Best safety apps for college students for iPhone – AppleInsider

Campus safety apps

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Finally gaining the autonomy you’ve always wanted and moving onto campus is an exciting time for all, but newfound independence for university students can be wrought with challenges.

One challenge is safety, and it’s probably a reason your parents have been clinging to you along with angst ever since you got your dorm room assignment.

Crime rates are increasing on college campuses, so constant vigilance is key. Besides taking remedial self-defense courses, or carrying self-defense accessories like pepper spray if they’re legal, self-defense keychains, or personal alarms, there are impressive security apps available to the college student.

In university, a lack of familial guidance plus protection can leave you vulnerable. Especially when you are left with no choice yet to walk alone to your dorm after a night class or a long study session at the library.

Everyone has felt the hair-raising something’s not right feeling when walking through a shadowy, deserted campus or dark streets after a party.

[Pexels/Erik Mclean]

The buddy system is great, but everyone has their own lives and engagements, so it is not always possible to buddy up for every walk home when the sun goes down.

These apps will help mitigate some of the inevitable fear, equipping you with the tools and connecting you with emergency dispatchers and loved ones to stay safer.

Here’s a list of a self-defense instructor’s five best safety apps that are bound to provide peace of mind for the new or even existing college student, and jittery parent. Each is easily downloadable to your iOS device.

Noonlight ushers in a new era of security as a prime emergency dispatch app for college students. It has been featured in many major publications and is compatible to use in-app with Tinder.

Noonlight was introduced in 2013 with the primary target audience being college students who might feel unsafe during their commute to, from, or perhaps within the campus.

It has made our top list because of its simplicity plus ease of use. It tracks your live location and has a button to easily in addition to discreetly summon authorities right to where you are.

When you get that tingly, intuitive “something’s off” feeling while walking alone on grounds, simply keep a finger on the button in the middle of the particular screen until you feel safe. Release typically the button, and help will be sent to your exact location.

Noonlight app

If it was a false alarm and you need to cancel help, no problem. Simply enter the self-made PIN that you created when downloading the app within ten seconds of removing your own finger from the button.

Noonlight application

The particular PIN is a clever idea from the application, as it means that if you do find yourself in a dangerous situation, your attacker will likely not know your PIN NUMBER to call off the dispatchers.

However , do note that according to RAINN statistics, most assaults are completed by somebody in your inner circle. If you share your personal iPhone passcode along with others, choose a PIN that will others don’t know — and one that you can recall in a pinch.

Noonlight offers one month free and then it requires a monthly $4. 99 subscription.

Noonlight software

It is compatible with iOS 9 or later, and is a 170. 3 MB download.

Rave Guardian is a fantastic software for students due to its panic switch, connecting students to campus police or maybe local authorities.

Once notified, campus police will be able to fetch your precise GPS area, your personal profile (make sure to fill this out upon downloading this app), any medical conditions that you might have, your current campus course schedule, as well as your uploaded ID.

Typically the quick retrieval of these important identifying factors will help grounds safety and even police get to you faster and provide proper care in case of an emergency situation.

If you prefer to anonymously submit a crime tip, you may do so through a text message through the iphone app.

Make sure to enable your location inside the software package. This will help emergency responders together with guardians reach you quicker.

Rave Guardian iphone app

If you feel uncomfortable walking alone, you’re able to create your very own guardian circle to check up on you on your walk house. You do this particular by enabling a timer; if it is not deactivated before the timer runs out, the guardian circle will be sent an alert to check on you.

There is also a convenient “call 911” button on the home screen.

Rave Guardian app

You can keep the app residence screen at the ready in case you need to press the key. Or, if you prefer, Apple has a safety feature built into your apple iphone phone of which rivals Great Guardian’s 911 button.

Rapidly push the side (or top) press button five times and the Emergency Call slider will appear. Police will automatically be called unless you hit often the cancel option before the timer runs out.

Rapidly press top or side button 5 times to contact police on iPhone

Say great things Guardian is completely free, is compatible with iOS 14 as well as later, and is a 21. 6 MB download.

Kinetic Global partners with organizations like universities to provide protection resources. Note that you need a school email in order to be verified with this app.

A number of colleges in the US have adopted your app, including Ohio State University, North Park University, Belmont University, and additionally Illinois Wesleyan University. Check to see if yours is one of them first before installing the practical application.

