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From domestic violence, rape, streetside harassment, and house break-ins to medical emergencies, women of all ages are exposed to dangers that always need urgent responses. With over 23 million women in America living by themselves, the need to ensure their safety is apparent.
Furthermore, these problems are further exacerbated with possible declining health issues when you consider that about 80% of those aged 65+ years who stay alone are older women. Yet, about 90% of these older people are still adamant about living in solitude, regardless of these dangers.
As a woman living alone or having loved ones in similar living arrangements, wondering how to ensure personal safety is always top of mind. Thankfully, various mobile technologies can enhance women’s safety and get them assistance promptly.
In this article, we will be exploring women’s safety app options that we believe every woman should have. But first, let us have a look at the challenges that triggered the development of safety and security apps as a necessity.
There are a lot of vulnerable situations women sometimes find themselves in, whether at home, doing sports, commuting, or traveling. The vulnerability is worsened for women who stay alone or travel by themselves.
Here are some situations that beg the need for women’s safety devices.
Sickness
Illnesses creep up on everyone unexpectedly. But what happens when a woman who stays all by herself falls severely sick that she cannot call for help?
Injuries
Slips and falls are some of the most common sources of home injuries among women, especially the older ones. When women who live by themselves fall and lose consciousness, the situation can easily become fatal if no one offers help.
Break-ins
Probably the scariest experience for women living in solitude is experiencing a break-in. Besides losing belongings, a lot could go wrong, such as injury from being hit by the intruder or even rape.
Personal Safety
At times, women walk or run through unsafe areas, which increases the risk of sexual harassment or physical attacks.
Travel Safety
Many women like to travel, and some want to do it independently. However, in most cases, women in foreign areas cannot tell safe from unsafe areas. In this case, safety devices can be vital to ensure women’s security while traveling.
Advancements in mobile technology have turned mobile phones into one of the best safety devices for women. Most of the challenges mentioned above faced by women living alone can be lessened by using the right mobile apps for women’s safety. Thanks to features such as voice recognition, mobile phones can be used to detect when a woman is distressed.
Additionally, women can share locations, images, and sound recordings with preset emergency contacts via the internet or text messaging. These features have made it possible for developers to create apps for walking alone at night, among others.
Furthermore, since phones have special technology that can detect motion, they can be used to send alerts in the case of prolonged inactivity. This technology is crucial in health emergencies, where a woman living alone has fallen sick or lost consciousness.
In this article, we will be sharing the three key types of Android and iPhone apps for women’s safety.
One scream is a women’s security app designed as an SOS for women in catastrophic situations with an alternative panic button launch method. Instead, all a woman has to do is scream, and the app will detect the scream and send an alert. This walking alone at night app will help protect women in unsafe areas and is also helpful as a distress signal during break-ins. The cons? It won’t react if no scream is detected.
Available for both iPhone and Android
Only recognizes the screams from girls aged 14+ and women under 60
Currently is only available in the UK
Another example of a useful women security app activated without unlocking your phone is Shake2Safety which can work online and offline. During emergency cases, a woman needs to shake her phone or press the power button four times. The app can send images, location, and sound recordings to emergency contacts if connected to the internet.
Additionally, the app can send an SOS alert with location information via text message when offline.
Works online and offline
Only available for Android
Contains ads
AllsWell Alert is a one-stop women’s safety app that sends notifications to your emergency contacts when in a crisis or life-threatening situation. It has a panic button that you can press, alerting people of your choice.
So, what happens when your phone is unreachable?
No need to panic! AllsWell can send an email, texts, and your location without the need to press the panic button, shake the device or utter any voice commands. Instead, women help app is triggered by prolonged phone inactivity to send emergency alerts. The best thing: it’s fully customizable.
The user sets the sleep and wake periods, as well as the max inactivity period. After it is reached, an alert will be sent to emergency contacts together with a GPS location. Other notable features that AllsWell Alert offers include:
GPS location tracking
International coverage
Available for both iPhone and Android
Security & data encryption
Panic button
No installation fees, no separate device needed
Easy setup in minutes
Alerting people of your choice
If you are a woman traveling alone or with some female friends, this emergency alert for women’s safety with location tracking is one travel companion you want to have in your pocket.
My SafetiPin is a reliable girl security app for travelers, helping you avoid unsafe areas and situations as you explore the world. Each location will have a safety rating based on security, state of the transport system, the behavior and number of people in the area, presence or absence of lighting fixtures, etc.
As a girl security app, safe areas will be annotated with pins, while alerts will be sent to you when you enter the unsafe areas. From the app, you can then share your live location with your emergency contacts so they can track your movements just in case something bad befalls you.
Are you wondering how My Safetipin can tell safe from unsafe areas? It relies on user input so you and other users can attach pins to secure sites and mark the dangerous areas.
Available for both iPhone and Android
Covers 65 cities in 16 countries
Hollaback is more of a women help app. The app seeks to raise awareness and support women in the fight against harassment in the streets. By allowing the collection of crowd-sourced evidence of street harassment, Hollaback aims to bring to the attention of lawmakers and enforcers the extent of harassment that women are subjected to.
Users of the app can share location and descriptive details about street harassment they have experienced or witnessed. In the grand scheme of things, this walking alone at night app will make the streets safer for women to walk alone.
Available for both iPhone and Android
Available in 21 cities in 16 countries
Of course, it depends on your needs and additional circumstances, such as compatibility with your phone (iPhone or Android), the possible subscription fee, and so on. But the general recommendation is to have at least one safety application of each type downloaded and running at all times. It’s better that you never need it, of course, but should you find yourself in a scary situation, a safety app might help you keep your peace of mind and get help.