The Top 4 Capabilities Your Women’s Safety App Needs
When it comes to women’s safety apps, there are certain non-negotiable you need to take into consideration when finding the best fit. After all, you downloaded the app in order to help you feel safer which is a pretty important reason to do something. There are also a lot of reasons why someone would download a women’s safety app. Some people are in more urban areas and experience more situations that could be dangerous or perhaps someone works late and finds themselves walking to their car late at night with no one else around. Of course, let’s not forget all of the single ladies crushing life but come across some unsavory characters. Regardless of your why, there are four main criteria your safety app needs to hit:
- It’s easy to understand/use
- It has escalation capabilities
- Location feature
- Reliability
It’s Easy To Understand/Use
This first point might seem like a bit of a no-brainer but the fact of the matter is that there isn’t a lot of choices for women’s safety apps out there. This means that even with limited choices you still need to be sure you fully understand how to use the app and can do so in the event of a sketchy or dangerous situation. You cannot have multiple screens before you can use the safety function and there 100% cannot be an ad that pops up when you need the app to work. Put simply, you need an app that requires almost zero thought process needed in order for it to do its job. The app will only be used when you’re in a stressful situation and you don’t need to think about how to activate it. Reserve that energy for addressing the issue at hand. Random side note, but does anyone else remember when these commercials were on!? They were 🔥
Being a women’s safety app company, we have to shamelessly plug our app, Parry, because once you sign up, there are two giant buttons on the home screen that either let you send a fake but realistic sounding phone call or send a fake but realistic sounding phone call with your location. Pretty simple, right?
We at Parry also want to make the disclaimer that Parry is best used for situations before they escalate. We’re the bridge between you getting the sense something isn’t right and a full-blown emergency. Starting to feel uncomfortable because a situation is starting to turn but not a situation to call the police? Use Parry. Walking by yourself and seeing something that doesn’t sit well with you? Use Parry. Getting chased by a guy with a chainsaw (whoa!)? CALL 911 AND KEEP RUNNING!
The App Has Escalation Capabilities
Another non-negotiable aspect of your women’s safety app needs to be the capability to escalate a situation. In our market research for women’s safety apps, we found that there are a few that address the emergency aspect of a situation, but nothing before that. We believe that it’s obviously important to have features once an emergency is underway but as we all know, there are situations that don’t feel right but don’t warrant a call to the police either. Also, does anyone else feel that we (in America) have been taught to only call the police for really really bad situations and that anything not extremely bad is punishable? Maybe that’s just us.
As far as escalation capabilities, this means the ability to get help when you need it and an ability to get further help if the first option doesn’t work. This tangibly means having backup options for the situation. For instance, some women’s safety devices (not apps) can create a loud noise and bright light to try and stop the situation there, but if that doesn’t work, there needs to be something else to step in. It would be fantastic if creeps or unsafe situations would be simply resolved but we all know it doesn’t work that way.
Location Feature
We don’t need to spend a lot of time explaining this one as it’s pretty self-evident but needs to be included in your wish list. Whether your situation is uncomfortable or dangerous, having the ability to send your location or have your location recorded for the record is of the utmost importance. Being in dicey situations requires your brain to go into survival mode, which means protecting yourself and anyone you want to protect around you. Remembering what street you happen to be on or a specific zip code isn’t high on the priority list. Plus, let’s be honest, thanks to Google Maps and Apple Maps, we leave that remembering to our phones. Having that location information could be a lifesaver for anyone trying to help you.
Reliability
This is probably the most important feature of any safety app, not just a women’s safety app. This non-negotiable also can’t really be known until you have used the app for a little bit. Being able to trust that the app will work when you need it is a MUST. The reality is that you won’t be using your safety app every day (hopefully) so you need it to show up when it’s called on.
How do you know if your women’s safety app is reliable?
It’s done its job every time you’ve used it.
Now, it should be said that any application on your phone is subject to some form of technical problems as it is technology-based. The server it’s hosted on could have an outage, your phone itself could be having issues, or really a whole host of things could potentially happen. With that said, we’re all smart enough to know that if the app is glitchy or the app store reviews are saying it simply doesn’t work. Just use your best judgment when using the app or reading up on reviews!
Final Thoughts
Again, as a women’s safety app ourselves we’re biased to believe our app is the best fit for a variety of situations, but at the end of the day, we want you safe. Apps are best used when you’re comfortable using them and understand them. These four capabilities are what we believe to be the best but everyone’s situation is unique and you may have situations where you need specific features. Find the app that fits your needs best and stay safe!
