Oh Bother is a silly little app about a silly little problem.

Since my wife and I both started working from home, we’re finding that it’s pretty easy to step on each other’s toes, so to speak, throughout the day. If I’m taking a quick break from work to make coffee, for example, I’ll often accidentally make a bunch of noise, or try to strike up a conversation, forgetting that she might be in the middle of a phone call, or just really focused on a difficult task.

Oh Bother was built to help you and your housemates avoid poorly-timed interruptions when you’re working from home together. You can set your status to either “botherable” or “unbotherable”. You can put your status on a timer, such that it flips automatically when time is up, and you can get notified when time is up, if you wish. You can also provide context for your status by indicating that you’re on the phone, or taking a nap, or going outside, or what have you.

Meanwhile, you’ll always have up-to-date info on your housemates’ statuses, synced automatically through iCloud. You can also set up notifications to let you know when a housemate’s status changes, which might come in handy if your housemate is busy, but you’re really eager to talk to them about the hilarious tweet you just wrote.

Oh Bother is a simple to use, beautifully designed, free app for iPhone. It allows users to make a small in-app purchase to support the app and get a few fun cosmetic options in return (alternate icons, color palettes, and perhaps more in the future).

Download it here: Oh Bother on the App Store

Press coverage

9to5Mac: Oh Bother is the perfect companion for keeping the peace while working at home
iMore: Oh Bother helps you avoid interrupting someone while you work from home