Halloween Prank

The Halloween Prank app makes noises when trick-or-treaters visit you. It’s so easy to ensure your place is the one people will talk about this year!

All you need to do:

1. Pair your phone with a Bluetooth speaker, and place the speaker near the path to your home.
2. Next, position your phone so that the camera has a good view of that path, but not people walking past.
3. Then, tap the red button in the app to choose different fun sounds that will automatically play.
4. As trick-or-treat visitors come down the path, the speaker will play the sound to surprise them!

Different sound options

There are three different spooky sound options in the app:

• The “123” icon selects a funny count of the number of people arriving. Imagine the Count from Sesame Street, and you’ll have the right idea.
• The open eyes icon selects a horror-movie style woman’s scream.
• The animal paw icon selects a beastly roar.

Try out all three Halloween-themed sound options to see what best suits your decorations and neighborhood.

Tips for a great Halloween Prank experience

For the best experience:

• Ensure that the camera isn’t seeing people walking past and sees only people on your path,
• Fully-charge your Bluetooth speaker first, and turn its volume WAY UP,
• Place the speaker inside Halloween decoration or plants,
• Plug your phone into a charger, so it doesn’t run out of power,
• Activate airplane mode, and turn off other apps that may make a sound, and
• Turn on an outdoor light if it starts to get dark as the app doesn’t work in darkness.

Protections

Use this app ONLY for Halloween fun, and decorate the path so people know to expect a Halloween experience before they visit.

Note that the Halloween Prank app has features that limit it frightening or annoying people accidentally: this is a family-friendly spooky experience. Every 10 seconds, the torch on the app will flash so that people nearby will know its position, and the speaker will make a soft sound so that people will know that it is there. Every 30 minutes, the app will announce that it is the Halloween Prank app (in English) so that people living nearby can tell what is happening.

Artificial Intelligence in Halloween Prank

Halloween Prank uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) features. Specifically, it uses the YOLOv3 object detection algorithm to identify people on camera. Ethical considerations have guided the use of AI in this app.

Please note that access to the camera must be approved by the user the first time the app tries to use it. The camera images are not used to train a model, and the images do not leave your device. Individual people are not identified or tracked, and only the total count of people in the image is used to activate a sound.

Also, see the Privacy Policy.