AreYouThereYet – automatically send text messages based on your location

by Antonio Wells Jul 23, 2012 11:19 AM – 4 Comments

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AreYouThereYet is an app that automatically sends a predefined text message to folks in your contacts of your choosing based on when you reach a certain location(s). Great for travelers auto- alerting family members they’ve arrived or to tell your wife/hubby you’ve made it home.

Price: Free, $0.99

Tested on: Samsung Galaxy S3
Content Rating: Medium Maturity

AndroidTapp.com Android App Review:

Pros & Cons:

Pros

Automatically sends a text message to your contacts based upon your arrival of a location!

Cons

Very limited. Cannot customize your message per contact and location filter could use some work.
Potentially only works in a few countries.

Features:

When I land in a new city, I typically send out a text message that simply says, “Touchdown!” which tells my family and close friends I’ve landed safely. Though this action does not require much effort, AreYouThereYet is an app that can automate that action without you touching the phone at your arrival location. The app is very simple and serves only that purpose. In the paid version you can insert up to seven locations and contacts (only one in the freebie) to receive the SMS text message based on your location. Also in the paid version you can customize the general message content you would like your recipients to see to a certain extent using variables. Lastly you can change the “Fire Radius”, the range in kilometers, in which the app will alert your contacts of your arrival.

My main gripe with the app is that it is very basic, though it does exactly what it is described to do, I personally felt it could have been more customizable. For example, allowing you to customize the message per contact such as a personal message for your loved one that differs from the message to your boss, rather than a generic message for all. Another peeve is in the method in which the app filters a location, you must filter it from a choice of locations in the U.S., U.K. and Australia only. Once you choose a country you slowly load and filter the country’s states, and repeat for its zip codes. You cannot simply type in a location or address. This means you cannot simply program the app to text your wife when you get to San Francisco, yet you must know the zip code to add the location, nor can you text your hubby you’ve arrived in Berlin as the country is not supported.

At the time of reviewing the app, there is a minor glitch where the app would not show the location in the list, which I tried to add again to only be alerted that the location was already stored, yet it was not visible. If you experience this problem, you can restart your device… weird but it fixes the issue and shows the location.

Although this app does exactly its purpose I feel that you should know of a few apps we’ve reviewed with more value. Namely, those automatic profile creation apps that allow you to set many scenarios, including sending text messages to specific contacts based on location. Those include apps like Tasker, Actions Pro, ProfileComfort, etc.

: AreYouThereYet Contacts

: AreYouThereYet Locations

: AreYouThereYet Filtering Locations

: AreYouThereYet Alert from Notifications Bar

: AreYouThereYet Locations

AndroidTapp.com Rating

AndroidTapp.com Rating! (3.25 out of 5)

Should you Download AreYouThereYet? If you have a need for this simple tool I would recommend you try the free version to see if the limited feature set suits your needs. I find it difficult to recommend the paid version as it only expands on the number of contacts and locations you can set plus editing of the text message, which is quite limited. Though an app like this can be convenient for travelers or parents using it as a tool on their child’s phone auto alerting them of their whereabouts, there are far too many apps in the Google Play Store that does this functionality far better and offer far more features, often for free.

Developer: DunnTech Computing

Tags: Android App, Android Apps, AndroidTapp.com App Review, AreYouThereYet, Location Based

Categorised in: Tools, Travel, Utilities

4 Comments

By AndroidUK on July 23, 2012 at 4:07 pm:

Glad you mentioned Tasker and similar apps that provide far greater flexibility albeit at the expense of a learning curve. There are many utility apps that can be replaced with apps like tasker. Tasker itself even let’s you create your own mini application in its latest incarnation.

Reply
By Darren on July 26, 2012 at 1:45 am:

The price is only $0.99 you should fix this in your review.
You mention tasker as better, yet you don’t mention this app is much easier to use. The whole point of the app is to be simple to use, set and forget.
Adding locations “slowly” in this app is still much faster then creating a tasker profile to do the same thing. If you recommend other apps over it you should compare them side by side properly.
I am unsure what you mean by “must know the zip code to add a location” after selecting the country and then state, you can start to type the name of your location and it will show up for you to select. You can use the zip code to add a location if you know it to make the process a little quicker. You don’t need to know the zipcode to use the application……
It “potentially” only works in the US, UK and AUS because that is the only places it will work. The developer mentions this on the app store also stating more countries to be included in future updates.
Overall a pretty poor review that does not do the app justice.

Reply
- By Antonio Wells on July 26, 2012 at 7:13 am:
  
  Hello Darren,
  
  Thank you for your opinions, however, you should be aware of a few things.
  
  First you are correct about the price and this has been corrected in our review as the developer dropped the price recently since the time of review (an update was posted today). You are also correct in that I did not specifically mention the keyword of Tasker not being “simpler” to use than AreYouThereYet, however, implied it as most readers click on the recommended app link and clearly see “Tricky to use for beginners.” being one of its cons.
  
  Now the many things you are inaccurate about… AT THE TIME OF REVIEW Yes in my numerous tests, the app “slowly” loaded states, after selecting from only 3 countries then “slowly” loaded the cite/zip codes after selecting the state. I can understand this hassle the very first time as I assume the app is downloading and storing the location data, however, for it to happen each time? This is why I brushed over that minor bug mention to go to the real problem of simply not being able to type in the name of a location. Which segues into you being unsure of what I mean by “must know the zip code to add a location”. In the app, you are confined to a preset filter process; filter country, then filter state, then filter CITY/ZIP CODE. You cannot simply type “Chicago” from the start, or a specific address, which is counter-productive, you must filter in the manner the app predefined, which is limited. AT THE TIME OF REVIEW once you get to the city level, when I type in “Chicago” I received a list of hundreds of locations with CITY/ZIP CODE combo, i.e. “Chicago, IL 60601″, “Chicago, IL 60602″ and so on (oh and evident in this screenshot). Lastly, and I stand by my statement “Potentially only works in a few countries.” as you have just answered why… currently it only lists locations in the US, UK and Australia. Question, is the app useful to me if I take a flight to Hong Kong, visit Paris, or cruise to The Bahamas?
  
  Mr. Dunn I would hope the developer receive the constructive criticism and use the review to correct some user experience issues to make the app better. If pointing out the positives as well as the negatives of the app which results in the developer creating a better and more useful app for consumers, then I’ll gladly accept the fact that this is a pretty poor review.
  
  Reply
By Robert on July 26, 2012 at 8:13 am:

Hi all,

I am the developer of AreYouThereYet and Im here just clearing a few things. Thanks Antonio for the review, I submitted it for review for that purpose, reviewing. Criticism is good and ill use it to improve the app, but I do agree with Darren, somethings were not quiet clear.
Just to clear up a few things.
The first time you select your country the app will download that countries database, for the US it takes about 3-4 seconds on a galaxy s3. After that initial load it should be pretty snappy selecting states and cities for the rest of the time the app is opened. After a while of the app running in the background it will clean itself up and remove the cached databases, the next time you then go to open it the app will take another 3-4 seconds to pull the database again (your previous locations still stay in the list by the way).
The multiple location thing for US cities is a bit of a nucence, however the database I am using for the US does not list suburbs which is a shame. I have found some very complete databases but the redistribution licence per year is expensive. Maybe down the track I can fork out some cash to improve this inconvenience.
Oh and before I forget, Check your invoice Antonio its always been $0.99 AUD about $0.97US (rough guess)

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