Protesters hold up placards during the Women's March in London on January 21, 2018 as part of a global day of protests
Credit: Daniel Leal/AFP
Safety apps are seeing a surge in downloads this week, as police confirm they have found the body of Sarah Everard who disappeared from south London.
Hollie Guard, a safety app that was set up in the aftermath of Gloucester hairdresser Holly Gazzard’s murder in 2014, has seen 20,000 British users sign up since Monday.
Another app, One Scream, which is designed to send an alert if it detects a user’s screams, has also seen almost 13,000 new users in the same period.
On social media, alongside sharing their own stories of being attacked or made to feel unsafe on the streets, women are also talking about the apps they use to make them feel more secure.
Apps are a symptom of the problem, not a solution. But for some, they have become a habit that offers a slither of reassurance.
"Me and my friends don’t say text me when you’re home anymore. we go a step further and have live location sharing just to leave a digital footprint, just in case," said one Twitter user.
But not all apps are created equal, with some personal alarm apps poorly designed and jammed with personalised advertising.
So, which are the best?
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WhatsApp ‘live location’ sharing
WhatsApp, one of the UK’s most popular messaging apps, allows users to share their live location with a contact of their choice.
Users can choose weather they want to share their location for 15 minutes, one hour or eight hours. The feature can be switched off at any time.
During that period, selected contacts will be able to see GPS location information, even when the app is not open on a person’s phone.
To test the function, users must open a chat with another contact, click the "+" symbol, choose "location" and then "Share Live Location".
WhatsApp’s location permissions also have to be set to "always" in the phone’s settings for the feature to work.
A WhatsApp spokesperson reassured users their privacy was protected.
"When you share your location with someone on WhatsApp, your location is protected by end-to-end encryption, which means no one can see your location except the people you share it with," the said.
percentage victims who have experience some form of sexual assualt, once or more
Find my iPhone
iPhones also offer the "Find my iPhone" app which can be used to share your location with friends for either one hour, one day or indefinitely.
To turn it on, open the Find My iPhone app, click on "People" at the bottom of the screen, press "Start Sharing Location".
Then choose the contact you’d like to share your location with and press "send".
Like WhatsApp location sharing, users can then watch their contact move around on a map.
For privacy, the function can also be temporarily paused.
iPhone Alarm
iPhone users can turn on a function which sounds an alarm after the side lock button is press rapidly five times in a row.
The short sharp siren plays for three seconds, while the phone counts down to calling the emergency services. Users can then either do nothing to go ahead with the call or cancel.
To enable this feature, users should go into their "Emergency SOS" settings. There they can enable a "Countdown Sound".
The siren’s volume is fairly loud but Apple confirmed it cannot be adjusted.
Can’t stop thinking about Sarah Everard. We’ve all sent a live location so a friend knows where we are, text to say we’re home safe and held keys between our fingers. We shouldn’t have to. But this is why we do. Sarah could have been any of us. Just heartbreaking. #SarahEverard
— Hannah Britt (@mouldycake) March 10, 2021
Hollie Guard
Hollie Guard was set up in 2015, in the aftermath of the Gloucester hairdresser Hollie Gazzard’s murder by the Hollie Gazzard Trust.
Developed by a company called Panic Guard, the app is clunky and badly designed with some words overlapping.
However it does work. Once users have set up their emergency contact, they can create an "alert" by shaking their phone — adjusting the settings to be more or less sensitive.
When an alert is created, the emergency contact receives a text message containing a link.
The link takes the emergency contact to a web page where they can see the app user’s last known GPS location and it’s supposed to send audio and video evidence, although in the Telegraph’s tests this evidence never arrived.
The app is free, with no plans to introduce a blanket subscription model.
However it does have a £7.99 per month paid option, for individuals who would like their alerts to be picked up by a 24/7 monitoring team.
Ten per cent of profits from the app’s paid model goes to the trust while the rest goes to Panic Guard and to the monitoring company, according to a Trust employee.
The Trust is also developing a version of the app for businesses, to provide security for staff who might work on their own, such as estate agents.
One Scream
for my ladies, after the news about #saraheverard i just wanted to share an app i use, it’s called one scream and after switching it on while you walk or travel, and it is able to detect a “panic scream” and will send a text to your chosen contact of your location pic.twitter.com/nY8pEWOjog
— ً (@thetinysir) March 10, 2021
Londoner Uta de Veer set up the app One Scream after a friend was attacked, around the same time there was a series of muggings near her children’s school.
"I was just thinking the phone is what we have always on us and if we get attacked, we have this lifeline and we should be able to use it and facilitate it," she said.
"But when you get into a situation like that you obviously have no choice, and you have no chance to actually open your phone and make a phone call or tap an app or whatever this is so it had to be hands free, and this is how the idea around One Scream."
The slickly-designed app is supposed to work by using artificial intelligence to be able to tell when a person is genuinely screaming.
Although the app has received good reviews, The Telegraph was not able to trigger the alarm by screaming and neither could sound effects on YouTube, despite both sounds registering well on the app’s "scream-metre" test.
On the Apple app store, other users complained of facing the same problem.
"I decided to test out the app at home and put my sister as the mandatory contact. I screamed, yelled etc. and the app didn’t pick any of it up," said one reviewer. "If the first time I used it was when I was actually in danger, I’d be in trouble and no one would’ve been notified!"
In response, the app developers said: "Please remember that a panic scream is very intense, it is influenced by a heightening of your senses due to increased levels of adrenaline. We don’t want [One Scream] to go off by baby or happy screaming."
De Veer says the app, which has five employees, has recently reached 100,000 users.
The company plans to introduce a subscription model after making technical changes.
Kitestring
Kitestring is a simple-to-use, free text messaging service that requires minimal information to set up.
Operated by telecommunications company Tep Wireless, Kitestring operates using a web app, meaning it’s easy to use for people with any type of phone. Users also don’t need an email address to register.
Users can then tell the service when they’re going out and how long they should be out for.
When their "trip" is over, Kitestring will message them asking them "please reply ‘ok’ within 5 minutes so we know you’re okay."
If users don’t check in, a message is sent to their emergency contact or contacts which have set up saying: "If you get this, I might not have made it back safely. Give me a call."
The service also lets users set up a "duress code", a secret code which alerts Kitestring they’re in trouble. Kitestring will pretend the user is checked in like normal but will secretly alert all of their contacts.
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