How to send a ’secret’ text message

We love hearing about new tech toys, websites and apps here at Sync, and if you’re reading this, we expect you do, too. And so we have a regular feature on this blog called “5 Questions,” that dives deeper into new products or services — and gets the dirt from the horse’s mouth.

Ever wanted to send a text message that no one could read but the recipient? Whether it’s personal info or confidential corporate notes, here’s a discrete new iPhone app you might want to consider, simply called Locker ($0.99 cents).

We caught up with Jonathan Oron, 30 year-old lead programmer on Locker who resides in Tel Aviv, Israel.
 
Sync: What is Locker for iPhone?

Jonathan Oron: Locker introduces a new concept to the iPhone: sending and receiving secret text messages. Say you want to send someone the secret message: ‘Want to meet me for lunch?’. Just type the message into the LOCKER app and press ENCODE. The encoded text message will look something like this:

‘GxN2c3phI3dMuX/3BiN0OjdxNS0QQX4X+AFeChQbUTnEEHmm
ASDItKvPnQfQqLHNf67mNnaQpjboeQrq23XBNk937Pozwi+6B3H7O
sa+FA5fJ7peYvJ2+hmvcOoG5DTYlVJNQLbuJy1TBTxuoYGkH7IotIO8L8GL’

Now you can easily send the secret text message without fear of someone other than the recipient reading it. Once the message’s recipient receives the encoded message he can just paste it into LOCKER and decode the secret message.

Sync: Cool, but, er, why is there a need for this app?

J.O.: Locker makes text messages unreadable to other people looking at or using your iPhone. It is both a privacy tool and an entertainment app. All of us in the studio have stopped sending regular text messages and now communicate with each other solely through secret Locker messages. It makes us feel like spies.

Sync: LOL, got it. Can you please give me an example or two of a common scenario you want to avoid, and how this app can help?

J.O.: A very common scenario would be a friend or family member playing a game on your iPhone when suddenly a incoming personal text message pops up on the screen. If the message was encoded with Locker the text would be unreadable. In general, Locker lets you give people access to your phone without worrying about them stumbling onto your private text messages. You can also easily encode secret messages and send as them as e-mails or publish them to websites like Twitter and Facebook. You can for instance, make a Facebook post that is public but only readable with Locker.

Sync: Do both people need an iPhone for this to work?

J.O.: Yes. Both the message’s sender and recipient need an iPhone and a copy of locker.

Sync: For people who want to create an iPhone app, what advice can you give?

J.O.: At this point in time the main issue facing app developers is probably differentiation. There are almost 100,000 applications in the iTunes app store so getting your app noticed is becoming a bit of a challenge. Think about what makes your app different. Give users a reason to pick your application over all the others out there.

Sync: Thanks, Jonathan, good luck with Locker.

Filed Under: Utilities > iTunes
Tags: app, Apple, block, how, iPhone, locker, message, phone, private, secret, sms, text