Homeophone

Homeophone is a Spanish app that has brought homeopathy to a whole new level of implausibility. By paying €1.99 to download the Pro version of this app, you can knock up "impregnate" water with healing properties with your phone, without needing to dilute an active ingredient first."Homeophone website" (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 July 2016.
==Healing capabilities==
===Symptoms===
The following are the symptoms that Homeophone can find a cure for.
* Acne
* Autumn and spring cold
* Baby colic
* Back pain
* Bladder infection (cystitis)
* Bug bites
* Buttock fat
* Cervical tension
* Fever
* Flu
* Headache
* Lack of appetite in kids
* Nighttime urinary incontinence (enuresis)
* Painful periods (dysmenorrhea)
* Sad memories due to a lost friendship
* Tympanites
* Weakness (asthenia)
* Winter cold
===Remedies===
The following are the properties of "remedies" that the app can magically endow water with.
* Abies canadensis (hemlock spruce)
* Acidum phosphoricum (phosphoric acid)
* Actea racemosa (black cohosh)
* Apis mellifica (honey bee)
* Arnica montana (wolf's bane)
* Arsenicum album (arsenic trioxide, As2O3)
* Arsenicum bromatum (bromide of arsenic)
* Belladonna (Atropa belladonna)
* Carbo vetetablis (vegetable charcoal)
* Chamomilla (chamomile)
* Streptococcinum (Streptococcus bacteria)
* Kalium bichromicum (potassium dichromate)
* Lycopodium clavatum (club moss)
* Magnesio phosphorica (magnesium phosphate, (Mg(H2PO4)2))
* Natrum muriaticum (table salt, NaCl)
* Rumex (docks and sorrels)
* Sanguinaria
* Spigellia
* Staphisagria (Delphinium staphisagria)
* Topaz
==How it works?==
It doesn't. But according to the instructional video, the app exploits the gullible combined capabilities of quantum physics and your mobile phone to activate water memory."Homeophone Promotional Video" (in Spanish). YouTube. 31 May 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
===Instructions===
# Pay €2 to download the Homeophone app to your phone. Download a pirate copy. Download the free "Lite" version.
# Once installed, open the app.
# Consult either the "Symptoms" or "Remedies" section.
# Fill a glass with water or buy some bottled water.
# Hold your phone in a horizontal position over the chosen recipient.
# Press the "Prepare" button.
# Wait a few seconds until the app "impregnates" the water with healing properties.
# Drink the charmed water.
==Why it doesn't work==
The following is a response to the description and FAQ provided in its Google Play page,"HomeoPhone Lite" (Description in Spanish, further information in English). Google Play. Retrieved 25 July 2016. translated into English.
==A deliberate scam?==
You really have to look at this from a technical point of view. If this should have any demonstratable physical effect on water, your mobile phone must have the capabilities to somehow interact with the water. The only physical possible ways would be the following:
* The phone must have contact with the glass which holds the water. When the phone vibrates it makes the glass vibrate which in turn vibrates the water. However the instructions say that the phone should be held above the glass, hence no contact.
:What does the app do: When the app "prepares", the phone doesn't vibrate.
* The phone uses its flashlight to shine through the water. This however should have less effect than having your glass of water sit in the open sunlight.
:What does the app do: When the app "prepares", the phone doesn't use its flashlight.
* The phone's WiFi capabilities can use radio waves for interaction. However as we are bombarded by radio waves all the time from our technical gadgets etc. this shouldn't be any different than having your glass of water sit on the table.
:What does the app do: Unknown, as we would need a look at its source code — which isn't freely available, which should make you suspicious.
The last possibility would be something related to quantum physics what the scam artists developers tout about. Not only do today's mobile phones not have any of said capabilities, the development kits for both iOS and Android devices have no interfaces for such things.
However, due to obligations of having to list permissions in app store entries, we can see which functions of your phone are actually used: Homeophone reads your phone status, device ID, call information, identity, information of your Wi-Fi connection, contents of your phone storage, and records audio (for what?). This is nothing but a data-mining app.
Conclusion: Stay away from this scam that any first-semester computer science student can cook up in a short amount of time.
==References==
Category:Alternative medicine
Category:Scams