According to UNICEF, 350,000 Romanian children are left behind with emotional trauma as their parents work abroad to provide them with a better life. And according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, reading stories to children helps them with their emotional development. Telekom wanted to find a way to bring parents working abroad and kids left in Romania closer together – even when they are thousands of miles apart from each other.

Solution comes in the form of a first mobile app for long-distance bedtime stories. Here is how it works:

Firstly, parents choose their kids’ favorite stories from the app. While parents read the stories on their screens, kids listen to their voices and enjoy the respective stories unfold in beautiful in-app animations. With the help of specially designed face filters, parents also become story characters. Other effects add to the engaging nature of the experience, for instance: vibration effects for knocking on doors and flashlight effects for in-story lightening. This way, the bedtime ritual is transformed into an interactive, bonding experience and is made possible even when their parents and kids are separated by thousands of miles.

In the first week of its launch, StoryTime became #1 on Google Play. Till date, parents and kids share 19,000 hours of StoryTime and counting. The app has been downloaded across 6 countries including Romania, France, Germany, U.K., Italy and Spain and has also gained much media attention across outlets including Mashable, Playtech, VICE, Forbes, Elle Marie Claire, just to name a few.