Ha Ha Only Serious: Is This Love App For Real?

You let your phone remind you of meetings and other things throughout the the day, so shouldn’t it be OK for it to remind you to affectionately text your significant other as well? A new app, Romantimatic, is offering just that proposition and in doing so is prompting a bigger debate. “What I see as a small reminder to be nice is seen by others as devaluing the entire idea of romantic love” says developer Greg Knauss. “If you need to be reminded, they say, the relationship can’t be worth much to you.”

Upon downloading, Romantimatic lets you select your “sweetheart,” provides you the ability to select the frequency of reminders, and the message options. Essentially it’s just a reminder app focused on a specific area much like the egg timers or coffee reminders also in the app store. When love is involved, however, all bets are off as to how users will respond. The backlash has been one that Knauss didn’t expect and wrote a post about trying to explain his intentions a little further.

@anildash @romantimatic @gknauss to me it’s same as to have an app that reminds you to save your daughter when there is fire. -llya Spekhov on Twitter

Romantimatic came about how you might expect, a few too many well intentioned messages got away from Knauss and he decided to solve the problem in the most obvious way, with an app. “The more I thought about it, the more I started to think about the work of relationships, the effort that they require” says Knauss. “My marriage with my wife is terrific, but anybody past the initial thrill of a new love knows that it needs tending, it needs time and attention, just like anything else you want to see thrive. So why not build a tool that helps with that? It doesn’t make my feelings any less sincere. And it helps me accomplish what I want to do.”

@ispekhov @romantimatic @gknauss I love connecting with my wife and son, however it happens. You don’t answer the phone when family calls? - Anil Dash on Twitter

Even if a lot of users don’t initially get the serious implementation of a silly joke for a serious need, Knauss isn’t worried. “I think the app is an example of ‘ha ha only serious’. It’s a hacker idea, and I may be flattering myself by using it here, but I think the app is an example of using a joke to solve a problem. Is it a joke? Sure. But it’s also a solution.”