NZ iPhone biometrics app tells you how people are feeling

iPhone app Feelie will give real answers to questions like 'How's it going?'. Photo / Supplied

Feelie, by Te Awamutu-based developers FeelGudApps, monitors your behaviour for two to three days and then builds your profile based on psychology studies.

From then on, the app broadcasts data into the cloud that other Feelie users (you have to nominate them, and they have to accept) can receive.

It even interprets the terseness of texts and emails you send and monitors the amount of movement you make during the day to register how tense you are, or how relaxed. Feelie takes social networking to a whole new level – ask someone 'How's it going?" And they'll inevitably say "Good, thanks."

But Feelie could well tell you otherwise.

Want to know if your boss is grumpy? No problem. How about when it's a good time to approach her for a raise? No problem.

"I found it incredibly useful during the beta phase with my mother-in-law," said primary developer Ornott Toobey ("Call me 'Orny'") by phone. "Sometimes she's great, but at other times ... well, let's just say, you wouldn't want to cross her." He then added guiltily "But don't tell my wife I said that."

Feelie is based on current research. "We can change the parameters at any time when new data becomes available about how people react, etcetera. If you're the icy type who bottles up rage, that'd be great for your friends and colleagues to know."

Not only psychology, but also astrology has been deployed to build internal profiles of users. You enter your birth details when you sign up. So far it's just Western-style astrology – but the Chinese astrological chart will be in the next build. That could be really useful – I mean, would you rather hire a rat or a pig? Or be hired by a rat or a pig?

Metrics and profiling information has great possibilities for hiring – I'm sure Human Resource departments will be dying to get there hands on Feelie. "Heaven knows HR departments are not that great at hiring or firing the right people currently, right?" Said Toobey with a chuckle.

You could even just make assumptions when a candidate refuses to take part in a Feelie exchange.

There are also ramifications for deceivers. If someone is lying or covering something up, Feelie imposes a purple tinge over the person's profile icon on your iPhone. (Toobey says real estate agents, PC and car salesmen and politicians probably should not have publicly-available Feelie profiles.)

A yellow cast means profiled Feelie people are happy, green means they are nervous and orange means they're feeling focused and positive.

Red means they're angry, blue means they're calm. Toobey said "It's amazing how many National voters actually show up as red in their Feelie profiles around here, amongst our Beta participants anyway."

I asked if Feelie would bypass the stiff upper lips of the English: "Exactly. They'll be, you know, all frozen-faced and pommie-looking, but Feelie will tell you if they're actually buzzing, or pissed off or whatever. I mean, that would be great for Graham Henry too, wouldn't it? But he didn't respond to our beta request. Probably has Windows Mobile or something."

PR manager for FeelGudApps Ivar Hooey told me that FeelGud has great plans for Feelie.

"We'd like to add augmented reality so you just point the camera at people, and Feelie puts the cast over their picture. But we can go further still – we'll get people to input data about what makes them feel good into the next build. When your significant other has, let's say, an irritable time of the month, Feelie can warn you. It does that already, to some extent, but soon we'll be able to get it to tell you to buy chocolates or flowers, go fix the tractor or get ready to rub her feet."

It could be useful for singles, too. Hooey was enthusiastic about this – "Say you're at the pub and you want to, you know, see if you're – uh – clicking with someone. Sometimes your radar is a little off." He cackled. "OK, sometimes it's way off! Depending on how much you've been drinking." He laughed. "But soon, we hope Feelie will be able to help you make that special connection." He paused. "It will help politicians, too – we've had a great deal of interest from the Republican Party in the USA."

I asked about the iPad. "Oh, yeah, absolutely. We're scaling up for that. The main advantage will be that you could see more people's moods on one screen, if you plug in the iPad camera accessory. That would be awesome for meetings and gatherings, right?"
The app currently costs US$1.

But if you enter the code "aprilfoolsday" ... you'll get it all for nothing.

- Mark Webster mac-nz.com