Anyone tried the "Ghost Radar" app?

[GoPlayonAhighway]

I have had the "ghost radar" application by "spud pickles" for a few years now and I am curious if anyone else uses/has used this app themselves, and if so, what happened? I have my own experiences, but I am more interested in what others have to say. I am not a troll, and I am not looking to discredit anyone or anything, So please, don't be shy. Share...

[Patient Zero]

A Google search on that app is actually what brought me to UM.

As i recall, a member decompiled the app to show that it's nothing more than entertainment.

Despite the ridiculous claims that the developer made.

The only 'neat' thing that ever happened was it said the word 'Horn' and within 3 seconds, my neighbor honked his cars horn.

Coincidence with impeccable timing.

[GoPlayonAhighway]

A Google search on that app is actually what brought me to UM.

As i recall, a member decompiled the app to show that it's nothing more than entertainment.

Despite the ridiculous claims that the developer made.

The only 'neat' thing that ever happened was it said the word 'Horn' and within 3 seconds, my neighbor honked his cars horn.

Coincidence with impeccable timing.

I appreciate that. This is a link to the company's website since that other one isn't working...

http://spudpickles.com/app/ghost-radar-connect/

[Patient Zero]

I appreciate that. This is a link to the company's website since that other one isn't working...

http://spudpickles.com/app/ghost-radar-connect/

i can't seem to locate the thread i alluded to, at the moment.

Then again, i'm half asleep.

i'll track it down and link to it as soon as i can.

It was a pretty interesting read.

[toast]

From the Ghost Radar® HP:

Please note we offer no guarantees of accuracy or any warranties, therefore, since results from this application

cannot be verified scientifically the app should be used for entertainment purposes.

[GoPlayonAhighway]

From the Ghost Radar® HP:

Right. i understand that. but myself and a few others have had some experiences that raise questions about this app. I think it follows the same concept as a Ouija board, as far as implanting ideas that can manifest into the user's experience, but I don't know.

[Timothy]

I have had the "ghost radar" application by "spud pickles" for a few years now and I am curious if anyone else uses/has used this app themselves, and if so, what happened? I have my own experiences, but I am more interested in what others have to say. I am not a troll, and I am not looking to discredit anyone or anything, So please, don't be shy. Share...

i can't seem to locate the thread i alluded to, at the moment.

Here it is: http://www.unexplain...host radar&st=0

Please read through the whole thread (linked above) before posting on this current one. It explains how the app works.

Edit: Specifically Post #25, which shows the code which the app uses and explains how it works.

Edit 2: Okay here's Post #25 from that thread, because I know that people will be too lazy to click the link above...

So, the main reason no one has reversed this is because the EULA explicitly says you're not allowed to, which should be a red flag right off the bat. I'm a pretty awesome person, so I reversed it anyway. Considering the downloads are currently 1,000,000 - 5,000,000, it's probably about time. I'm not modifying, redistributing, or profiting off of it, so whatever.

I usually post here under a different name, for what it's worth.

I aquired the apk from the google market here and used some common tools unpack the dalvik bytecode. I normally do stuff like this for work, and it's pretty rare that my hobbies overlap, so I was excited. Apks can actually be unpacked just like a zip file, so I encourage anyone to go take a looksy themselves. Check out dex2jar if you want some Java to look at.

Anyways, the permissions of the app are another red flag. There's nothing special, just ordinary advertising perms, and the fact that this app runs on tablets that lack typical smartphone sensors is odd. Guess it's not analyzing too many magnetic fields or passive audio, eh? On top of this, it needs access to your "device status and identity." Keep that in mind if you think the ghosts know who you are.

In the apk, the res/values/strings.xml file contains the wordlist that the program uses to randomly select its words. There are 2130 words that you can read here: http://pastebin.com/SL0L3b7i.

