New App Lets Users And Friends "Virtually Walk Home At Night"
- Publish date
- Monday, 7 Sep 2015, 2:50PM
Here's an app worth getting! Tens of thousands of people around the world are now using a free personal-safety app that allows friends to virtually walk you home at night.
The Companion app, created by five students from the University of Michigan, enables users to request a friend or family member to keep them company virtually and track their journey home via GPS on an online map.
Their friend or family member doesn't even have to have the app installed and several requests can be sent out to different phone contacts in case people aren't available.
If you're contacted, you receive a text message with a hyperlink in it which sends you to a webpage with an interactive map that shows the user walking to their destination.
If the user strays off their path, falls, is pushed, starts running, or has their headphones yanked out of their phone, the app detects these changes in movement and asks the user if they're OK.
If the user is fine, they press a button on the app to confirm within 15 seconds. If they do not press the button, or a real emergency is occurring, the Companion app transforms the user's phone into a personal alarm system that projects loud noises to scare criminals from the scene, and gives you the option to instantly call the police.
The app was originally made to aid students in walking home at night across uni campuses. If the user calls 111, the app will send an alert to the contact who is keeping you company, and that person can choose to call the police and give them your location, as well as call you to find out if you are OK.
On top of calling the police and alerting their chosen companion, users can also select an "I am nervous" button in the app, which tells the app where and when they feel unsafe.
