Lie Detector App Review: A Free Yet Unreliable Polygraph for Your iPhone
Liar, Liar
The idea of the intrusive lie detector has intrigued individual conspiracy buffs and shadowy government agencies since the early days of investigative technology. Though the equipment and techniques have developed dramatically over the last century, no single piece of equipment has been found accurate enough to be used as reliable evidence in a criminal trial. That doesn’t mean it’s without its fun, though.
Lie Detector
The new free iPhone application Lie Detector is a complicated process for the average user. The interface is simple enough, with the base menu only being three buttons. This is for record, stop record, and analyze the recorded sound. What this does is analyze the voice patterns in a similar way to the “CIA and FBI.” It is highly questionable how comparative it is to government testing, but the principle seems similar.
Set a Range
To begin, you record the subject stating truthful things several times. This will give a “base” range for about what their “truth” level will be. Then when you are analyzing their actual questions you look to see if the numbers are far below that of their average base range. If it is significantly below then there is a high possibility that they are not telling the truth.
Doing it Right
You have to make sure that the person being recorded is at an adequate distance, which is one or two feet as listed by the application. Try and shut out all outside sound and keep the recordings quick. At the same time you are going to need to raise the stakes quite a bit. Unless there is some threat of consequence there is likely to be no change in their voice. They must be somewhat nervous for this to have any effectiveness what so ever. Of course, it is legally prohibited to give anyone consequences based on use of this software.
It Just Does Not Work
This program, though it seems like a fun distraction, is so awkward to use that there really is no point. It can be used to estimate whether someone may be lying, but since the results have such a low accuracy rate you would probably do better just guessing on your own. Four out of ten stars.
