If you you do a lot of traveling by air, you know that your loved ones worry about you and want to know when you've landed safely. I read via IntoMobile about a neat beta program called ArrivedOK, which is a mobile tool for travelers that instantly notifies your friends and family when you've arrived at your destination.
Many people use their cell phone to call or send a text message to let people know when they've arrived. But there are times when you get too busy to remember to do that, and your loved ones begin to worry. They might call you to make sure you've landed safely, and the call might be one of those expensive international roaming calls. Ugh.
ArrivedOK tracks your cell phone in the visiting mobile network when you switch it on upon your arrival. Then the 'Arrived OK' SMS message is sent to your list of recipients. Cool!
Below are the quick steps that make ArrivedOK work:
- Register and create a record with each of your destinations and expected flight arrival times (including transit airports, if you want) linking them to your recipients' phone numbers or emails. Enter the text for the notification message. You can edit the record later (but before your next flight arrival).
- So you created a schedule of your arrivals and start your trip. (Do not forget to turn off your phone before take off as required by airline regulations). 30 minutes prior to your expected arrival time ArrivedOK will start searching for your mobile phone in GSM networks of your destination country. When you turn on your phone after landing, we will know that and send the ArrivedOK message to your recipients. That's how it generally looks like:
My brother-in-law travels quite frequently for his job at Volvo, so I'm sure that my sister would love for him to have ArrivedOK. She tries to keep up with his flight schedules online when he's off to Sweden or wherever else, and I'm sure she worries a lot about him. I'm terrified of flying myself, but if I ever get up the nerve, I'll be sure to get ArrivedOK on my Palm smartphone.
You can go here to learn more or to become a beta tester.
Note: ArrivedOK service deliver messages to subscribers of GSM/UMTS networks only. ArrivedOK message will not be delivered to landline numbers or those in CDMA, iDEN or other (different from GSM/UMTS) networks.
