Smartphone Apps Claim To Keep Mosquitoes At Bay, But Do They Work?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- There's a new weapon in the battle against mosquitoes: smartphone apps that make sounds mosquitoes are supposed to hate.

But do they work? Minnesotans have certainly had the right kind of weather to go check if they do.

When you live next to a bog, like Kelly Netishen does, you get used to mosquitoes. Netishen's kids already have their share of mosquito bites, and they were thrilled when the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District showed up next to their Orono home.

With the record rain, the district has been busy spraying special bacteria that hurts mosquito larva, but nothing else.

We showed the anti-mosquito apps to the Mosquito Control District's Mike McLean, but he wasn't biting.

"You know anything that isn't based on some kind of chemistry when it comes to killing mosquitoes or repelling mosquitoes is really pretty bogus," he said.

Still, he was willing to take a phone into the nearby woods to try it out. He found some mosquitoes, but no surprises. In fact, a bug settled on his arm while the phone app was running, so he went ahead and swatted it.

"There," he said with a laugh, "the app is good for one thing."