Greg Knauss is not a jerk. He's just a little forgetful, and sometimes he gets a little too wrapped up in his work. After 18 years of marriage, he sometimes forgets to tell his wife he loves her, even though he does.
So he created an iPhone app to remind him, called it Romantimatic, and made it available for $1.99 on the App Store in late January.
"If I could hire some guy to stand behind me and once a day kick my chair and say 'Hey, dumbass, say something nice to your wife,' I would," he tells Mashable. "It's a little easier and less creepy to have an app do it."
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To some, though, this seemed like a disturbing first step toward the ghostwritten love letters that are Her protagonist Theodore Twombly's specialty. Those people were not impressed. "This is a joke, right?" was a common refrain on Twitter.
Because what's more romantic than having to be REMINDED to tell someone you love them! http://t.co/te0MxJnPBe
— Joshua Topolsky (@joshuatopolsky) January 24, 2014
This is a joke right? https://t.co/m0kbSXdXSG It's an in-app purchase for your love life. You're not remembering if you have to reminded.
— Shaun Inman (@shauninman) January 24, 2014
If you need this app you've failed as a human being. http://t.co/Jl9G5uafZ8
— faisal sultan (@friskygeek) January 23, 2014
Knauss, a web and software developer, was floored and a little amused by the cynical response. But it got him thinking: "What is it about romantic love that makes it different than everything else we do with our lives?" he says. "I don't know how to quantify it. It's been fun, watching people object to what I thought was just a simple, useful tool."
The app is extremely simple. You enter your sweetheart's phone number, set the time and frequency with which you want to receive notifications, and wait. The app sends a push notification when it's time to call your sweetie or send her a text message.
You can choose from a set of prefab messages housed in-app, or write your own. The messages range from the generic "I love you" to the silly "My pants just vibrated, and I thought of you."
"I'm a nerd, so I put Klingon and High Elven and Dothraki in there," Knauss adds.

Image: Romantimatic
The critics' general reasoning, on the other hand, is that if you need an app to remind you to romance your sweetheart, you probably don't deserve that person. In fact, you've pretty much failed as a compassionate human being.
That's possible, too.
Knauss sees the app as simply another way to use tech to make our lives a little easier. If it can contribute in some small way to marital bliss after the initial infatuation phase ("I'm thinking about you every second of every day") wears off, all the better.
And yes, his wife knows about the app. "She downloaded a copy and has started using it herself," he says. "Though I suspect she's being sarcastic when she sends Klingon."
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