Homeophone

Against allopathy Alternative medicine

Clinically unproven

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Homeophone is a Spanish app that has brought homeopathy to a whole new level of implausibility. By paying €1.99 to download the Pro version of this app, you can knock up "impregnate" water with healing properties with your phone, without needing to dilute an active ingredient first.

Healing capabilities

Symptoms

The following are the symptoms that Homeophone can find a cure for.

• Acne
• Autumn and spring cold
• Baby colic
• Back pain
• Bladder infection (cystitis)
• Bug bites
• Buttock fat
• Cervical tension
• Fever
• Flu
• Headache
• Lack of appetite in kids
• Nighttime urinary incontinence (enuresis)
• Painful periods (dysmenorrhea)
• Sad memories due to a lost friendship
• Tympanites
• Weakness (asthenia)
• Winter cold

Remedies

The following are the properties of "remedies" that the app can magically endow water with.

• Abies canadensis (hemlock spruce)
• Acidum phosphoricum (phosphoric acid)
• Actea racemosa (black cohosh)
• Apis mellifica (honey bee)
• Arnica montana (wolf's bane)
• Arsenicum album (arsenic trioxide, As₂O₃)
• Arsenicum bromatum (bromide of arsenic)
• Belladonna (Atropa belladonna)
• Carbo vetetablis (vegetable charcoal)
• Chamomilla (chamomile)
• Streptococcinum (Streptococcus bacteria)
• Kalium bichromicum (potassium dichromate)
• Lycopodium clavatum (club moss)
• Magnesio phosphorica (magnesium phosphate, (Mg(H₂PO₄)₂))
• Natrum muriaticum (table salt, NaCl)
• Rumex (docks and sorrels)
• Sanguinaria
• Spigellia
• Staphisagria (Delphinium staphisagria)
• Topaz

How it works?

It doesn't. But according to the instructional video, the app exploits the gullible combined capabilities of quantum physics and your mobile phone to activate water memory.

Instructions

1. Pay €2 to download the Homeophone app to your phone. Download a pirate copy. Download the free "Lite" version.
2. Once installed, open the app.
3. Consult either the "Symptoms" or "Remedies" section.
4. Fill a glass with water or buy some bottled water.
5. Hold your phone in a horizontal position over the chosen recipient.
6. Press the "Prepare" button.
7. Wait a few seconds until the app "impregnates" the water with healing properties.
8. Drink the charmed water.

Why it doesn't work

The following is a response to the description and FAQ provided in its Google Play page, translated into English.

Description

Analysis

Recent research in quantum physics in life sciences has provided medicine with new insights to understand the origin of certain diseases, and even develop a new method of treatment. Since a few years some therapeutic systems which do not contain chemical substances (homeopathy, Bach flowers…) have been developed, and today we have the knowledge to affirm that the essence of action of these medicines is based on quantum physics. Each of these medicines have a certain vibration, a specific wavelength and frequency. When applied to the body, that frequency modifies some electromagnetic micro-fields generated within cells that are not having the activity they should. This vibrational frequency can mediate through various forms: light, music… The undulatory frequency can be transmitted from a mobile phone to water, the last of which is used as physical element for the transmission of the frequency of each medicine. The fundamental virtue of this app is the immediate gain of a remedy/medicine anywhere at any time, which is, the immediate gain of a certain wave frequency. It is tremendously handy to have a tool that provides us with nearly any homeopathic remedy.

This is nothing more than vibration and quantum woo. Drugs (medically active ingredients) are made of molecules, which do have vibration. But this vibration is related to temperature, and therefore molecules don't have a specific unchanging vibration. Chemical properties are defined by electronic configuration of an atom, or spatial conformation in the case of macromolecules such as proteins. There are instances in which molecular vibration endows certain chemicals, such as CO2, with properties we would not expect them to have. For example, vibrations in carbon dioxide molecules cause instantaneous dipoles, able to reflect infrared radiation due to partial charge in molecules that would otherwise be completely apolar. But even in the forementioned case, how vibrations affect the physical properties of molecules depends on the structure of the molecule itself. As an example, molecular nitrogen is not a greenhouse gas because the molecule is way too symmetrical for vibrations to cause partial charge. In other words: no, an app on your phone is not capable of fundamentally altering how molecules function.

