Bad date rescue app fakes emergency phone call

Bad Date Rescue allows users to "fake" an incoming call to their iPhone in order to break up a bad date. (eHarmony/iTunes)


Few things are more awkward than a really bad first date, which is why an arsenal of known "escape tactics" exist for those who happen to find themselves in the middle of one.

The problem with sneaking out the window or spontaneously falling ill, however, is that these moves often fail to spare your date's feelings.

Enter the Bad Date Rescue App; a free iOS tool developed by online dating company Eharmony that allows anyone to end an awkward night out gracefully, and believably.

With the touch of a button, the app will simulate a fake phone emergency phone call.

"Schedule a call from your mom, who will inform you that your sister is having a baby! Your neighbor, informing you a water pipe in your apartment has sprung a leak! Your boss, who just found out everything at the office isn't working and needs your help NOW!" reads the app's description in the iTunes store.

Users can specify when the call will arrive and even choose a 'repeat after me' script to make their escape as believable as possible.

And unlike similar apps, this one will actually simulate a voice on the other end of the line.

"There are all sorts of reasons for why people would want to get out of a date," said Arvind Mishra, director of product management at eHarmony to Reuters.

"We can all sympathize because we have all been on bad dates in our lifetime."

Have you ever been on an awful date? Did you try to get out of it before it was over? If so, how?