The sneaky bad-date rescue app

Say you're out on a date with someone new, and the person who sparklingly met all the usual date prerequisites turns out to be... far from what you expected. What do you do? Enter the Bad Date Rescue app from the romance experts at eHarmony. The app allows you to believably excuse yourself while sparing the other person's feelings. Here's what you should know:

How does it work?

There are more than a few "fake phone call" apps already out there, says Andrew Liszewski at Gizmodo, but eHarmony's Bad Date Rescue app goes "beyond the call of duty" in a number of ways. First, you'll be able to choose precisely when the call arrives, whether that be in 3 seconds, 1 minute, or 5 minutes. Then it lets you specify the emergency: Your mom calls to tell you your sister just went into labor, for example, or your next-door neighbor rings to tell you your apartment's flooded.

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Isn't that kind of suspect?

The app combs through your address book and uses the caller's picture (if you have it), which pops up like a normal call when it comes through. The Bad Date Rescue app even uses a fake voice on the other side, and if you're not sure exactly what to say, you can use a "repeat after me" script that walks you through the delicate task of phrasing your escape.

How much is it?

It's available for the incredibly reasonable price of zero dollars in Apple's App Store for iPhone users. (No word on Android.) "Hell yeah," says Babble. "You can't put a price on freedom."

Isn't leaving a date midway kind of rude?

Consider the alternatives, says Babble. You could pretend to go to the restroom and never return. Or you could stammer your way through a health emergency and risk getting caught. Using the Bad Date Rescue app gives you the benefit of not looking like a jerk while abiding by the "stupid niceties" of a first date. "There are all sorts of reasons why people would want to get out of a date," eHarmony's Arvind Mishra tells Reuters. "We can sympathize because we have all been on bad dates in our lifetime."

Sources: Babble, Gizmodo, Reuters