THEY are meant as security tools to safeguard private information on mobile phones, but are now being used by some people as a way to cheat on their spouses, too.

Mobile-phone software from Britain and the United States, such as Easy Helper SMS and SymbianOn's Private Call and SMS Guard, have been a boon for those who want to secure confidential material in case they lose their phones. For a one-time payment of under $30 to download the programs from these companies- website, people can encrypt text messages sent from a selected mobile phone.

They can also choose an application that hides messages in a folder that is hard to locate.

Mr Darius Cheung, 27, founder of tenCube, a Singapore mobile phone security company, said that while there are many programs out there to help distraught spouses track their unfaithful partners, it is not easy to decipher encrypted messages.

However, of the 20 readers my paper spoke to over the weekend, 14 said they would not be tempted to cheat on their partners if they had the software. Trader Fred Hong, 32, said:

"You don't need to encrypt your SMSes to cheat on your partner.

"There are a million and one other ways to communicate with a lover if you really want to."

Still, industry experts say they are hearing of more virtual cheating these days, and some readers polled felt that these programs help those who are prone to cheating.

Quality assuarance manager Chris Li, 27, said: "If you're really going to cheat on your wife, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry."

Mr David Ong, 44, director of home-grown information security firm Data-Terminator, said he knew people who use such software to communicate to their lovers.

He added that these cheaters "all got divorced in the end". Even for those who do not think they will get caught, there is a catch.

Mr Anthony Lim, 47, secretary for security and governance of Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), highlighted a potential problem in new mobile-phone encryption programs.

He explained: "The current technology is far from stable and may cause phones to hang."

Besides, for any application to operate perfectly, he said that "you must have the same phone model with the same software in order for the other person to receive the encoded message and decode it"

If the lovers' mobile phones are different and this causes difficulties in encoding and decoding messages it is likely to be a major inconvenience.

People may also be put off by the procedures needed to use  software.

National Serviceman Nicholas Neo, 25, said: "Imagine every time you want to arrange a secret rendezvous with your lover via SMS, you'll have to put in a password? It's lame."