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Dad Makes App That Can Freeze Your Kids Phones Until They Answer Your Texts

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WEST WICKHAM, England (CBS Local) -- It could be the best app ever invented for parents who worry when their kids ignore their texts.

Nick Herbert said he was tired of his 13-year-old son, Ben, ignoring his text messages. So the project manager from West Wickham, England, developed an app that would effectively lock down the teen's phone until he responded.

And if the phone is on silent, the ReplyASAP app sets off an alarm to get the user's attention.

"He is always playing games and has the phone on silent. It drives me crazy," Herbert told the Daily Mail in 2017. The British father noted that he and Ben now have a mutual understanding that the app will be used, "only for important things and not because he needs new batteries for his xbox controller."

The technology not only gives parents a direct line to hard-to-reach children in an emergency, but it can also help co-workers communicate in a crucial situation, help friends gather to search for something that's been lost.

The app has been downloaded more than 75,000 times since it was launched back in August 2017.

It's currently only available on Android, but an IOS version is in the works and coming soon.

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