Android app that forwards text messages in secret withdrawn from sale

Cheating on your partner? Think twice before sending that secret text message, as a new Android application has been developed that could put all of these text messages into the wrong hands.

DLP Mobile released the app, Secret SMS Replicator, on Wednesday. The developer said in a statement that the app is “certainly controversial, but can be helpful to people in relationships where this type of monitoring can be useful.” DLP mobile also posted a blog post about the app.

The app has a unique way of operating – once it has been downloaded to the phone no icon is shown and the app runs hidden in the background.

Once the app has been installed you can then set it up with any number and all text messages will be forwarded to that given number. A secret password is also set up so that the app can be removed if you wish. The owner of the mobile phone will have no knowledge of this app existing.

The app was created for the Android phone because it would not have to undergo any review process, unlike the iPhone app store.

However, within less than a day of being released the app has been removed from the Android Market. A Google spokeswoman told the New York Times the app “violates the Android Market Content Policy.”