Dad invents genius mobile phone app that forces your kids to reply to your texts

Nick Herbert has created the app installed into your child's phone which freezes their phone screens until they reply to texts sent by their mums and dads.

Nick was inspired by his son Ben, 14, who was notoriously bad at responding to his dad's messages.

The app, called ReplyASAP, means your child's phone will ping every time you text them, even if it's on silent.

The text messages then take over the screen. The receiver has the option of snoozing the message for up to three minutes - but the texts are still displayed large on the screen. And it works both ways. Children can also send parents messages which take over their screens.

Every text comes with a location so parents know exactly where their children are when they send a message.

When Nick invented the app in 2017, it was only supposed to be something he and his son used, but it's since had more than 100,000 downloads.

He's now temporary taken it offline for further developments.