How do I obtain a medicine? The gain of a medicine is based on quantum-physical principles. From the terminal, the frequency of a substance is transmitted to a substrate (water). You can find the detailed explanation of this procedure in the instructions given in the software.

To begin with, the instructions in the app do not clarify how it works. Second, even if pharmaceutical properties depended on an intrinsic frequency of the active ingredient, there is no way to endow a substance (water) with the properties of another one. To improve the app's credibility, it would be great to show: The frequencies of each active ingredient. How quantum physics enables alchemy. How an app can change the properties of matter.

How do I take the medicine? You take it according to what the homeopath has prescribed. The ingestion of the common granules can be replaced by water impregnated with the frequency of the medicine in question. In homeopathy, the dose is not relevant. The important thing is to give the corresponding information to the body, which can be achieved with high or low doses.

"The dose makes the poison" is both a quote from Paracelsus and a principle in toxicology. The dose matters to neither homeopathy nor HomeoPhone because both are scams. A molecule of ibuprofen won't alleviate any inflammation, in the same way that an atom of uranium won't kill anybody. In others words, the dose matters a lot.

Should I be concerned of adverse effects? Due to the nature of the medicine (energetic-regulating) that is impossible, i.e. reactions such as allergies, nausea, vomit, dizziness… In fact, these medicines are the most suitable in more delicate conditions such as pregnancy, childhood, immunity disorders…

First, what the bleep is an energetic-regulating medicine? Diseases are not caused by some sort of "energy imbalances" in our body, as the disproven vitalism would hold. Besides, if the water you drink is actually effective, the possibility of intoxication due to accidental misuse is inevitable. One cannot simply claim that the dose is not important and that the treatment implies zero risks.

Do these remedies interact with common medication? No, in fact many homeopaths combine both medications until the curing process of the patients suggests reducing the dose of the toxic medicine, but this has to be done by a doctor’s indication.

This is correct, since the "treatment" as far as it is described consists in drinking water. Just like regular homeopathy, except for homeopathic pills, of course, which go the extra step of removing even the water that supposedly had homeopathic healing qualities.

A deliberate scam?

You really have to look at this from a technical point of view. If this should have any demonstratable physical effect on water, your mobile phone must have the capabilities to somehow interact with the water. The only physical possible ways would be the following:

• The phone must have contact with the glass which holds the water. When the phone vibrates it makes the glass vibrate which in turn vibrates the water. However the instructions say that the phone should be held above the glass, hence no contact.

What does the app do: When the app "prepares", the phone doesn't vibrate.

• The phone uses its flashlight to shine through the water. This however should have less effect than having your glass of water sit in the open sunlight.

What does the app do: When the app "prepares", the phone doesn't use its flashlight.

• The phone's WiFi capabilities can use radio waves for interaction. However as we are bombarded by radio waves all the time from our technical gadgets etc. this shouldn't be any different than having your glass of water sit on the table.

What does the app do: Unknown, as we would need a look at its source code — which isn't freely available, which should make you suspicious.

The last possibility would be something related to quantum physics what the scam artists developers tout about. Not only do today's mobile phones not have any of said capabilities, the development kits for both iOS and Android devices have no interfaces for such things.

However, due to obligations of having to list permissions in app store entries, we can see which functions of your phone are actually used: Homeophone reads your phone status, device ID, call information, identity, information of your Wi-Fi connection, contents of your phone storage, and records audio (for what?). This is nothing but a data-mining app.

Conclusion: Stay away from this scam that any first-semester computer science student can cook up in a short amount of time.