When engineer and Shortcut Labs co-founder Joacim Westlund wanted to track his tobacco consumption, he developed an app for it. But pulling out his phone and navigating through multiple apps to find the right one proved frustrating, so he decided to create a shortcut through the process.
From that niche frustration has come Flic, a silicone button the size of two pound coins stuck together that triggers specific functions on a smartphone. It has an adhesive back so it can be stuck on a wall or cupboard, or attached with a clip to a belt, jacket or a bag strap.
The Flic has been developed as a bridge between the increasing number of functions that can be achieved on a phone – from turning on the lights and the stereo to ordering a taxi – and the practicalities of everyday life, where people do not want to have to search through apps.
It has attracted a large following even before it has been launched. The company raised almost $900,000 (£590,000) for the button on crowdfunding website Indiegogo this year – eight times its target. The 60,000 preorders for the product will soon be sent out to customers. One currently costs $34 although the price reduces as the number bought increases.
The button has just three different functions but can be used in many situations, from the trivial (taking a selfie) to more serious (as a panic alarm for epileptics).
“We figured out that there are several things that we can do with this button, [like] having a wireless safety button for my girlfriend when she walks home at night,” said Pranav Kosuri, who co-founded the Stockholm-based Shortcut Labs, which has developed the device, along with Westlund and Amir Sharifat.
The button is effectively a trigger for a range of actions on the mobile phone, which must be within 150 feet to work. Three functions can be programmed into the button and are activated by pressing it once or twice, or holding it down. Its creators hope it will become a popular interface to navigate around smart devices instead of scrolling through a screen.
The device also connects with current commercial products such as Philips Hue lights, which can switch from one colour to another. The Nest smart thermostat – which “learns” and manages the heating patterns of a house – can also be programmed to be used via the Flic, as can wireless Sonos speakers, which can be set to play with the press of the button. A click can also take a picture which is then immediately sent to a cloud service such as Dropbox.
“I have a button by my door at home. One press and I find my phone. If I tap it twice then I get a message when the next bus is coming. If I hold in the button then it sends a predetermined text message to my colleagues saying that I am 10 minutes late,” Kosuri said.
A common reaction to the Flic is that people are underwhelmed by the simplicity of the device. Kosuri said he felt this himself when the idea was first suggested – until the range of possibilities it could be used for became clear.
“My mother had that reaction – ‘why would I need a button?’. I had to go through 30 different use cases before she had that realisation that that is something which [she] would need. The thing that she wanted to have was a ‘find my phone’ button because she was always struggling to find her phone when she was going out from the apartment and she was stressed,” he said.
“[My grandmother] lives in India and has grandkids all around the world so what I did was I put a picture frame of all of her grandkids [with buttons underneath]. She has a smartphone but she is really struggling with it so now it is so convenient. She just presses the button and then it calls that person on Skype. I have a phone next to her night table.”
Linking up the internet of things
The Flic capitalises on the rapid advancement of the “internet of things”, the idea that devices in and outside of the home will increasingly communicate with each other. The Flic aims to be “a bridge between the smart world and the physical world”, says Kosuri, meaning that simple interactions between man and machine – such as the light switch – can remain but be performed in a smarter and more versatile way.
- You can read our archive of The Innovators columns on the Big Innovation Centre website where you will find more information on how Big Innovation Centre supports innovative enterprise in Britain and globally.
