Best Ghost Hunting Apps 2020 For Android & iPhone
This article is more than three years old and was last updated in April 2022.
The best ghost hunting apps you can get on a mobile phone come installed as standard. That’s the camera and audio recorder. The camera can obviously be used to capture photographic evidence of ghosts. Now a days much of the evidence of apparitions and hauntings that are put forward if captured on a smart phone.
The audio recorder, which is a standard feature of most phones, will allow you to record an audio log of your investigation and listen back and review it. Many investigators often find they’re able to capture alleged spirit voices in these recordings, this is a technique of spirit communication known as Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP).
Using any kind of electronic device to communicate with the dead is known as Instrumental Trans Communication (ITC). There are a few ways that ITC apps work. It can either be by giving the user an app which is optimised to capture EVPs or encourage EVPs to happen, through electronic speech synthesis apps, or by measuring atmospheric conditions via electronic methods.
The apps which rely on speech synthesis tend to include a database of words or phonics. An algorithm generates a random number which is associated with a word. The claim is that spirits can affect the random nature of the apps and allow them to select words in order to communicate with the app’s user.
The way these apps actually allow spirits to interact is similar to how physical ghost hunting devices do. The software relies on the phone’s sensors including compass, magnetometer and accelerometer, and even internal thermometers.
Below is a list of the best ghost hunting and ITC apps available for iOS and Android, including EVP apps, electronic speech synthesis and atmospheric detection apps for use on vigils. Because of the unproven nature of the paranormal, most of these apps are provided for entertainment purposes only. Their developers do not guarantee or deny the existence of ghosts or paranormal activity.
The Witch App
The Witch App is developed by British paranormal investigator, Brian Holloway. The ghost hunting app is widely used by many ghost hunting teams who investigate the paranormal using ITC. The Witch App, which is only available on Android, contains 13 banks of reversed audio based on dark spells and Wiccan incantations.
The app sweep through this bank of audio at random and plays the sounds, because all the audio has been reversed it means there are no words or phrases pre-loaded into the app.
The app is a favourite of ‘Most Haunted’ investigator, Fred Batt. The television demonologist uses The Witch App on public ghost hunting events alongside a Ouija board. Fred says he has had great results, “combined with the Ouija board and me, people can’t believe it when they see it happening, it really is amazing.”
Paranormal Hauntings App
The Paranormal Hauntings App is another app by Brian Holloway, and although it’s similar to The Witch App, it does have some major differences and is perhaps better suited for those who really take ITC seriously. The app was developed especially for the Paranormal Hauntings team, which is fronted by Charlene Lowe Kemp. The team embark on investigation several times a week and rely on ITC as part of these.
The idea behind the bespoke version of the app is that you can switch between good and evil intent in order to call forth different spirits. It does this by allowing you to play ambient sounds, which contain frequency ranges which are believed to increase certain types of paranormal activity.
Representing the good and lights are the sounds of an ancient Nordic Chant originating from Iceland. There’s also the sounds of a much more sinister chant, which is used for summoning dark entities.
The app also has a very unique echo feature built-in, this is based on Charlene’s own personal belief from her years of ITC experience that spirits may be able to communicate and hear better when an echo is present.
Ghost Science M3
Ghost Science M3’s Ghost Hunting Toolkit is by far the most scientific app on the list. While the scientific understanding behind the nature of ghosts and how they can interact with electronic devices remains a mystery, this app does all it can to present its readings in a transparent and scientific way.
The app uses as many of the phone’s input methods and sensors as possible, in order to provide detailed analysis of audio signals, allow you to track subtle changes in the ambient barometric pressure, and measure electromagnetic field strength based upon your phone’s magnetometer.
The app can also act as a very sensitive vibration detector to visualise and alert you to tiny knocks and taps. There’s even a Spirit Box feature, that rapidly scans through live-streaming audio channels, unlike the physical devices that scan through FM radio frequencies. The idea is that spirits can communicate by manipulating these sounds.
Advertisement ‐ Content Continues Below.
Ghosthunting Toolkit
The Ghosthunting Toolkit is a fairly high-rated app, which offers five functions to help you during ghost hunts. Like the Ghost Science M3, it also has an EMF (Electromagnetic Field) function. As phones and other mobile devices don’t have a true EMF detector built in, the apps use a combination of inputs including the compass, magnetometer and accelerometer to build up a picture of electromagnetic field strength.
The app also has an electronic speech synthesis feature called, “Interrogator”, that aims to let you communicate with spirits using audible language. There’s also a vibration detector function, and a special audio recorder designed to increase the chances of capturing EVPs.
EchoVox
This is perhaps the best known Spirit Box app available for mobile devices. The app is pre-loaded with a library of phonetics and word elements, these words are randomly spewed out by the app. The idea is that any spirits present are able to interfere with the app and affect the random nature in order to form words and communicate. Spirits are said to be able to do this by manipulating various sensors built into the device including the phone’s microphone and motion detector.
The app has been used by various paranormal investigation teams, including those featured in ghost hunting television shows like ‘Ghost Chasers’ and ‘Ghost Hunters International’. EchoVox is one of the most expensive paranormal apps of its type, but is available to download for both Android and iOS devices.
iOvilus
The iOvilus app uses the same technology to allow spirits to communicate as the Ovilus, a popular piece of professional ghost hunting equipment. The principles are the same as other speech synthesis apps on the list. It uses the iPhone’s sensors to allow spirits to affect the random words which are generated by the app from a bank of 2,048 words.
UK Ghost Excursions Map
The Ghost Excursions Map isn’t a ghost hunting app as such, but it’s a detailed and handy app that might help you plan an investigation in the UK. The app, which is available on Android, plots and categorises thousands of paranormal hotspots on a hauntings map of the UK.
