Play Marco Polo with your iPhone using this new useful app

By

Marco Polo

Remember those summer days of yore, playing in the pool with your friends, and one of you would close your eyes and yell out Marco? And all your buddies, who got to keep their eyes open, yelled Polo!*

Now you can find wherever you’ve lost your iPhone in your house, car, or office cubicle by shouting at it with the nifty and useful new app, Marco Polo: Find Your Phone by Shouting MARCO!, which may be the longest name for an app, ever.

Marco! Polo! Marco! … Polo!

When you download this $0.99 app to your iPhone, you can launch it and then use your iPhone as usual. When you shout “Marco!” near enough for your iPhone to “hear” you, the app will respond with a auditory, “Polo!”

Which is funny enough, right? Even better, there are over 30 different voice recordings you can trigger in response to your shout out, just to keep things fresh. You can even customize the phrase you yell, in case you’re not much of a traditionalist.

What’s super funny is running around the house shouting for your iPhone, and then having it actually respond. My kids and I played a game today where they’d hide the iPhone and I’d stalk the various rooms, yelling, “Marco!” When my iPhone shouted back, “Polo!” I would win the game and then they’d hide it again. This is how you parent, people.

The app works even when your device is in sleep or silent mode, but you do have to have started the app first. It works in the background, too, and provides a Volume Boost to make sure you hear it’s plaintive cry even if you leave the volume low. The app will also light up your screen so you can see it in a darkened room.

Marco Polo: Find your Phone by Shouting MARCO! is a fantastic way to make sure you don’t misplace your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch around the house without being able to find it. Skip Find my iPhone and just start yelling, “Marco!”

* If you don’t remember Marco Polo, check out this video from Uncharted 2 to help you remember how it goes (or just enjoy the best video game joke ever).

Source: App Store

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.