Abigail Klein Leichman
June 6, 2016

How many times have you tried to call someone but the line was busy? And when the person calls you back, you’re busy?

MyState, an Israeli app for iOS and Android that raised $6.5 million from private US investors, lets you see if your contacts are available before you try calling.

MyState icons (automatic or custom-set by the user) indicate if your friend is currently on a call, offline, driving, in a different time zone, charging the phone or low on battery. It also lets you know if your contact prefers to be reached via text message, WhatsApp or phone call, and whether the phone is on vibrate or silent.

Users can type out their own status message, if they choose.

MyState allows users to maintain their privacy by not showing their status to all or specific contacts, or sharing certain statuses with certain groups such as family, friends or colleagues. The app preserves privacy by, for example, showing if a user is in a different time zone without sharing the exact location.

A key feature of MyState is the “Crunch” button, which is used when a contact is speaking on the phone. By pressing the Crunch button, your smartphone will notify you when the contact is off the phone, and notify the contact that you are trying to get in touch.

Other features include Smart Invitation, which detects the contacts you communicate with the most and lets you invite them to join MyState with a single tap; and Communication Center, which displays mutual communication apps between users and allows the option of using them from a central location

“The phone has evolved so much since its invention, yet the issue of call coordination has remained,” said CMO Zvika Starkman.

“We solved the problem of wasting energy and pent-up frustration from playing phone tag, and waiting on busy signals. This is just the first step of where MyState could take its users. Imagine the future possibilities, like coordinating a conference call with the tap of the Crunch button the moment all parties are available.”

Based in Tel Aviv, the company was founded in 2014 by a group of serial entrepreneurs.

For more information, click here.

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