Skip to main content

Icelandic anti-incest app keeps residents from becoming kissin’ cousins

Screen Shot 2013-04-16 at 6.51.49 PM

Iceland does not have a large population, but many of its most celebrated citizens are known for their progressive, quirky attitudes, like Bjork, or badass Reykjavik mayor Jon Gnarr.

Iceland likes to keep it weird, but weird as in they voted for a mayor who ran as a member of the “Best Party” and used to be a comedian and punk rocker. Weird as in drinking more Coca-Cola per capita than any other country in the world. Not weird as in having babies with close relatives.

Unfortunately, since there are only around 320,000 people living in Iceland, and most share common ancestors, almost everyone is related to each other distantly. This is cool if you want to claim kinhood with Sigur Ros but disturbing when you think about how easy it might be to accidentally crush on a cousin. So people are working to make sure relatives stay out of each others’ bedrooms by embracing technology.

An anti-virus software developer named Friðrik Skúlason developed an online database called “The Book of Icelanders” to help people trace their genetic heritage online, and now three app developers took the database and made an explicitly anti-incest feature on their “Book of Icelanders” app, which is available in beta for Android phones.Screen Shot 2013-04-16 at 6.46.44 PM

The app developers are three Icelandic men named Arnar Freyr Aðalsteinsson, Hákon Þrastar Björnsson, and Alexeander Annas Helgason, who work together at a development group called Sad Engineer Studios.

When asked what they official slogan is – since all copy is written in Icelandic – the developers tell us the app’s motto is “Bump in the app before you bump in the bed.”

They explain that the app goes beyond a basic search function. “We added a birthday calendar to make sure you don’t forget your relatives birthday. The app even reminds you on the date, to guarantee you won’t forget it. The other big feature we introduced was the Bump. This feature enables users of the app to bump two phones together to instantly see how they are related. The ‘Incest Prevention’ is a fun feature that the user can enable through the options menu which will notify him with both text and sound if the one he bumps with someone who is too related to him.”

“We aren’t sure if other countries have such interestingly interwoven bloodlines like we do, but we’re pretty sure the Icelandic genealogy database is unique in it’s completeness. So even if the need is there, other countries would first have to build a similar database before considering a smartphone implementation.”

We asked if they knew of any cases where incest had definitely been prevented. “We have no proof that the app has prevented such an unfortunate relation but it’s nice to know a such prevention exists today. One reviewer on Google’s Play Store claims that it would have prevented it if he had it last year, but we highly suspect it to be a joke.” We sincerely hope so. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
How to post a Short on YouTube
Two mobile devices showing two people dancing in YouTube Shorts videos.

Shorts are short-form videos and they're basically YouTube's answer to TikTok. And similar to how you can create and post TikTok videos using the TikTok app, you can record, edit, and post Shorts directly from the YouTube mobile app.

And in this guide, we're going to show you how to do just that. Keep reading to learn how to post a Short on YouTube.

Read more
Hive Social is my favorite Twitter alternative, but that’s not saying much
iPhone 14 Pro in hand showing off profile page on Hive Social app

Ever since Elon Musk bought Twitter, it seems that the once-favorite social media site has just been going down in flames. It’s a sad sight to see — fake news and misinformation running rampant from paid “verified” accounts, restoration of formerly banned accounts (they were banned for good reason), and so much other stuff that I just can’t keep up anymore. With all of these changes, there’s been a rise in alternatives to Twitter, like the incredibly popular Mastodon.

I prefer something simpler, like the new Hive Social that has recently made waves. Think of Twitter and Instagram, and what you would end up with if you combined the two. There’s also a little dash of Myspace in there, as you can even add some music to your profile page. I’ve been poking around on Hive Social since I joined a week ago, and while I’ve been enjoying my time there, I also noticed a few things along the way.
Hive reminds me of the early days of Twitter
OnePlus 10T Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Read more
How to delete a BeReal post
BeReal app showing a photo of some clothes.

BeReal posts are meant to show you as you are, but sometimes that level of authenticity is just too awkward to post. Sometimes the app's automatic selfie capture takes a selfie that's just too goofy to share with your friends.

Or maybe you'd just rather take a photo of something else for today's BeReal prompt. In any case, if you're unhappy with a BeReal post you just published, don't worry. You can delete it. And we can show you how. We'll go over what you need to know about deleting BeReal posts and then we'll guide you step-by-step on how to properly delete a BeReal post.

Read more