New App Freezes Kid’s Phone Until Parent’s Text Answered — No More Ignoring Mom And Dad

They say necessity is the father of invention and if you have teens you know firsthand just how necessary this new phone app can be. It was the father of a teenager who developed the new phone app that will freeze your kids’ phones until they text or call the parent back. Those days of endless attempts to get your teen to answer your beckoning messages are over.

The world is a dangerous place, which is something every parent keeps in mind. This is especially true when you are trying to get a hold of your kids on their cell phone and there’s no reply to your repeated text messages. Teens have a tendency to back burner their calls from home, with good intentions of replying “later.”

“Later” wasn’t good enough for one parent who was getting fed up with his son ignoring his text messages. Nick Herbert invented the new app ReplyASAP, leaving his son Ben, along with other kids whose parents have downloaded the app, no choice but to reply to their parents. That is if they want to silence the alarm and use their phone again.

It sounds like Nick thought of everything because once the app is activated after you child ignores your text messages, that app takes over the screen. It also sets off an annoying alarm that your teen cannot get rid of even by turning the phone to the silent setting. This app bypasses most all the ploys that teens use when ignoring their parent’s attempts at communicating with them.

This dad made an app that locks your kid's phone until they respond…would y'all use this?! Do your kids reply?https://t.co/qDRjnLlFZp

— SiriusXM The Highway (@SXMTheHighway) August 24, 2017

It is not as if all kids ignore their parent’s beckoning messages on purpose. Sometimes the phone is on the silent mode because they are playing games or in an area, like school, where cell phones should not be heard.

While CTV News suggests this app “will make it a lot tougher for kids to ignore their parent’s messages,” there are two sides to this. The app gives the child the same ability to freeze their parent’s phone and sound the alarm until they respond to them.

When it was first developed, the app worked one-way only and that was the parent having the control over their child’s phone when the app was deployed. Nick said that Ben had one request when his dad created the app and that was that he gives it the ability to work both ways. If Ben needs to get ahold of his dad in an emergency situation he would like the app to work for him as well.

If you think that Ben was an unhappy camper after seeing his father’s new invention because it gives him some control over his phone, think again. According to SF Gate, Ben was “surprisingly accepting” of his dad’s app. It actually gives Ben more freedom to be able to keep his phone off while not worrying that someone from home might need to get in touch with him.

Tired of your kids not answering your texts or calls? One dad has an answer – clever!https://t.co/kCdbrnJFcO

— Annie Yu ?? (@AnnieYuTV) August 22, 2017

Nick doesn’t use the app lightly, Ben knows that if his dad uses this app it will be important and it is something he needs to respond to immediately. Ben’s agreeable thoughts on using his dad’s new app seem to suggest that Nick is not one of those helicopter parents.

But what about those helicopter parents? Won’t this give them a new tool to hover over their child even more? Nick sees this app as a tool for an emergency situation and it’s not meant to take the place of the text messaging between parent and child.

According to CTV News, “the app functions quite simply:”

“Parents download ReplyASAP from the Android app store and are then given the option to connect with their child. Once the child accepts the invite, parents can then send an ‘urgent message,’ which cues an alarm and a ‘takeover page’ on the child’s phone.”

Once that alarm is set, the kids cannot access any of the other functions on their phone until they text their parents back. It is as simple as that. Think of all the pacing this is going to save the parents of older teens. They won’t have to walk the halls at night when Johnny or Mary are out past their curfew and not answering their parent’s messages.

If your teen was enthralled in romance, that app has to put a kibosh on that scene. With that alarm not having a silent mode, this alarm could disrupt an evening at lovers lane. This will without a doubt prompt Mary or Johnny to contact their folks.

[Featured Image by Antonio Guillem/Shutterstock]