agent for androidHalf the reason I’m writing this post is because I finally got my HTC One M8 to Bluetooth connect to my Honda Civic. Apparently a recent update the HTC Car app made them compatible with each other.

Now that the Bluetooth connection works, I can take full advantage of Agent for Android, the app I will miss the most if I make the switch back to iOS.

Agent basically does one thing. It automatically silences your phone based on certain criteria. If you give it access to your calendar, it will silence your phone during meetings. In my other job as a business coach, this is essential. Few things kill a session more than a ringing phone. Once the meeting is over, Agent stops silencing it.

If your car is connected via Bluetooth to your phone, Agent will automatically silence your it. Since I prefer not to answer the phone or be distracted by incoming text messages while driving, I love this feature. There is a beta feature where it uses your GPS to determine when you are moving, but that will drain battery fast. It also doesn’t recognize when you’re on public transportation. I forgot I had that feature activated when I was on the Metro, and I missed a couple of text messages from my husband. Ooops.

Speaking of which, you can set Agent to send back a “I’m in a meeting” or “I’m driving” message to specified contacts, giving them a way to get through if it’s urgent. My husband could have gotten to me if he’d really had to.

You can also program times of day when Agent will silence your phone. I use this feature at bedtime, and I’ve set different times for evenings and weekends. My silent time on weekends starts at 6 PM. Now you know, just in case you decided to call me on a weekend evening.

I love this app! I used to be really bad about remembering to silence my phone in meetings, and I hated the distraction. While I’ve never been in an accident, I do recognize the distraction of driving and talking on the phone, even hands-free, so I appreciate that Agent removes the temptation entirely.

Unfortunately, Apples doesn’t allow third-party apps to silence their phones, so there’s no equivalent app for iOS. As much as my HTC annoys me, I do acknowledge the advantages to Android as an operating system for automating certain tasks.

Anyone else use and love Agent?

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