In this week’s Quantified Self roundup, we’ll be looking at how apps and gadgets not only track your health and fitness regime but also you sex life and genealogy.  Are these Quantified Self apps and devices overstepping their boundaries, or is such introspection inevitable in the search for the quantified version of ourselves?

Spreadsheets

Ever wonder how good you really are in bed?  You can’t rely on your partner to tell you that, they’re apt to lie.  So why not use an app that tells you the truth through data?

Spreadsheets monitors data from user’s movement and audio levels through the accelerometer and microphone to provide statistical and visual analysis of their performance in bed.  It does not save audio for playback, so it’s not a tool for one of your kinky escapades.  The app monitors how many thrusts you performed, how long a session lasted, and how loud you get during the performance.

Stats are saved on your device, not in the cloud, so there’s at least a sense of security and privacy.  Over time, you will see if your performance is declining, improving or if you’ve stagnated, which may be the reason why your partner is getting bored.  It costs $2.99 but for the month of August, you can get it for only $1.99 in the App Store.

Oh, and you have to be 17 years old to download the app.  And because this is a monitoring app for couples engaging in sex, it would be best to notify your partner what the app is all about.

Chronos 2.0

Version 2.0 of Chronos, the time-tracking app for iPhones, has finally been released and the app is looking pretty darn smooth.  The beauty of Chronos lies in the fact that it’s a free app, unlike other tracking methods that require you to purchase a fitness band and download an app.

With Chronos 2.0, sleep schedules, driving, walking, and other daily patterns are now easily identified — plot your favorite encounters of the day.  And the overall look of the app has been tweaked so users can get more out of using Chronos.

With Chronos, you can gather data regarding the distance you’ve travelled, how long you travelled, places you visited, places you stayed at, time spent with friends or family, and even how long you slept.

Chronos v.2.0 is now available in the App Store.

23andMe

For $99, you can order a 23andMe DNA Spit Kit.  You order the kit online, when it arrives you need to register the bar code found on the spit kit so you can process your spit.  There’s instructions on the kit for you to follow on how to get a spit sample and when you’re done, ship the kit back to 23andMe using the pre-paid packaging included – that means you don’t need to pay extra to have your spit shipped.  You get email confirmation if they have received your sample and when your results are ready.

With this test, not only will you be able to have information about your relatives but also get a health overview to see if you are at risk for any genetic inherited conditions, as well as an ancestry overview so you can track down your origins as close as possible.  Based on the results, 23andMe will provide health recommendations, like what diet you should be consuming.

Ditching privacy for self-realization? 

These apps, though they help us see which aspects of our lives we need to improve upon, may seem like they’re overstepping in some areas of our lives, like Spreadsheets.  But are we entering a new era where self-quantified apps introduce entirely new concepts and standards around privacy?  It wasn’t long ago that people were wary of inputting credit card numbers on smartphones, now, people are readily using their smartphones to gather sex data, and even sharing the findings.

Are people slowly losing their interest in keeping things private?  Is this the price we have to pay in order to achieve a better version of ourselves?