JotYou: location-based text messages

JotYou is a new location-based SMS text message service which sends you reminders when your friends are about to arrive at a specified meeting point.

Essentially a ‘welcome to the area’-type greeting, the JotYou service works like this. You text a friend (one or many) whom you’re planning to meet, specifying the time and place of the meeting using the map on the JotYou website, or an address from your mobile.

When your friend(/s) arrives at the location, he or she will receive your text message containing information about that specific location.

Greetings

So, if you were meeting someone for lunch in London’s Oxford Circus, the text message wouldn’t be delivered until the person was getting close to the specified location.

You could also use the service to send reminders to yourself; notes to remind you to pick up the dry-cleaning on the way home, or return those books to the library when you pass by.

Messages can be sent from either a mobile phone or a computer. You’ll need to sign up to the JotYou service, but there’s no charge involved. We’ve contacted JotYou to see if there are any specific handset requirements and will update the story as soon as we get any more info.

JotYou can also be used for social activities like games, events and contests, the developers said. Users can track groups on a map as they move from location to location.