Dexetra launches Knock, a mobile app that lets you reply to messages with a single swipe

Have you ever been in a situation where you got a message, but were unable to reply instantly? What if you could just swipe to respond with a simple 'yes' or 'no'? Knock does just that. It is a mobile app, developed by Dexetra, that lets you convert your messages to a 'call'.

According to a market research conducted by Dexetra, close to 70% calls made, are status calls such as 'Where are you?', 'Are we on for dinner tonight?', 'How about a movie?' etc. These questions can be easily answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no'.

Messaging is one way to go about it but it doesn’t warrant an immediate response and it costs money!

"We put ourselves in the shoes of a respondent, and figured out that she might be in a meeting or maybe driving. It is next to impossible to respond to each message/text instantaneously. A call will not work either, for the very same reasons. So, we started out with brainstorming on how we can help the users to do away with these status calls while still getting the message through," says Anusha Jayanti, Product Lead, Dexetra.

The solution was to have a messaging system wherein a user can send a message to his/her contacts who are on the same platform. The message would be depicted as a call at the receiving end. The receiver can swipe to respond with a ‘yes’, ‘no’, share current location, send a message or call back. What’s more? If a knock is not responded to in 60 seconds, it’s deleted and the sender is notified.

"We have been working on this for a few months now. What started out as a hobby project just kept evolving making believers out of the entire team. It was the sheer freshness of the idea that has worked in its favor," said Narayan Babu, co-founder/CEO, Dexetra."We think it’s a fair assumption that calls induce more actions in comparison to a message or text. Therefore, mimicking the call screen is our approach to get a prompt response," explains Nithin John, co-founder, Dexetra.

Knock is completely free - both to install and use. Knock uses your 3G or WiFi to communicate with friends. Sending a knock is as simple as sending a message. When you get a knock, you can respond with a single swipe. You can respond with a yes/no/message/call or location. The response is visible in the home screen.

"Knock is ephemeral like Snapchat, real time like Viber or Skype, simple setup like Whatsapp or WeChat. But realtime and effective like a phone call!" adds Narayan.

The team will be adding number and contact blocking features to the app in the upcoming updates.

Knock is live on Google Play. Do download and share your feedback with us.