Five University of Michigan students developed a smartphone app designed to provide a virtual companion to people who walk alone.
The release of the Companion: Never Walk Alone app is timely amid reports of a jump in crime rates in big cities around the world. Particularly vulnerable to being victimized are women who walk alone at nights on isolated roads, although the app could be used by anyone who feels unsafe while traveling solo.
After downloading the free app which works on iPhone and Android devices, the user must key in their destination and select companions from his or her contact list. The person selected does not need to have the app on his or her phone to be reached out, reports Techtimes.
The app uses the phone user's GPS for his or her friends to track while walking home by sharing a live map of the user's route. Once the user has arrived home safe, the virtual companions are notified by sending them an alert, explains Montreal Gazette.
It picks up movements such as running, taking a detour, pulling of the headphones from the smartphone and the phone hitting the ground, which will prompt the friends to ask if the user is okay. If the user does not respond within 15 seconds, the app will become an alarm system and start to blare to signal the phone owner needs help or is possibly in trouble.
If the phone owner presses the "I feel nervous" button, it would alert the local police that the area is unsafe. The app includes a "Call 911" button.
Other than solo travelers, the app could also be used by parents to monitor their young children on the way home from school or other trips and senior relatives who are prone to being lost due to memory gaps.