Soon, numbers starting with 8 will no longer be valid: a free app has been created to update them | Business

Good news for those who are just planning to update their contacts – a Lithuanian has created a convenient and completely free app that will update contacts faster in a few seconds. It has already been tried by thousands.

From this year March 1 The new national prefix 0 for telephone numbers has started operating in Lithuania, but many residents still have a number of contacts in their telephone address books whose numbers start with the old prefix 8, which will expire in a few months. Therefore, it is worth preparing for changes now.

Personal archive photo/Mantas Žirgulis

Created a convenient and free solution

Programmer Mantas Žirgulis decided to help his compatriots. The man took his own initiative and created a completely free application called “+370”, which will help you update contacts in the phone book. “I know there may be people who still copy contacts from one phone to another by hand. So I think that in this case too, there will be people who think that you should update contacts by editing each of them on your phone.

The app I created is not the first one that can update contacts for you. Communication operators are already inviting residents to come to salons to update contacts, sending various instructions on how to do it yourself. But I was very surprised when I saw that operators recommend third-party apps in English, which is very inconvenient. Especially for older people. That’s why I sat down and created an easy-to-use, Lithuanian app that everyone can understand, which anyone can download and use completely free of charge,” says M. Žirgulis.

The man-made app, called +370, is already available on Google Store, Apple Store and other platforms, and works on both Android users and iPhone handsets. It is extremely easy to use. Just download the app, let it access your contacts and it will tell you how many of them still have the old prefix. With the click of one button, the app will automatically update all contacts and you won’t have to do anything.

Assessed by businessmen and journalists

Although the author of the app, M. Žirgulis, has been programming for more than 15 years, this product is the first app created by him. Plus, it’s free. The man says that he didn’t do it with the goal of making money, but out of a desire to help his relatives and share his knowledge, and those who want to say thank you can leave a tip to the creator of the app. “My goal was not to make money. And I see that the desire to help has succeeded. I get a lot of feedback and positive ratings. Although there are other, foreign apps on the market, users most appreciate that the product I created is the simplest and fastest, there are no obscure configurations, and it often takes less than a minute to update contacts. I am glad that the app has already been tried and recommended by many people, including vloggers, entrepreneurs, journalists and others.

Also, this work I’ve done guarantees that my Christmas will be a little more festive. Since I am a computer scientist in the family, I can already imagine how it would have been to sit at the festive table and help everyone with number conversion. Therefore, I wanted to make life easier for myself and for my friends with a similar fate. Share the news about +370 app with their parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents and elderly neighbors who may need help updating their existing contacts. Maybe they have already started doing it manually,” says M. Žirgulis.

Thousands of compatriots have already tried it

He estimates that more than 5,000 people have used the app so far. M. Žirgulis says that he receives questions about whether it is safe to trust the app with his contacts. He reassures that the app does not collect your contacts, which is also noted on the platforms where it can be downloaded. “I can assure you that the app does not collect or store any data, that is, phone numbers do not leave the phone. Both Apple and Google are very strict in this matter, so audits are performed first, and only then the app is approved and an attachment is added that the app does not actually collect data.