We’ve all send a text or two that we regret. Even now, as I am writing this, I can think of a handful that make me question why I am allowed access to my phone during certain parts of my life. Wouldn’t it be great if there was some way we could recall those messages we instantly regret sending, making sure the other person never receives them?

Thanks to Maci Peterson (BA/Public Relations and Advertising ’09), we can now be saved from embarrassment. By day, Peterson is a brand manager for Marriott International. But in her free time, she is the co-founder and CEO of On Second Thought, a start-up that has developed an app of the same name. On Second Thought is a messaging app that lets you recall texts before they even get to the other person’s phone.

Maci Peterson at the SXSW Pitch Competition


Maci Peterson at the SXSW Pitch Competition



“Like everyone else, I’ve sent a few embarrassing text messages. I honestly think auto-correct has a vendetta against me,” Peterson said. After an unfortunate text exchange with an ex-boyfriend, Peterson came up with the idea for the app. She took her idea to a pitch competition at South by Southwest, and won first place. That was all the validation she needed to see that it was something people would be interested in.

They hired a team abroad to help build the app in July 2014, with a scheduled release of November. As they got closer to their release date, Peterson asked a domestic team to take a look it to help them get done on time. Unfortunately, they reported back that the coding was a mess, and they would have to start from square one again. Fortunately, this team was able to build the app from scratch again in 6 weeks, allowing it to launch in December of 2014 to great success.

On Second Thought is extremely easy to use. Once downloaded, your phone will prompt you to set it as the default SMS app. You go into the app’s settings and set the amount of time you have to ost (or recall) a message. Provided you do set it as your default SMS app, all of your messages will be sent through On Second Thought, allowing you to just swipe to ost it!

Image of On Second Thought App interface


In addition to being able to recall the messages, there is an additional feature coming soon called Curfew, which is for the times you know you’ll be going out late and might forget about sending messages for one reason or another. By setting a time for your Curfew in the settings, all of your messages will be held until the next morning. When the curfew expires, you’ll be able to review the messages you tried to send…and get rid of those ones you would have regretted later!

“Curfew actually wasn’t my idea,” Peterson said. “My dad thought of it first, then a friend who’s a banker on Wall Street suggested it as well. I thought it was brilliant and immediately added it to our features list.”

Peterson started at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts as a Film Production student, but then switched over to Public Relations and Advertising. She credits her time at Dodge as helping her get on the road to where she is now.

“At its core, my degree merged English and business; two disciplines that are important for any entrepreneur to study. I’m thankful for my professors’, especially Cory O’Connor’s, willingness to allow me to explore my entrepreneurial curiosity by using class projects to begin my pursuit of those endeavors.”

On Second Thought is free to download on the
Google Play store
.

You can find out more about the app, and how it works, by visiting their website at:
www.onsecondthought.co