Tonightish app offers parents new, efficient way to find sitter
Apr 12, 2013, 1:12 PM | Updated: 2:38 pm
Parents looking to have a night out on the town may have a new way to get their kids covered. (Image courtesy iTunes)
(Image courtesy iTunes)
Parents looking for a night out on the town may have a new way babysitter. App creator Susie Kroll tells GeekWire on KIRO Radio her app Tonightish may allow parents once again get out of the house on the fly.
“I personally miss, as a parent, being able to do things spontaneously, which is one of the reasons that I created this app in the first place,” says Kroll. “I found myself flipping a coin with my husband about who gets to go out tonight when we got last minute invitations.”
In her experience, most of Kroll’s babysitters were referred from friends. This group of sitters seemed to be the most trusted. Her goal was to create a resource that would pool these referred sitters.
When users sign up for the app, Kroll explains, they can refer their trusted sitters. Then they can invite friends to share contacts.
“You decide (which) close friends you want to share sitters with and you expand your trusted circle of sitters.”
Kroll says they designed the app to be as simple as possible, so there are only three buttons on the app’s main page. The first button selects the date, second button selects a time, and third button selects a sitter.
When selecting a sitter, you can submit a job opportunity to any number of sitters in your network.
“You can select all the sitters in your network if you want to message multiple sitters simultaneously.”
If the invite is sent out to multiple sitters, it indicates to them how many have been offered the opportunity. Sitters can then respond to the offer in real-time with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ text. Once a sitter is selected, the others are notified with a message that thanks them but tells them the job has been filled.
Tonightish is currently available for free in the app store, and Kroll says they continue to make improvements. The next thing they’re working on developing is an automatic payment system to make booking, as well as paying, the sitter easier than ever.
Listen to Susie Kroll’s full interview on this week’s podcast. GeekWire can be heard on KIRO Radio Saturdays at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Also available anytime ON DEMAND at KIRORadio.com.
