Drunk Mode is a new phone app which in the words of it’s developers, “acts as a condom for your phone.” The basic idea is that the app, aimed at college kids, helps to keep the user safe and secure when intoxicated.

The app offers a drunk dial blocker that hides selected phone contacts for 12 hours, preventing inappropriate calls to ex-girlfriends. Then there is ‘Find My Drunk’ which  uses GPS to help users locate drunken pals and ‘Find a Ride’, which can source a taxi home or offer walking direction to friends’ locations. Finally,  ‘Breadcrumbs’ creates a map of the user’s movements using passive GPS data, and lets users retrace their steps , whether to find a lost item or for peace of mind.

Drunk Mode will soon be integrating a number of extra safety features  including a panic button that will text alerts to loved ones if the user finds themselves in a dangerous situation, and the ability to share the profile of a missing person with everyone in the network in a five mile radius.

Now you might argue that the best course of action is to avoid getting in that state in the first place, but it’s an interesting idea and may provide a  mental springboard to something else. Are there other reasons why certain features should be disabled from phones at certain times, and could there be money to be made in an app? For example, might an app that disabled gambling sites after a pre-determined period of use, be a good idea for some people?

www.drunkmode.org