Whether its finding a costume at the last minute, keeping an eye on the kids while they’re out and about trick-or-treating, or simply creating ‘spooky’ effects on your smartphone, there’s a Halloween app to help you out.

For anyone in a panic over what they’re going to where later on tonight, a free app called Digital Dudz can get you out of a fix. All that’s needed is an iPad, an old t-shirt, something to suffice as fake blood and a bit of duct tape, and you’ve got yourself a freaky-looking zombie costume.

The idea is that you simply tape the iPad onto your chest, and choose one of the gruesome animations to display as you wonder around terrorizing the neighborhood – anything from a live beating heart to erratically moving eyeballs, or just a gaping hole in your chest. The animations are interactive too – for example, just tap on the heart and maggots start crawling out of it – yuck!

For parents meanwhile, the Trick or Tracker app should go some way towards easing their concerns this evening. Naturally, mums and dads are going to be a little worried about their kid’s safety while they’re out and about, but using Iconosys’ newly released app, they’ll at least be able to monitor their location.

Available for free on Android, Trick or Tracker sends out regular updates via SMS, keeping parents informed of where their kids are. It also comes with additional safety features, including a distress signal that kids can activate if they need mum or dad to come pick them up in a hurry, as well as a maximum distance setting that will automatically inform parents if their children stray too far from the home.

There are also a couple of less practical, but fun, Halloween apps to help you get in the mood this evening. Halloween Sound Shelf, for example, offers a range of spooky sound effects to help created a haunted vibe, such as frightening screams, ghostly laughs, and thunder and lightning strikes, while the Ghost Radar lets you spook out your friends by detecting paranormal activity around you.

Then there’s the Pumpkin Pal, which allows you to design your own ‘virtual’ jack-o-lantern by etching out custom designs onto a pumpkin – the result of your efforts can then be saved as a screensaver.