Do you hate conference calls? Do you hate having a thing just appear on your calendar with some sort of dial-in information that you always forget and then you have to go to your calendar with phone in hand and dial some numbers and then wait for a digital voice to welcome you and ask for a code and then you have to dial some more numbers? And if at any point you get any of it wrong, you have to go back and try to get the numbers right again?
Well, a startup called Callr has solved at least some of those problems — namely the need to search for, find and dial those elusive conference call numbers yourself. And now it has an iOS app and an Android app that will make it even easier for you to manage calls you’re scheduled to make.
Callr works like this: You hook it into your calendar and it automatically ingests all the details for upcoming calls. Then, when it comes time for your meeting to start, Callr dials into your meeting for you, then calls your phone and instantly connects you.
Callr saves you at least a few minutes of fumbling with dial-in codes and whatnot, and also makes sure you dial in to your meeting on time. (Actually, it generally dials you in a minute before a meeting starts, just to make you look good.) If you happen to miss a call, or can’t pick up at the very moment a call starts, Callr allows you to just call it back and it will automatically connect you to your conference.
Anyway, it’s been one of my favorite new tools ever since I started using it a few months ago. And with its new mobile apps, Callr is making managing conference calls even easier.
The main advantage to the app is that it gets new users signed up faster, since it can simply connect with the phone’s calendar to ingest meetings. It also provides more granular tools around snoozing calls if you can’t pick up right at the time they happen. Finally, Callr on your smartphone will allow deep linking with meetings that are supposed to happen on Skype, allowing users to quickly get connected through the messaging platform’s mobile app.
While Callr has only been available for the last four months, it’s connected 14,000 calls for users, according to Callr founder Mike Endale. (It doesn’t count calls that aren’t connected.) And people are actually listening in on those calls. Endale says the average call lasts 17 minutes after users are connected.
Anyway, the Callr app. Try it. It’s awesome.