Ever been to a large music festival, wedding or some other large event where you wish you could scream your thoughts to the group, but can’t?

Maybe you want to quickly tell your neighbors about something going on in the ‘hood.

Maybe a college student wants to tell the whole campus about a tailgate party. 

Notify, a location-based messaging app that doesn’t actually reveal where you are, wants to fill the void.

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The app, created by National Media Brands, launched in the Apple App Store Monday. The outfit that has offices in Denver and Omaha, also has created photobooth apps and does video production.

Mark Hennings, the creator of Notify, wanted to find a way to connect people by location without having to tip-toe around the issue of privacy. Notify lets you send messages to people up to 20 miles away, but never shares your actual location, only the distance away you are from the post. Messages “self destruct” after an hour.

“With Notify, I hope users will find things to do in their community and make real-life friendships,” he said. “Imagine your first night in a new city and you don’t know anyone, then you open Notify and see an invitation from a fun group of people meeting up. I don’t want this to be just a digital network, I want it to be an app that enhances your real life and gives you the opportunity to enjoy and be part of what’s happening around you.”

Hennings expects that by making notifications time-sensitive and location-based, Notify will create the most relevant, interesting and unique news feeds. He also realizes it means it could be sparse in some areas until early adopters run with it. There were only two test posts in Omaha this week, though nearly a dozen had signed up in the area.

The app is only going to be what users make of it, he said, and hopes early adopters invite friends and post often. 

“With mainstream social networking sites, it’s all about adding friends or followers to build your audience,” Hennings said. “I think it can be difficult for casual users to build a following on Twitter or Instagram these days, and when you get started it feels like you’re talking to nobody.

“When you open Notify, you are instantly connected to everyone within your chosen distance. Everyone is on the same playing field. I think people will get excited seeing their message reach three or five people early on and keep them coming back.”

A user can change his or her receiving distance from as low as a quarter mile to as high as 20 miles for notifications. If you’re inviting your college campus to a party in your dorm, you can choose to send your notification only a quarter of a mile. Or if you want to tell the whole city that all the animals escaped from the zoo, you can choose up to 20 miles. If a user is within that distance, the notification is delivered.

There are other location-based social networks. Nextdoor is a website that allows neighbors to connect. Circle, another location-based app, has since pivoted to target events near you.

Hennings began coding the app seven months ago with the help of National Media Brands employee Alex Kirts as a secret side-project. They’ve had success with the photobooth app that brings in nearly $15,000 in revenue a month, they said in a press release.

Hennings believes Notify will monetize through businesses that want to advertise to users within a certain radius with instant information about how many users received the advertisement.    

He hopes large events will pick it up, too. Uber used National Media Brands’ LiveBooth and SimpleBooth apps at a massive photo activation at Coachella this spring.

“I would love to get people using Notify at a big event like a music festival,” Hennings said. “If the organizers put up signage to inform attendees that others would be using Notify at the event it would benefit everyone.”