Former University of Virginia student created an app in April 2013 with his friends to help students stop drunk-dialing when out with fellow students and intoxicated.
Drunk Mode was created to stop these regrettable actions from happening. Drunk Mode is an app where users are able to block people from their contacts, when the app is enabled, so they don’t make the mistake of calling or texting while intoxicated.
The app came to be after one of the co-founders, Joshua Anton, received a call from a girl at 3 a.m. when he was in college. The girl had been drinking and said some things that she would not say if she were sober.
“It took seven months to build and design the app,” Anton said. “When we first put the app out there for a dollar, 10,000 people bought it.”
Anton said that last September, when he and his team made the app free, 10,000 jumped to 25,000. In the span of two years, the app has had over 500,000 downloads.
“It’s been really good, we’ve had a heavy growth,” Anton said.
Anton said each feature on the app comes along with a funny store. One feature on Drunk Mode is called Breadcrumbs.
Breadcrumbs was created when Anton went camping with two of his friends. They decided to walk five miles to the closest bar after setting up their campsite, and upon arriving they came upon a bachelorette party at the same bar. After having too many drinks and almost making out with the bachelorette, Anton and his friends got a ride back to their campsite from one of the bridesmaids.
“The next morning, my friends couldn’t really remember what they did the night before, so we followed our footsteps,” Anton said. “That’s where Breadcrumbs came alive.”
Other than Breadcrumbs, you can find your friend by using the feature “Find My Drunk.” This feature helps you track your friend’s location by using a GPS in the app. One of Drunk Mode’s team members, Daquan Page, came up with this idea after spending two hours looking for his friends after they called him for a ride but were too intoxicated to give a location of their whereabouts.
The most important feature, though, is the blocking of specific contacts in a phone with the intention of stopping a person from drunk-dialing them later in the evening. The app lets a user pick a time frame in which they don’t want to contact specific people, which can last up to twelve hours.
After they are done partying, the only way to turn off Drunk Mode is by answering a math question (hint: the answer is always a positive number). A math question that the user can get is an addition problem with up to three digit numbers. If the user gets the question wrong, the app will stay enabled and he or she will have to answer a different math question.
When Anton and his team reach 1 million downloads, two new features will be released.
“‘Recovery’ will let the partier see Snapchats they sent out last night when they were out, and “Hotspots” will be where the app owner can connect with other people and see who is going out and where they will be going,” Anton said.
Head of Business Development of Drunk Mode Anthony Head said the new features are going to be a hit.
“People will get to meet new people and make a connection with them,” Head said.
Head grew up with Anton and was in the summer of his sophomore year in high school when Anton came to him with the app idea.
Head said he is ecstatic to be a part of this fast -moving app.
Jake Ellenburgh became a part of Drunk Mode after the app made a big splash across his college campus, University of Alabama.
“I asked Josh if they needed a person to join their team,” Ellenburgh said. “I started to tweet for them, and we got a lot more user engagement and doubled in following in a month.”
Ellenburgh is now the Chief Communications Officer of Drunk Mode and deals with the press and the media.
“I love being a part of this team. I love getting to tell people what I do for a living,” Ellenburgh said.
During spring break, the app became a lifesaver for some people.
Anton said they receive emails and texts all the time saying how the app saved their friends lives.
“This makes me feel good. Safety is really important,” Anton said.
Head said this app makes things safe. He said drinking is fun, but there are risks that come with it.
“We hope Drunk Mode helps people stay safe,” Ellenburgh said.
Drunk Mode can be downloaded for free from the App Store.
Email Samantha Stahl at samantha.stahl@cardinalpointsonline.com
