Notify Family Like A Tornado Warning
... Or a hurricane. Rock them like a hurricane!
Dear Apple and Android,
People today are inundated with phone calls and text messages. So much so that people suffer from phantom vibrate, a condition when you do not actually have your phone on you yet you feel it vibrate so you go to check it but your phone is not actually there, and even establish a 2 call system to relay an urgent matter to the recipient.
Due to adulting and having to pay attention to life, some rely on a 2 call system or “blowing up” someone’s phone till they answer. The 2 call system is rather barbaric given the technology at our disposal. If you are unfamiliar with the 2 call system, it is exactly how it sounds. Call the person once that you need to get a hold of, but they do not answer. Call them a second time because it is urgent. Then typically this is followed up with a text message / blowing up their phone with calls and texts till they answer. It reminds us of the pager days when you would page someone 911 to let them know it was an emergency to call you.
Simply put, the notifications in-place to get ahold of someone in an urgent matter are insufficient given our technology. Ever get an amber alert? We are pretty sure you remember that if you have a smartphone.
As people are conditioned to ignore phone calls and text messages when it is inconvenient for them, such as a business meeting or sleeping, they will not be properly notified when there is actually an emergency. Similarly the new vibrate features reduce the total vibration of the phone, which is nice for everyday use, but leads to not feeling/hearing the phone go off in urgent situations.
The U/X Idea
Enable users to select an urgent option when calling a loved one that “blows their phone up” so they know it is an emergency.
The User Experience Problem
Alerting loved ones in an urgent matter is not sufficient enough with our current phone calling and texting options. The vibration on the iPhone has been significantly decreased which generally creates a better user experience. People today normally have their ringer turned off, especially at work and while they sleep. An urgent phone call or text message may be unnoticed if they cannot feel or hear their phone go off. For example, our iPhones used to wake us up at night from a random text message or notification. Now we sleep right through those texts / calls / notifications while we sleep due to the reduced vibrate.
While it is generally good to pay less attention to your phone and pay more attention to daily life, not having proper notification during an emergency is quite an issue. The only way to get someone’s attention today during an emergency is to repeatedly call and text them, or others who may be with them, till they answer.
Even with the ability to call and text the person till they answer, you may only have the opportunity for one phone call given the circumstance. Could be your battery is about to die, about to enter an area with no service, or you’re facing a dangerous threat to your life. Just calling a person and having them ignore your call because they’re adulting is a sad fact of life today, so let’s solve it!
The U/X Solution
Enable users to make urgent calls to family and loved ones. Users must approve and request the ability to make and receive these advanced call notifications from approved users so that unwanted persons like telemarketers do not take advantage of this safety feature.
Users should be alerted of this feature upgrade when their phone updates. To start, automatically enable contacts in the favorite list to make priority/urgent calls to you. If contacts have each other in their favorites, then a match is created so advanced notifications are enabled. If there is no match, then a request is sent to the other person not listed in the favorites asking to enable advanced notifications from that individual. Similarly you can edit individual contacts not in your favorites to send a request to enable advanced notifications between the parties. When a match is created, an icon appears next to the contacts name to symbolize the ability to make an urgent call. If only one of you accepted the request, that symbol is greyed out. If you click the greyed out symbol, it will instruct what the symbol is and to send or accept a request to enable priority notifications.
The priority status can be used in texting as well with a similar icon present for priority texting. When either a call or text is placed, the phone will vibrate aggressively similar to receiving an amber alert. If the user has their ringer turned on, the phone will vibrate aggressively and ring loudly.
An option is to create two separate categories of advanced notifications: priority and urgent. Priority may be for situations that could use increased attention while urgent is for matters that require the utmost attention.
Conclusion
Adulting, trying to focus more on real life, and lesser vibrations from phones can make it difficult to get in contact with a loved one during an emergency. Enabling a feature to allow for urgent, and possibly priority, calls and text messages will better the chance of getting ahold of someone when your communication to them is actually important.
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