This app makes it physically impossible for you to ignore texts
Having your texts ignored by you friend, your crush, or even your own family is a source of confusion, heartbreak and frustration.
A British dad decided he'd had enough of wondering if his 13-year-old son Ben had seen his messages. So, he made an app that makes it impossible to ignore him.
Nick Herbert, from London, developed ReplyASAP, an app which triggers an alarm on your phone that will sound indefinitely until the message is read. And, just when you thought it couldn't get more irritating, it also performs a screen takeover, interrupting whatever you're doing on your phone.
Herbert says he found it nigh-on impossible to get hold of his son when he was out with his friends, largely because Ben's phone was always on silent. "Whenever I was trying to get hold of him, he would invariably not respond. It frustrated me," says Herbert.
"I thought, there must be a way of getting hold of him. Something that allows you to make your presence felt more strongly," Herbert continues. And, boy did he make his presence felt.
After looking into existing options -- like WhatsApp's read receipts -- Herbert knew he wanted to be able to sound an alarm on his son's phone to let him know when his dad had messaged him. As there wasn't an existing means of doing that, he looked into building one. Herbert doesn't have a background in tech, so he hired developers to build his app, aptly named ReplyASAP, which is available on Android and will launch soon on iOS.
In order for the app to work, the parent must buy and download the app, which costs 99p. The parent then gifts the app to 1 other person, or they can buy extra bundles for larger groups. The child then downloads the app and has the opportunity to accept or decline the invite. If accepted, the parent is then able to ping their child and ring the alarm.
When an "ASAP message" is sent, the screen is taken over completely and an alarm will ring even if the phone is set to silent. In order to stop it, the recipient can either snooze the alarm for three minutes or hit "cancel". Yes, you guessed it, the sender will get a notification depending on what the recipient does.
But, the child can also be granted the ability to sound the alarm on their parent's phone, which could come in very useful in the case of an emergency. Herbert's settings allow Ben to send "ASAP messages" when he needs to urgently get in touch.
"When I'm at work my phone's on silent. But, now he can send me a message and I know when it's important," says Herbert. He says it's pretty useful in deciphering between a text about the location of Ben's socks, or a message that he's locked out of the house.
Messages can also be scheduled to arrive at certain times of day. "If you need to remind him of something when he comes out of school, I can set the message to arrive at 3:15 p.m.," says Herbert.
Herbert says the idea isn't to force your child to reply, it's to force them to see the message you type. So, how does his son feel about it? Herbert says Ben "likes the idea of it" and understands why his dad created the app.
The app's free to download, but users have to pay for bundles depending on how many people they want to talk to. Bundles start at 99p for one person, and £2.49 for 4 people, and £12.99 for 20 people. It's available globally on the Google store, and will be released on iOS in the next week.
The app, though irritating for teens, will likely be useful for parents looking for peace of mind. But, it could also come in useful for professionals who are on call, or for people with elderly parents.
Looks like the days of pretending you haven't seen the "dinner's ready" text are numbered.
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
