A dad of the year has come up with the perfect solution to get his forgetful son to text him back – an app that forces kids to respond.
“ReplyASAP,” the new app invented by Nick Herbert, obstructs the recipient’s phone and sets off an alarm until a text or call is returned – even if the cell is on silent mode.
It also notifies users when the recipient has seen the incoming message – giving some relief to worried parents whose children simply won’t contact them back.
“My son has an iPhone, but I still can’t get hold of him very easily as it’s always on silent because he is planning games or has been at school and forgotten to turn the sound back on,” Herbert told GoodHousekeeping.com of his school-aged son Ben in an interview published this week.
“There didn’t seem to be a solution out there that allowed me to send a message to him, that would override the silent function, appear over whatever he was doing and tell me when he had seen it,” Herbert said.
Herbert decided to create the app out “frustrations with current messaging apps,” he wrote on the website for ReplyASAP.
“There are messaging apps that tell you when a message is delivered and seen, but the point is the message can be ignored or not seen because he didn’t hear it,” wrote Herbert.
His son has even taken to the app.
“It gives him the freedom to keep his phone on silent, but with the knowledge that I can get a message to him if necessary,” Herbert told Goodhousekeeping.com.
“ReplyASAP” is currently available for Andriod and will soon be available on iOS.
