Who presses the buttons — staff or customers?

Staff. The station sits behind the counter, facing whoever is on the desk. Nothing about it is designed to be handed to the public, and a press carries no information about the customer standing there.

How is this different from a group chat?

It is one press rather than unlocking a phone and typing, and it is visible rather than buried in a thread with everything else. The part a chat cannot do is show, at a glance, that somebody has already picked it up — which is what stops two people arriving and nobody arriving.

Can we have one at each counter?

Yes. Stations are added individually and each one has its own name and its own buttons, so a notification says which counter it came from. Two desks with different needs do not have to share a set of buttons.

Does the person on the desk need to sign in?

No, and that is what makes it work for a rota. The station is connected once with a 12-digit code and stays connected; whoever is on shift just presses. Nothing records who was standing there.

What if the person who usually answers is off?

Everyone connected is notified, not one nominated person, so cover is a matter of who is on their phone rather than who was configured. Adding or removing a colleague takes a code, and removing one does not disturb anything else.

For front desks and counters

Get somebody from the back without leaving the front

Whoever is on the desk cannot go and find a colleague, because then nobody is on the desk. GoButtons puts the request on a button instead of on a walk.

If this is the situation, it is the right thing to read

The card machine has stopped, or somebody needs a manager, or there is a question only the workshop can answer. The person who can help is thirty feet away through a door. Going to get them means leaving the desk unattended with somebody standing at it.

So instead there is a shout through a doorway, a phone call to a handset nobody picks up, or a message in a chat that gets read in four minutes. None of it tells the customer anything is happening.

How it works behind a counter

A tablet sits behind the desk showing a few large buttons, labelled for the things that actually come up. One press notifies every colleague connected, naming the counter and the button — “Front desk · Need a manager”.

Whoever is going replies or clears it, and everyone else sees who. The person on the desk gets a status line telling them the message landed and that somebody is coming, which is something they can pass on to the customer in front of them.

Nothing about this is a care product

GoButtons started with families, and the two words it is built around — the station with the buttons on it, and the people who receive the presses — were chosen to be true of any room rather than of one situation.

A front desk is the plainest version of the same shape: somebody who cannot leave where they are, and colleagues who would come if they knew. The accessibility work behind the buttons — very large targets, high contrast, no menus — is not wasted here either. It is what makes a button findable at a glance by somebody mid-conversation with a customer.

What GoButtons is not

It matters more here than it would for most software, because the thing it looks like from a distance is a thing that people's safety depends on. It is not that, and we would rather lose the sale than be misunderstood about it.

It is not a panic button, a duress alarm, or a personal safety device, and it must not be bought as one. There is no silent alert, no escalation, and nobody monitoring it.
It is not a security or emergency system of any kind. Nothing about it is designed for a situation where somebody is in danger.
It does not guarantee that anyone sees a press, and it sets no response time. Phones get silenced and put down.
It is not a queue system, a ticketing system, or a customer-facing call bell. The buttons face your staff, not the public.

What it is: a fast, dignified way to say something to people who have agreed to listen. If you need a guaranteed response, a monitored alarm or anything a clinician would sign off, you need a different product and probably a service contract.

Questions people ask

Who presses the buttons — staff or customers?: Staff. The station sits behind the counter, facing whoever is on the desk. Nothing about it is designed to be handed to the public, and a press carries no information about the customer standing there.
How is this different from a group chat?: It is one press rather than unlocking a phone and typing, and it is visible rather than buried in a thread with everything else. The part a chat cannot do is show, at a glance, that somebody has already picked it up — which is what stops two people arriving and nobody arriving.
Can we have one at each counter?: Yes. Stations are added individually and each one has its own name and its own buttons, so a notification says which counter it came from. Two desks with different needs do not have to share a set of buttons.
Does the person on the desk need to sign in?: No, and that is what makes it work for a rota. The station is connected once with a 12-digit code and stays connected; whoever is on shift just presses. Nothing records who was standing there.
What if the person who usually answers is off?: Everyone connected is notified, not one nominated person, so cover is a matter of who is on their phone rather than who was configured. Adding or removing a colleague takes a code, and removing one does not disturb anything else.

What it costs

$9.99 a month covers one station and one person besides you, after two weeks free with no card. More stations and more people are added individually, so a setup costs what it uses. The pricing page has the sums worked out, and what happens to the money if you stop.

If a payment ever fails, the buttons do not go dark. Every station keeps working and drops back to a single I need help button until it is sorted out. Someone's way of asking for help should not depend on whether a card expired.

Where this is up to

GoButtons is not in the app stores yet, so there is nothing to download from this page. It is being tested on real iOS and Android devices. This page will say so plainly on the day that changes — until then a store badge here would be a false claim.

If you want to know when it does, write to hello@gobuttons.app. It reaches a person, not a mailing list — there is nothing to sign up for here, and nothing to unsubscribe from.

Practical writing, product aside:

When asking stops — Requests get quieter long before anyone notices, and it reads as good news. What makes asking expensive, and what brings it back.
Suggesting a button — Most refusals are of the terms, not the help. What is usually being refused, and what can be offered instead.
Wording a button — Why “Assistance required” goes unpressed and “Come and chat” does not, and how to write the four or five that earn their place.
Deciding who goes — When three people could answer, often none does — and sometimes all three do. What actually fixes it.
Notification reliability — Nine reasons a phone stays silent, in the order they are likely, and what to test before anyone depends on it.
Low vision and tremor — The measurements we hold ourselves to, published in full, and why the usual accessibility minimums are far too small here.