for you. It will help you to be aware of 'special days' of your girlfriends and you will never make a mistake by inviting 'wrong' girl to the date. Just add all your girlfriends and do not forget to mark sometimes when they had 'critical days.'

The application will automatically calculate the period and will let you know when your girlfriends will have the next critical days as well as will recommend you, whom you should visit."

Image credit: Apple App store

For the guy or girl pining after their crush, or perhaps someone who wants to become a shoulder to cry on in the hope of converting that into a a rebound roll in the hay, the Breakup Notifier is a tool of choice.

You visit the site, and log in to Facebook. After choosing the friends you want to recieve relationship notifications for, you will get an email every time a change is submitted.

The app checks these statuses every ten minutes, so you can be quick off the mark to anything you'd like to twist to your advantage. 

Image credit: Breakup Notifier

Tigertext is an app that can be used to keep tab on multiple special friends -- and hide any evidence of your activities.

Sending a cheeky late-night text, or asking someone else if they want to 'come around and watch a film'? Fear not, your textual activities can be automatically blown up without a trace.

Apparently, the message is not only deleted from your phone, but also the service provider's server.. and the receivers' phone. Therefore, the only way that texts can be held against you in the future are if pictures are taken of the messages.

Image credit: Apple App store

Aptly named, desktop application Creepy is software that calls itself a 'geolocation information aggregator'.

After downloading and installing the open-source software, you can stalk a user via Twitter and Flickr accounts. 

If the user has posted any location data, then the software tracks it -- helping you to pin them down. I was surprised at just how data can be aggregated from seemingly innocuous updates -- although as it compiles and analyzes a lot of data, it can take a few attempts before Twitter accounts are connected successfully. 

• Map providers : Google Maps, Virtual Maps, Open Street Maps. 

• Location information retrieval from :
• Twitter's tweet location
• Coordinates when tweet was posted from mobile device
• Place (geographical name) derived from users ip when posting on twitter's web interface.
• Geolocation information accessible through image hosting services API EXIF tags from the photos posted.

Image credit: Creepy

'The Old Bill', otherwise known as the police, are often criticized for not being seen on the streets enough. 

In a well-intentioned method to make a local community feel safer, the Surrey Police have released a free app that 'connects' the local neighborhood to their police force.

The application allows people to see where their neighborhood officers are and what they are working on -- as well as giving people a heads' up if a crime is being committed in their area.

Useful, or just another tool in a criminal's box of tricks?

Image credit: Apple App store

WhitePages, a public records directory, have developed an app that compiles stored data and allows a use to search a location for venues, people and businesses.

Although this can simply be considered a digital alternative to the Yellow Pages, the company turns a profit by charging for deeper records -- including background checks and criminal records.

Add an aerial view to a person search, and you are granted with a street view of names, addresses, and publicly available phone numbers. 

If you live in a property, the company are happy for you to 'claim' it and provide additional information for this arguably privacy-ignoring service. Perhaps it's going a little too far.

Image credit: Apple App store

How does it actually feel to have an illness which takes away your identity, bit by bit?

It isn't something most people can truly imagine. However, a past campaign used social media in order to try and give individuals a glimpse into how damaging and painful it can be.

The app, called 'Sort me Out', gradually deleted all of your Facebook information -- as a digital replica of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. 

Information including your friends and photos slowly vanish, in order for you to understand how it feels to feel and see your connections to the world evaporate.

The campaign to raise awareness of these diseases has now finished. 

Image credit: Simply Zesty