5 apps that keep you safe on the road
Whether you're walking the mean streets of an unfamiliar city or stumbling home from a night out pub hopping on a well-worn tourist strip, travelers — especially well-dressed business travelers — can unfortunately make easy targets for criminals. A host of new apps offer users a little peace of mind, as they play guardian angel from your smart phone. Here are a few of our favorites:
Companion - Free, App Store & Google Play | Pick a trusted family member or friend from your phone's contact list to virtually walk you home via Companion. After sharing your destination and mode of transport with chosen companion (no download necessary on their part!), either one of you can alert the police if any funny business appears to be going down on the real time mapping service. Originally designed for college students, Companion has found much wider applications since launching.
The Red Cross Emergency App - Free, App Store & Google Play | A suite of services from the iconic disaster management organization includes breaking news updates about inclement weather or 35 different specific states of emergency. But the real killer feature of this app is a tool that allows family members to share their safety status with one another.
Circle of 6 - Free, App Store & Google Play | Endorsed by the Vice President himself, this app allows users to share their locations with up to, you guessed it, six pals while out painting the town red. With just two taps, your circle can be alerted to your current locale and can swoop in to save you, if even just from your own bad decisions. Vice President Biden adds, "Thanks to the creativity and vision of these developers, young people now have a new line of defense against violence in their lives."
I'm Getting Kidnapped - Free, Google Play | Brazilian creator Alberto Moravia hopes it never comes to this, but users of the app can send out a digital cry for help to a preselected group of recipients via text message by triggering a code on their Android phone's lock screen. The app is currently available in English, Spanish and Portugese, and is seeking volunteers to translate further languages.
bSafe - Free, App Store & Google Play | This handy aide incorporates elements from some of the other apps listed above like location sharing and emergency contact network creation along with a few other tricks. Timer Mode will automatically send out a distress signal to your network if you don't check in by a predetermined time, and Fake Call allows you to schedule exactly that, a fake telephone call to excuse yourself from uncomfortable situations while on your own. Plus, if it makes you feel any safer, badass Jada Pinkett Smith is an investor in the company.