There's An App For That! Apps That Keep You Safe

Back to school season is in full swing on college campuses across the nation. Meeting new friends and having fun with old ones is all a part of the college experience. Staying safe, while enjoying this new found freedom, should be a priority for young women.

According to a study done at Kansas State University, 84% of women who are raped know their perpetrator. 57% of all rapes occur while on a date. With these safety apps, you can easily stay connected with your friends and let them know if you are in trouble.

On Watch On Campus
On Watch On Campus is another Winner of the White House Apps Against Abuse Challenge. In addition to the features that Circle of 6 provides, On Watch On Campus allows you alert your social media as well. You set up a timer and this app will alert you when the timer expires. If you do not respond to the timer’s expiration, On Watch On Campus will notify the contacts you have provided. While this feature may require a bit of extra monitoring while you are out or on a date, it can be a life saver if you in a situation where you may be unable to reach out for help on your own. Another notable feature of this app is that it has a “Call Campus Police” button which allows you notify authorities with just two touches of a button. This app costs $3/month or $20 for a yearly subscription.

Circle of 6
 Winner of the White House Apps Against Abuse Challenge in 2011, Circle of 6 can be your connection to alert friends or family if you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation with an attacker. This app is easy to install and set up in a matter of minutes. It allows you to enter 6 contacts that can be alerted in 3 different ways. You can send your contacts your location with a message that says “Come and get me”, a discrete text which notifies them to “Call and pretend you need me” or a text message that simply says “I need to talk”. The app is available for both iPhone and Android devices and is totally free. In testing, I found this app to be very reliable.

Panic Guard
Panic Guard operates with the same basic concept as the other two apps, but with some notably improved features. This app provides you with a loud personal alarm, flashing lights and video recording, to notify your assailant that you are protected and connected. It also allows you to simply shake your phone to notify the people you have listed as your emergency contacts in the app of your exact location. As an extra layer of security, the alarm requires you to enter your date of birth, so that an assailant cannot cancel the alarm themselves. Available for iPhone and Android, this app is free and by far, the one that I preferred during my research. Panic Guard Ltd. has several different apps available in the Google Play and iTunes so be sure to check out all their options.