By David Murphy - PC Magazine




Whether you believe Carrier IQ or not that its software, embedded on certain smartphones, is a malicious, keylogging entity or a tool that helps operators improve the smartphone user experience, you have a choice. Namely, there are ways to eliminate this question from the equation by detecting and removing Carrier IQ from your device, if you really want.

And Lookout Mobile Security – makers of the "Lookout" security app for both IPhones and Android smartphones – have given you an easy way to do just that. Detect, we should specify, and only for Android devices.

Why Android only? Carrier IQ is no longer supported as of iOS 5 (Apple insists its customers have to opt-in before any information about their smartphones is shipped off to Apple HQ), and blocking its effects on your iOS 5-based iPhone is super-easy: Click on your Settings button, then General, About, Diagnostics & Usage, and select " Don't Send."

However, Carrier IQ is a bit more integrated within the Android OS – so much so, that you'll need to root your device prior to attempting any removal efforts. But the first step in the process is finding out whether your smartphone has Carrier IQ installed to begin with. And Lookout's new app makes this a one-touch affair.

Install Carrier IQ Detector from the Android Market and fire up the app. That's it; you're done. Carrier IQ Detector immediately tells you whether Carrier IQ is installed on your phone, and you're welcome to hit the "More Info" button to receive more details about what that could mean for you.

While useful for detecting whether any manual removal efforts have succeeded, Lookout's Carrier IQ Detector doesn't actually perform any of the removal process for you. For that, you'll have to either flash your Android device with a custom ROM that doesn't contain Carrier IQ or you can try grabbing the app "Logging TestApp Pro," contributing a dollar for the registration key, and using the app's full version to remove Carrier IQ in a more automated method.

As Extreme Tech's Sebastian Anthony notes, "this doesn't always work, though." But with Lookout's new easy-to-use detection app, at least you'll be able to find out whether your dollar was successful in helping you to strip this buried software off your device.