The app includes the following software packages:

-amazon (ads)

-google (ads and text2speech)

-pocketchange (shopping and rewards)

-revmob (ads)

-spudpickles (the app itself) (lol @ the name)

So, let's take a gander at spudpickles. The main activity is RadarActivity, which initilizes ads, pipes out random "coordinates" around the screen, makes the radar animation, and gets a GRCApp class. GRCApp handles most of the functionality.

In GRCApp, populateWords() picks your words the "ghost" says using:

Random random = new Random();
int l = random.nextInt(2130);
activeWordsIndices[l];

Yep, just random numbers. The amount of ghosts that are tracked is decided from your sensitivity settings:

maxGhosts = (int)appDelegate.sensitivitySettings.getUseValueFor(4);
ghostList = new ArrayList();
int i = 0;
while(i < maxGhosts) {
Ghost ghost = new Ghost(appDelegate);
ghostList.add(ghost);
i++;
}

Yup, that's seriously it. Wish I was making it up. Afterwards, we repeatedly step through the ghosts and see if we should show 'em or hide 'em:

while(true) {
if(!iterator.hasNext()) {...}
((Ghost)iterator.next()).checkForActivity();
}

checkForActivity() checks current time minus last time moved, and shows the ghost if it's greater than the sensitivity settings:

public void checkForActivity(){
long l = (long)(1000F * SensitivitySettings.getSingletonObject().getUseValueFor(3));
if(System.currentTimeMillis() - dateLastMoved > l)
hidden = true;
}

How does the ghost move around?

numberStream = new Random();
public void run(){
move(numberStream.nextFloat(), numberStream.nextFloat(), numberStream.nextFloat());
}

At scheduled intervals, random numbers are picked, then passed to a move method, which just takes the numbers and puts a blip somewhere in the radar circle. For those curious, check out the Movement class's move(float f1, float f2, float f3) method.

That's the meat of it. A bunch of math is also done to make polar coordinates, and calculate blip and word frequencies.

TL;DR version:

At scheduled intervals, random numbers are generated to pick a ghost's coordinates, whether or not they appear, and the words that are displayed. The amount of ghost objects created is literally your sensitivity settings. No sensor input is read to determin any of this.

Mirrored here.

Edited July 23, 2015 by Timonthy

[toast]

Right. i understand that. but myself and a few others have had some experiences that raise questions about this app. I think

it follows the same concept as a Ouija board, as far as implanting ideas that can manifest into the user's experience, but I

don't know.

An Ouija board follows the concept of imagination. A so called "Ghost App" follows the concept of technical parameters like

GPS data, broadcast signals, random generator, microphone and similar as well. It does not, and it cannot, follow any other

concept outside technology based features and it cannot process any other input than the input that was planned to be handled

by the app, by its developers.

[Mark One]

I have had the "ghost radar" application by "spud pickles" for a few years now and I am curious if anyone else uses/has used this app themselves, and if so, what happened? I have my own experiences, but I am more interested in what others have to say. I am not a troll, and I am not looking to discredit anyone or anything, So please, don't be shy. Share...

Ive tyoed with it a few times in my past. On one occasion I was walking along a nature trail, passing some caves so I gave the app a try. It came up with words such as - dig, value, treasure, hidden.

[Lenore Graves]

Maybe it's not the app...maybe your smartphone is haunted or possesed!

But seriously...it's an app! Of course its fake, its a bunch of code!

[Thorvir]

It's just an app that uses only the tech found on your phone, and is completely random. Sure, some things might be a coincidence, but welcome to the universe, you don't need and app for that. It's nothing more than a piece of entertainment, just like a wee-jee board. Both are completely incapable of actually dealing with the supernatural/paranormal.

I had it for a while for laughs, and that lasted mere minutes before I got bored with it and removed it.

[Mark One]

Ive only tried it out for laughs too but on that occasion of mine it seemed like something cosmic was going on

[toast]

Ive only tried it out for laughs too but on that occasion of mine it seemed like something cosmic was going on

Yeah, money vanished from your pocket in a cosmic fashion.

[Patient Zero]

Timonthy.

Thank you sir, that's the one.