This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of React Mobile.
React Mobile is an app that was created with the “singular goal to protect people in times of distress.” The app allows users to alert specific contacts in the case of an emergency with the simple touch of a button.
After being held at gunpoint during a home invasion while in college several years ago, co-creator Robb Monkman was inspired to create a mobile safety app that would silently and discreetly alert a wide network, including the authorities, of an emergency, along with a specific location.
The app can be downloaded to your Apple or Android smartphone and set up in a matter of minutes. You can sign in using your Facebook login or create your own account. From there, you add your emergency contacts manually or through your address book and configure how you want to alert each individual.
There are 3 basic features of the React Mobile app:
- You can send an SOS message to your contacts if/when you are concerned for your safety. When you send an SOS, there is also an option to dial 911 at the same time (or emergency numbers for several other countries).
- A “Follow Me” feature allows you to send your location to your contacts so they can track your whereabouts in real time.
- There is also a simple texting feature that lets you send an SMS to your contacts and also include a link with your exact location.
The cool thing is that the contacts you choose to alert do not need to have the React Mobile app to receive your SOS. I tested the SOS and the “follow me” functions with my husband, who did not have the app downloaded on his phone. The app quickly sent a text message to him, alerted him that I was concerned for my safety, and provided a link he could click on to see exactly where I was. Had I been traveling (and not sitting on my couch at the time), he could have tracked me as I moved.
This page and this video show you how to set up and use the app’s features.
I could see this app being helpful in several situations beyond an emergency. Meeting a client or date for the first time. Running in an unfamiliar area. Walking home late at night. Keeping track of teens.
Robb tells me that React Mobile will be launching a new mobile safety application called ASAPP S.O.S. (A Student Abroad Preparedness Plan Save Our Students) this winter. In partnership with ClearCause Foundation, a non-profit aimed at keeping American students safe when traveling abroad, this new app includes more than 50 powerful safety checkpoints that every student should accomplish before traveling abroad.
As I’ve noted in a past post, we can never be too prepared. Whether we are talking about kids or ourselves, mobile technology can be a crucial tool to ensure safety.
How do you ensure your safety in case of an emergency?
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of React Mobile.
