Shabbos App

The Shabbos App claimed to be a proposed Android app to enable Orthodox Jews, and Jewish Sabbath-observers, to use a smartphone on the Sabbath. The app was supposed to appear in late 2014. Some argued from the outset that this project was nothing more than an elaborate hoax or prank.

A team of ten software developers at YidTec, Inc., including Yossi Goldstein, Yitz Appel, Yehuda Levi, and other programmers, were working on the app.

On October 22, 2014, its developers stated on the Shabbos App website that they were planning to release the app with full functionality on December 1, 2014, on Google Play. In this announcement, the developers also stated that the application is legitimate and not a hoax or a joke. The developers announced on November 16 that they were running behind schedule.

Under Jewish law, as interpreted by mainstream Orthodox Jewish rabbis, Jews are not allowed to work on the Sabbath, which is a day of rest, and Orthodox Jews do not turn electricity on or off on the Sabbath. An exception to these prohibitions is those situations that involve saving lives.

The developers said that the Shabbos App was built in a manner that avoids and resolves the Jewish law problems related to using a smartphone by texting on the Sabbath, allowing observant Jews to text on the Sabbath.

They also said the screen stays lit for the entire day, texts can be automatically deleted, and an indicator lights green when plugging in the phone will not immediately trigger charging it.

The app was controversial in some Orthodox Jewish circles.

Rabbi Moshe Elefant of the Orthodox Union and Rabbi Yair Hoffman both spoke out against the app. The Orthodox Union ran two opinion pieces against the app as well as another piece by Rabbi Ari Kahn which was also run by Aish.com. Rabbi Dr. Raphael Zarum, Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies wrote that the Shabbos App developers: