Pplkpr: The app that tells you who you should - and SHOULDN'T - be friends with

In your social circles, there will likely be friends you love spending time with, those who calm you down, and others that you know are a bad influence.

And now an app can reveal exactly how these different people make you feel, including which friends you should cut out of your life for good.

Called pplkpr, pronounced 'people keeper', it syncs with a heart rate monitor to track and log subtle changes in emotional state when you’re around these people.

And in doing so, it can even tell you which friends could be......
damaging your health.
The free iOS app was created by Brooklyn-based artists Kyle McDonald and Lauren McCarthy, and was recently tested on a group of students at Carnegie Mellon University.

Pplkpr pairs up with any Bluetooth-enabled heart rate monitor, although the students were given Mio devices during the test.

It tracks and logs changes in heart rate and, when it notices a shift, asks the user to explain how they’re feeling, where they are and who they’re with.

Over time, an algorithm built into the app can then learn which emotions the subtle changes in heart rate relate to.

From this list, the app tracks which people make the wearer happy, who calms them down, and the people who cause the most fear or stress.

This has a number of benefits, according to the developers.

It can reveal which friends should be avoided during times of stress, for example.

It can also block or unfriend people who make the wearer anxious or bored, or will message those who make them happy, or calm.

‘Pplkpr uses GPS and a heart rate wristband to keep track of when you're coming and going, and when you're feeling emotional,’ said the developers.

‘[It] implements a complex metric called “heart rate variability" that uses subtle changes in heart rhythm to determine your emotional state.

'This data is correlated with the people you interact with to determine who should be auto-scheduled into your life and who should be removed.’

Ms McCarthy and Mr McDonald came up with the app to explore quantified living in relationships, and how people interact.

And for people who don’t have a heart rate monitor, the app also lets them add manual emotional readings.

-DM

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