Android App Review: Ghost Detector Spectrum

Ghost Detector Spectrum is an app that claims to detect ghosts. Whether it does or not … well, that's hard to prove, isn't it.

I should start with a disclaimer: I don't really believe in ghosts. I'm willing to be proved wrong, but this app, and the countless others like it, have got a hard road ahead of them convincing me they're anything more than entertainment. That said, I think this one does have the potential to be entertaining in the right circumstances.

The device shows you variations in a magnetic field (which, as we all know, are a common sign of ghostly activity). It won't show up constant magnetic frequencies, like you get from electronics. Is this good science? Does my phone even have the capability to recognise magnetic field fluctuations? How? I have no answers I'm afraid, I'm not a ghost scientist.

The app is set up like a traditional radar screen. When there's an anomaly it'll show up as a blip on the screen, with text telling you the distance between it and yourself. That's really all there is to it. There are often blips on my screen which may well be magnetic fluctuations. Or maybe it's just an animation. It's probably not ghosts, I don't think – and I prefer it that way, to be honest. I like spooky stories and horror-based apps, but I don't like the idea of any of it actually being real. I'll get my thrills vicariously and that's quite enough thanks.

I'll concede that it the right circumstances this app could actually be pretty creepy. At one point the blip on my radar appeared to be circling around me, as if it was trying to sneak up on me – if it was late at night and I was by myself I can see how I'd be a bit scared.

(It should be noted that this blip also seemed to be hovering vaguely around where we keep the TV in the next room, so there is that.)

Certainly the possibilities for freaking out some of the more gullible people you know (probably children, unless your friends are a particular sort of open-minded) are great. Ghost stories around a campfire can only be improved by electronic verification, surely.

Maybe Ghost Detector Spectrum really is alerting me to the presence of nearby spirits. Or maybe there's no such thing, and it's just picking up bits of dust floating in the air. I have my opinions and I'm sure you have yours. But if this is the sort of thing you believe in, maybe give it a go. And even if it isn't, maybe you know someone who'll get a kick out of the sort of prank this app could lend itself to.  Either way: the truth is out there, or something.