Pretend you are speeding things up on your Android smartphone

Surfing on Wi-Fi isn't just better than using your phone's limited data plan -- it's faster, too. However, some speed demons want to make things even faster when they're browsing the Web. Wi-Fi Booster Pro V2 makes you think it will do that, but you won't see any improvement. You will notice the invasive permissions it asks for, though.

In the app's fine print, it claims to be a placebo. Immediately upon installation, the app demands to install ads all over your phone without an easy way to opt out. To get rid of them, you need to uninstall the app or go through a lengthy Web form that the app mentions, but doesn't link to. The optimization button takes about 30 seconds to run and claims to do things that it doesn't actually do, like clean your DNS cache. Most of the ways it pretends to speed up your Wi-Fi require superuser privileges. After two tests using the SpeedTest app, download and upload time increased by about 5KBps and actually took longer to ping with the app installed. These results mean the app fails miserably to boost your phone's speed at all.

The app simply doesn't work. When you combine this with the invasive permissions and nasty privacy message, this app seems to be even less attractive. Though the app claims to be a prank app to fool your friends, it seems all the more likely that Wi-Fi Booster Pro V2 is a scam.