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The App That Adds, Subtracts … and Covers Up

Have you ever heard of a Stonefish? No? Well, it’s a fish found in the coastal region of the Indo-Pacific. And it sports one of the best disguises in the whole deep blue sea. These little mottled orange-red-brown critters look like a cross between a colorful bumpy rock and a twisted-up hunk of coral. In fact, if one of them was snuggled in some bright coral reef, you’d likely never even know it was there … until one of its tiny spines injected you with enough venom to cut your swim short. Permanently.

What’s that got to do with the Private Photo (Calculator%) app? Absolutely everything. Because, you see, this calculator isn’t just a calculator.

For the last couple of years a special kind of calculator app has been catching the attention of a lot of smartphone users who have notes, pictures and videos they don’t want anyone else with access to their phone to know about. After all, who would suspect an app that looks like a plain ol’ calculator of hiding a private file or two?

Yep, that sounds like a super handy gizmo if you’re a spy or something. You know, saving the world and all? Of course, world-saving isn’t always the first thing on a teen user’s mind.

To those who don’t know the password, the app works just like any other piece of coral, er, any other calculator would. You want to calculate the square root of something, go for it. But once someone enters the right set of numbers—something that’s set up with the app’s first use—it opens a private area and reveals all the various pics, videos and notes a user may have tucked away under the calculating cover.

The app even has its own camera connection to snap photos right into the app and a browser to use when emailing them out. And all the files stored there cannot be seen anywhere else on the phone.

There are other little sneaky specialties that can be picked up with purchase, also. For just a few pennies more, for instance, the app comes with a security measure that will snap a picture of anyone trying to access the stored content without the proper passcode. “Smile, Mom.”

Let’s say, though, that you pick up your youngster’s phone and you start to wonder, “Hmm, could this calculator or audio manager thingie be doing more than I think it is?” There is an easy way to find out.

First, you’ll want to go to the app store while using the phone in question—another little app that’ll usually be on the phone’s homepage. Then, when you get there, type in the word “secret” or “calculator” or any other app name you may have questions about in the app store search feature. As you scroll through, if you see the word “Open” or “Installed” connected with any given app, well, that means junior has it. And the app description will give you the inside scoop on all of the app’s features—even those super-spy secret ones. See, I’m a little sneaky, too.

Now, I’m not necessarily suggesting that you need to use this little trick. Nor am I saying that your teen would ever try to deceive a loving and attentive parent. But, hey, I was young once, too. And sometimes young swimming spies don’t realize that fun-looking little secretive things can have, uh, poisonous spines.