Urgency Alerts

What are Popular Messaging Apps Missing?

Communication has become increasingly easy with the rise of third-party messaging apps. At any time, we can communicate, free of charge, with practically anyone on earth. Within one application, we can text, call, or send photos or video, all using the same handle. Sharing information with all the people in our lives, from family and close friends to co-workers or acquaintances without necessarily revealing personal phone numbers or email addresses, is simpler than ever before.

However, this ease of communication can be a source of constant distraction, as we are frequently interrupted by sounding alerts on our devices. Not only are notifications distracting to us, they can cause those around us to lose focus and concentration as well.

Alarmingly, notifications may cause us to make mistakes on important projects. A study titled “The attentional cost of receiving a cell phone notification” found that “cellular phone notifications alone significantly disrupted performance on an attention-demanding task, even when participants did not directly interact with a mobile device during the task.” The notifications alone caused participants to incorrectly answer questions and make more rapid guesses, showing that notification distraction comes at a high price.

Through current third-party messaging apps, users can choose to turn off notifications, but then they risk missing important or even urgent messages. A message from a loved one with a life-threatening emergency will be treated just the same as other, less important messages. Users are left with two imperfect options:

Keep notifications on at the price of constant distraction.
Turn notifications off and risk missing urgent messages.

Our patented technology solves this problem by considering the urgency of an incoming message. For example, you can turn notifications off to avoid the constant interruption of messages. However, if a message is urgent, the sender can choose to activate an urgency setting. Then, when you receive the message, your device will sound or vibrate to notify you, while other incoming messages will remain silenced. For those abusing the urgency option, you can, for example, block them so they are unable to interrupt you again.

Today’s popular messaging apps, such as Snapchat, Instagram, Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger, do not distinguish message urgency. You either choose to be distracted by all alerts indiscriminately or to unilaterally ignore them. However, with our technology, you can stay connected to all aspects of your life, from non-virtual engagements to messaging your contacts virtually, without compromising your focus or missing urgent incoming messages.

Some related patents can be found at Multiplayer Videogames.