Controversial Application Delivers Instant Background Checks Right to Iphone

(PRWEB) December 23, 2009 -- Background checks are no longer just for large corporations. Thanks to a new application from BeenVerified.com (http://www.beenverified.com), anyone can run a background check while at home or on the go, right from their iPhone -- without having to retrieve the rest from the internet. The appropriately named “Background Check App” is the first of its kind and users are responding.

Beyond looking up things such as age, address history, and relatives, Background Check App gives users access to criminal records, the properties associated with a person (and their values), and scans social networks to find data about the person there, including photos. All of this information is delivered instantly right on the iPhone.

Concerned parents, small business owners, and online daters are among the apps most ardent fans. “Large companies have been using background checks to protect their businesses for years,” said Josh Levy, CEO of BeenVerified.com. “Our service empowers anyone to protect their lives and the lives of their families in the same way."

However, the new service has put an information age spin on an old debate over privacy rights. The service has stirred thousands of comments on blogs, through Twitter and has even caught the attention of some in the media. Many people see background checks as a necessity in a world that is increasingly dangerous and where anyone can claim to be someone or something they are not. On the other hand, many people find it a gross invasion of personal privacy.

“A BeenVerified background check contains information collected from thousand of public records and publicly available data where the average person would not even know where to begin," says Levy. "All of the information found in our reports are already out there and accessible to anyone. BeenVerified serves its customers by organizing and integrating the information in one place. We also present public records in a way that maximizes the usefulness of the information."

Controversy aside, the popularity of BeenVerified signals an unmet demand for access to affordable consumer background checks. Within a month of its release, Background Check App was downloaded over 350,000 times. According to iTunes, it climbed as high as #3 most popular application within the utility category and the 47th most popular application overall, bypassing behemoths like Skype along the way. However, no stat is more astonishing then the 1 million plus background checks run in just a few weeks.

Selling access to public records in the form of background checks is nothing new. However, BeenVerified makes access to this information much easier for consumers. Most companies charge a minimum of $19.95 for a single criminal report, while the Background Check App provides three comprehensive background checks per week for free. Furthermore, the new Background Check App is the first service that will actually deliver the full background check right onto a phone, allowing anyone to find out anything on the spot.

“We saw that a lot of consumers being priced out of the market, especially in this economy,” said Levy. “The service should not be limited to a privileged few. Our mission at BeenVerified is to make background checks available to anyone who needs one. Also, today’s consumers want their information where they want and when they want it. Mobile access to background checks is a major focus at BeenVerified. “

The company is already working on Version 2.0 of it Background Check App and is about to release a version for both Blackberry and Android. Levy also claims their web service will unveil a slew of new features in 2010.

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