I'm using an app for a theater project. The idea is that there are a few phones in the audience and some audience members are receiving text messages from characters in the show.
A few details.
- This app will only be running on about a half dozen phones, we'll be hiding in the audience before seating.
- These phones won't be connected to a service plan.
- We'll be doing this in venues where we may not have access to wifi.
- The show itself uses prerecorded audio, so once the program starts, if it starts at the correct time, it will be synched enough to the show.
- This is a show built for a small audience arranged a particular way, so the devices should never be more than about ~20 feet away from the backstage area.
I've put together a program that I'm happy with which displays the messages with the correct timing. Right now a button press starts the sequence. The problem is that since we want the phones to be pre-set before the audience is there, there's a little bit of variability in whether the show is able to start perfectly on time, which would throw off the timers.
Ideally I would love some way to essentially push that button on a half dozen phones from backstage. I'm wondering if there's a Bluetooth approach that would work, or some third party app or extension which can somehow send that GO signal to all the phones.
Apologies if this is too broad. I've searched the archives and if there's anything that applies, I don't know enough about that approach to see it yet. I've seen references to a bluetooth shutter, but they don't seem to be able to pair with multiple devices.
Any suggestions are very appreciated.