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Purity Ring iPhone application

Screenshot of the Purity Ring iPhone app Photograph: Public Domain

For just 59p, iPhone consumers can download an application that allows them to take a purity pledge and then display a silver ring on their phone to prove their commitment to abstinence before marriage.

Its creator, Island Wall Entertainment, claims the product will appeal to the younger generation and those people who have not already committed themselves to a life of abstinence and chastity.

The application has a pre-recorded pledge for both genders that the user must accept before being able to display their ring on a loop.

The application may also allow school pupils to circumvent uniform rules banning jewellery. In 2007, Lydia Playfoot lost her high court battle to wear her purity ring at school when a judge ruled she had not been discriminated against.

In the US, around 8m people have taken a purity pledge; in the UK, the figure is around 250,000. The country is regularly described as the teenage pregancy capital of Europe, and last week it was revealed that a £6m campaign to cut teenage pregnancies had failed, leading to an increase, rather than a drop, in the number of girls getting pregnant.