Wired had an interesting article about a new class of apps called Shameware. Some churches seem to be asking congregation members to install those on their phone. The alleged concept behind them is to help overcome unhealthy or immoral behaviours. The article lists a few services, such as Covenant Eyes and Accountable2You.
Technically speaking, these apps are just surveillance software or plain spyware. The apps take screenshots, monitor web traffic, etc. Quite similar to the market for child surveillance apps, which include apps like Bark or NetNanny. For the first type, a church leader is monitoring the behaviour and shaming the church member, thus the name Shameware.
According to The Christian Post, Google pulled both Covenant Eyes and Accountable2You from the Play Store after Wired got in touch, since only services designed to help people with disabilities may declare themselves accessibility tools. Covenant Eyes told the paper that church leaders should not use the software to spy on congregants. Accountable2You’s CEO insists that the app uses the AccessibilityServices API “as allowed for by Google”; Google apparently reads its own policy differently.