Kinetic Global app

The request uses your own personal GPS information and cell tower triangulation to dispatch responders to your precise place. Like the Rave Guardian instance, you are able to fill out personal information in order to receive quick and accurate assistance.

Other features include alerts in real-time for dangerous areas, active threats, predictive analytics, not to mention preemptive threat analytics, as well as local law enforcement briefs upon crime in your area.

Much like Noonlight, place your personal thumb over the large control key in the middle whenever moving via a seemingly unsafe area, and if the thumb slips or is removed, police will be alerted for your location and also given your personal information until you cancel the exact request.

Kinetic Global software package

If you do not cancel within a matter of seconds, the voice as well as sound alarm is activated, and a voice will alert you the fact that police are being dispatched.

Kinetic Global is free for one month, then requires a $4. 99 monthly subscription fee. It is compatible with iOS 9 or later and it is a 134. 7 MEGABYTES download.

LiveSafe was created by a 2007 Virginia Tech mass shooting survivor. Within the app, you are able to send tips to campus police with your GPS coordinates.

You are also able to snap photos to add to your tip.

After downloading it the application, you will be prompted to select your organization and will have a few functions on your household screen. You can choose from the options “call 911, ” “call grounds security, inch and “message campus basic safety. “

Live Safe app

You are able to ask friends to watch a person walk on a GPS display within the software, but you can also act as a new guardian yourself and can watch a friend walk. If something does go awry, the informational dashboard with regard to university security has the capability to be pulled up in patrol car laptops.

Live Safe app

There is a security map of your campus, which includes safe areas where you can find patrol officers, and other safety resources, like the spot of crisis blue light boxes.

LiveSafe will be free, requires iOS 14 or later on, and is some sort of 120 MB download.

Compared to the above apps, Citizen is really a top pick for all-around safety in one place. If you have ever come across yellow crime tape and feel left in the dark about what happened, Citizen is the app for you.

No longer do you need to google active crime in my area today to find out the happenings in your area. Citizen is not a good campus-specific iphone app, but it does include incredible features for that safety-concerned, allowing users to read live updates about ongoing crime in the area, broadcast live video in order to alert other users of harmful situations, and leave comments.

This app has permission to monitor 911 radio antenna communications, with Resident employees after that generating alerts for its software package users.

Often the app emerged in 2016 under the name Vigilante, but because of concerns associated with vigilantism — individuals acting the hero and taking criminal activity into their own hands like comic book superheroes — was rebranded in 2017 as Person.

Your app works. A missing boy was found after the app sent out an alert, and during the 2019 fire at Trump Tower in NYC, users live-streamed the incident on the practical application.

Homeowner has an interactive map of the area plus beyond, displaying all threats, active or no, within the last twenty-four hours.

Citizen app

If you your self feel dangerous or witness a crime, you can get instant help from the app’s safety agents through live monitoring or an one-on-one video call feature.

The exact one-on-one assist feature together with video capabilities set the app apart from the aforementioned and could be just as helpful — if not more — to college students who really feel they need extra attention inside a dangerous scenario.

Citizen application

Enable push notifications, and details of threats in your town will be pushed to your phone. This means that you’ll be able to turn around if you are about to walk blindly into a dangerous region.

You can also turn helicopter, COVID-19, in addition to weather notices on to stay in the know about current car chases, illness alerts, or even potentially damaging storms coming your way.

Resident app

Finally, you have the capability to be able to scroll through recent criminal offense news in the area.

There are two main drawbacks to the request. If you are one that is already anxiety-ridden while reading the news, knowing everything that’s happening around you might make an individual paranoid and even encourage anxiety disorders like agoraphobia.

The second drawback is the app’s subscription cost.

Person is free of charge for one month, and then has a $19. 99 monthly membership fee. You can use it with iOS 14 or afterwards and is your 160. 9 MB down load.

Remember that to date in 2023, there is no campus safe practices app that is universal for all, or the majority of, campuses in the USA. Check with your own university to see if they provide some campus-specific safeness app.

A once-over in the App Store shows that many campuses have created their very own safety applications.

Stay vigilant whilst out by yourself on campus, but also remember to enjoy your life — together with college experience! With these programs, you’ll be on your way to feeling more secure away from the familial nest.