3 Apps to Keep You Safe Walking Alone at Night

Whether you’re a freshman just starting college or a senior getting ready to graduate, college campuses are not always safe — especially for women — to walk around at night. While there are often safety features on campus, your phone will always be closer and more accessible during a dangerous situation. To make yourself safer as you walk around campus after dark, consider downloading one of these three safety apps.

VithU

If you need to dial an emergency number in a life-threatening situation, you don’t always have time to open your phone’s dialing and push three digits. VithU makes emergency dialing even faster by letting you press your power button twice to send out a SOS message to your contacts. Your contacts immediately receive a message with your location and every two minutes afterward.

Watch Over Me

Watch Over Me lets you set alerts if you’re worried about potential danger. The app’s home screen has you fill in two statements. First, you fill out the statement “Watch Over Me While I…” do something like walk home, go on a date, or have a drink at a bar. Second, you fill out the statement “For…” and you enter how long you plan to be doing each one of these things. If you don’t confirm that you’ve arrived safely by the time the app’s counter gets to zero, the app will alert your pre-selected contacts of your current location.

Sentinel Personal Security SOS App

This app has many of the same features as the other apps, but is more useful if you’re traveling somewhere where you won’t have Internet service. The Sentinel app still works to send out texts to your emergency contacts, regardless of if your phone is connected to the Internet. The app alerts your emergency contacts with your GPS location, the time you sent the message, and the direction you’re traveling.