Dad's Invention Makes It Impossible for Teen To Ignore Parent's Texts
Getting ahold of your teenager might prove challenging. Worried parents text their kids, anxiously awaiting a response.
One dad from the U.K. related to these frustrations. When his son Ben was in secondary school, Nick Herbert found it difficult to get him to respond.
Rather than ho and hum about the issue, Herbert decided to be proactive. The smart dad created an app so he could be sure to get through to his son’s smartphone.
“There are times that I need to get a message to him and he has no way of knowing that the call or text he ignores … is important or not, and I have no way of knowing if he has seen it,” Herbert wrote on the app’s website.
Which is why he invented ReplyASAP — an app that makes it hard for your child to ignore your message.
This Dad Created an App That Locks Your Teenager’s Phone Until They Answer Your Texts https://t.co/SJA2p2L3nS pic.twitter.com/pLZ5QIRL6v
— PureWow (@PureWow) January 7, 2019
“The message will appear on their phone over what ever they are doing, and make a noise until they interact with it, even if the phone is on silent,” the app’s website reads. “You will then get notification that it has been read.”
The positive sides to this app appear to be that the base version is free and parents can download it easily enough. It offers peace of mind when texting their teens.
Some downsides are that the app costs if you want to upgrade, it is only available for Android users (although it is reportedly going to get an iPhone version as well at some point), and both parties must have the app downloaded on their phones for it to work.
Not a problem for parents who have access to their kids’ phones. But some reviewers have complained that the multiple installation steps are too time-consuming.
Many users have also noted they felt the idea was too “controlling.” Others have praised this dad for his bright idea.
Herbert has been attentive to both the positive and negative reviews, replying to them in kindness and thanking users for their feedback.
Currently, ReplyASAP holds an average 3.1-star rating, and has been downloaded over 75,000 times! That’s quite something!
What do you think about this phone freezing invention? Would you try it out or do you think there are better ways of reaching your kids in an emergency?
Either way, it seems Herbert had the best of intentions and simply wants to ensure his son is safe. For that, he earns an A+ Awesome Dad Award in our book!
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