Daydreaming, yellow lights and aggressive drivers can separate real estate agents from homebuyers as they caravan from one home to the next.
Enter Follow. The new mobile app, which is available for both Apple and Android devices, makes it easy for the two to stick together or reconnect when separated.
Agents can prompt clients to download the app through a text message and then send an invite for new user to “follow” them inside the app.
Users can then track the agent’s location on Google Maps and activate voice directions to stay linked up. The app will also guide a client along the shortest path to the agent if the two are separated.
To prevent separation, the app will notify the follower if the leader changes course — perhaps by pulling off a highway, for example.
Follow stands apart from other tracking apps, such as Find My Friends, because it’s designed to support businesses and to avoid spooking users, according to Lucido.
Some apps prompt users to decide whether to allow followers to track them indefinitely or for a specified period of time. Merely presenting those options can unnerve users by raising the specter of prolonged surveillance, Lucido said.
“The leader for security purposes holds all of the power,” Lucido said. “Follow does not allow for a lifetime follow … as soon as you’re done showing those houses, you press ‘end journey.'”
Follow lets users enable one person to track their location for free. To add more followers, users must upgrade to a premium version for $1.
