Readers who suspect the entire Shabbos App is a huge hoax can find ample confirmations for your doubts in Rabbi Yaakov Menken’s The Shabbos App is a Farce.
The makers of the new Shabbos App, which they boast can allow orthodox Jews use their smartphones on the Sabbath without violating Jewish Law, have made the stunning decision of ending their Kickstarter campaign.
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Since the new app was first announced it has gotten a great deal of buzz. Rabbis have condemned it and many said that it was surely just a hoax or an Internet prank. “How can any Sabbath observing Jew even consider using their cell phone on Shabbos?” people asked.
Yossi Goldstein, who came up with the idea for the app, says it is no joke and that he really believes there is a use for it.
In a posting on their website, the Shabbos App developers stated that they chose to have a Kickstarter campaign only to determine, “how many people would buy the Shabbos App if we fully developed it.” They needed time to develop it and to take the app from concept to production.
But now they have achieved their goals. The social media campaign for the Shabbos App, they say, was a complete success and they will be ready to release it on December 1 on Google Play.
Kickstarter is a place where new companies that only need small amounts of funding in the thousands of dollars to get started. It also allows entrepreneurs to get word of their new ideas out to the public while they seek other sources of funding.
Donors receive gifts and other forms of compensation, rather than a piece of the company. Now that they have ended their Kickstarter campaign, the people who did donate to it will receive a free app.
In response to complaints and concerns raised by many people about how the app fully abides by Jewish law, such as the prohibition against writing on Shabbat, Goldstein has said that they have upgraded it.
It has a new wordpad where a user can pick from pre-made word blocks and create sentences. There are 120 included words and 30 words that a user can add (before Shabbos). With the new wordpad there is no problem at all of Kosev (writing), as the user is never creating a word.
Also, messages can only be sent to other phones that have the app. This was done to allay concerns that it would be used to conduct business on the Sabbath which is prohibited.
