US software firm Retina-X Studios released a more vigilant version of its Mobile Spy programme that captures every e-mail and picture from BlackBerry smartphones.

"We invite you to open your eyes to the real actions of what your child or employee does on your BlackBerry device," Retina-X chief executive officer James Johns said in a release.

"What if they are being dishonest or worse? The advantages of knowing the answers are far better than not knowing at all."

The previous version of Mobile Spy software kept track of text messaging and telephone calls, providing online access to data by employers, parents or whoever else is paying for smartphone accounts.

New Mobile Spy 4.0 software also provides employers or parents with smartphone contacts, calendar events and memos .

"These new abilities help parents and employers track the activities of their monitored phones with greater accuracy," the Arizona-based company said in a release.

"This new feature gives parents a way to monitor whether or not a teenager is sending naughty pictures. Employers can find out if company secrets are being snapped for later retrieval."

Versions of Mobile Spy are available for iPhone devices as well as for smartphones running on Android, Symbian, or Windows Mobile software, according to the Retina-X website.

Monitoring by Mobile Spy software is designed to go unnoticed after the software is installed on smartphones, the company said. The monitoring service is available for an annual subscription of $100.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.