Thanks to the new Nighthawk app, Android phone users might score some extra shut eye for just $1.99 this holiday season. That’s the price tag on a new call blocking app, the brainchild of Atlanta businessman Michael Hughes. “There were a million apps out there but I needed something to block calls my way,” Hughes tells us. “This app allows you to block all calls except for the ones you don’t mind receiving in the middle of the night. Loved ones, family members, kids, whoever you want.”
Hughes’ hard-partying pals were a chief inspiration for the phone quieting device. Says Hughes: I’ll be real honest with you, I’ve got some friends on the west coast who get to drinking and suddenly it’s, ‘Whoo Hoo! Let’s call Mike!’ Midnight out there is three in the morning here. I don’t need all that!”
Users can scroll through the contacts in their phone and cherry pick which ones you wish to allow to come through between whatever hours you set it up for. The app can be set up to block pesky text messages from rolling in at unwanted hours as well.
“The majority of people I talk to keep their cell phones on at night because they’ve eliminated their landlines,” says Hughes. “If there’s an emergency and your phone’s off, that’s a real problem.” The app puts the unwanted calls into a filter and when you wake up, you can go through the app’s call and text message logs to retrieve the messages that silently rolled in overnight.
The Nighthawk also features a handy recorded call function that allows the user to record all calls coming in via a downloadable voice mail message. You have the option to record your voice, the caller’s voice or both voices (recording laws vary by state but Georgia’s wiretapping law is “one-party consent,” meaning that recording a call is legal if just one of the parties is aware of the recording). The function allows you to record business calls or any other conversations you may want to refer back to.
Hughes points out this also comes in handy in messy divorce cases, verbally abusive relationships or if you’re compiling compelling evidence for a restraining order.
“Let’s face it, Rich, we’ve got some real nuts running around out there,” Hughes says. “There was a woman in Australia who called her ex-boyfriend 65,000 times in one year. When you break that down, that’s about once every eight minutes and six seconds. That could really get on your nerves.”
Hughes has already scored a glowing Facebook endorsement from one of the most recognizable voices on Atlanta’s airwaves. His wife, B98.5 FM morning show host Vikki Locke loves the device since sleep is a necessity when you get up at 3:30 a.m. for work each weekday. Locke’s former workplace spouse Steve McCoy even gave the app a major plug on his Denver radio show before quitting the year-long gig to return to his much-missed family in Atlanta this week.
We hear that Locke isn’t using her new Nighhawk app to block McCoy’s calls either. The old Star 94 buddies enjoyed a quiet reunion off-air this week in Atlanta.
For more info on the app, go to its official Android app store page.
