“The Companion app, created by five students from the University of Michigan, enables users to request a friend or family member to keep them company virtually and track their journey home via GPS on an online map.
Those contacted then receive an SMS text message with a hyperlink in it that sends them to a web page with an interactive map showing the user walking to their destination. If the user strays off their path, falls, is pushed, starts running, or has their headphones yanked out of their phone, the app detects these changes in movement and asks the user if they’re OK.
If the user is fine, they press a button on the app to confirm within 15 seconds. If they do not press the button, or a real emergency is occurring, the Companion app transforms the user’s phone into a personal alarm system that projects loud noises to scare criminals from the scene, and gives you the option to instantly call the police.
On top of calling the police and alerting their chosen companion, users can also select an “I am nervous” button in the app, which tells the app where and when they feel unsafe. Companion’s creators said that in just one week after launching the second version of their app, they collected 500 incidents where students across multiple university campuses felt unsafe.
The team plans to collate this data and provide the information to campus security so that they can be aware of areas where trouble might occur, and, in the future, users will be able to specify why exactly they feel unsafe. “Many people aren’t even aware that their school has a campus safety department. In future, people can specify what makes them nervous and why, and we hope to open a dialogue between campus safety departments and students,” said Ernst.”
Holly is a poet, essayist, and immigrant who writes about feminism, politics, and Elvis. Her prose has been featured in several Medium publications and she is a co-host of The Art House’s Moving Voices open mic night.
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Waiting for Winter 