App promises to prevent drunk dialling

An app that sets your iPhone in “drunk mode” promises to stop you from making drunken texts and calls, track your movements so you can remember the night before and help your friends find you down in an emergency.

Described as a “condom for your phone” and targeted firmly at college students, the Drunk Mode app is designed to be activated before the start of an evening of drinking.

The app will then disable dialling and text functions on your phone for a set period of time to prevent you from making any potentially regrettable calls while under the influence. Its breadcrumbs feature meanwhile allows a user to see where they were the night before – the app periodically marking your location for you to review the next day.

On a more practical level, the app also functions as a GPS tracker with its “find my drunk” feature enabling your friends and family to track you down should you find yourself separated for the group.

It also has a “find a ride home” feature to get you home safely. And if you want to disable Drunk Mode before the set time, you must answer a mental arithmetic question to prove you are sober.

Explaining the motivation behind targeting college students its creators said they were the generation “most likely to drink” and were in many ways the “most vulnerable”.

“We are now the most technologically savvy folks on earth; as well as a generation that relied on mobile phones for everything we do”, they said. “This reliance in itself has creates a new social issue really only prevalent in the last 15 years which is drunk dialling. Drunk Mode is an app that is meant for our generation.”

The app can be downloaded to iPhones from the app store for free.