It was 10 p.m. on a Thursday in late March. I’d felt antsy earlier than even arriving on the station. I don’t like strolling across the metropolis’s empty downtown after darkish.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual report from October confirmed violent crime in 2022 fell to its prepandemic stage within the U.S., however individuals nonetheless really feel cautious. Based on Gallup, 40% of Individuals say they’re afraid to stroll alone at night time close to dwelling. That’s a three-decade excessive. As a lady in a giant metropolis, I’ve to plan forward.
So I hold tech security instruments on me—some on my iPhone, others in my bag.
Apps and gadgets can present a security web, says Jake Newton, chief operations officer for the Middle for Private Safety and Security, a safety coaching and consulting firm. “But additionally acknowledge that if one thing does happen,” he provides, “you continue to should resolve what you’re going to do.”
Your smartphone and plenty of of your favourite apps have already got security choices, however you want to flip them on. Take into account these instruments as methods to reinforce your safety, not substitutes for situational consciousness and good decision-making.
Checking in
Ever since I bought my first cellphone in 2000, I’ve at all times despatched “I’m dwelling protected” texts to mates. Apple’s Verify In function, which launched in September with iOS 17, largely automates the method. Activate it to inform a selected contact whenever you’ve reached your vacation spot—or in the event you’ve been darkish too lengthy.
You possibly can solely use it with one contact at a time, and never in group chats. You each want iPhones operating iOS 17. To start out, faucet the + in a message. Choose Extra, select Verify In after which faucet Edit within the yellow field to set the vacation spot or a timer (say, the anticipated period of a blind date). Faucet the ship arrow to inform your good friend.
Your designee gained’t see your location or route until you run into points. Should you don’t make progress for over quarter-hour, or if the timer has ended, your iPhone will ping you to see in the event you’re OK. You possibly can prolong the time or finish the Verify In. Should you don’t reply inside quarter-hour—otherwise you make an Emergency SOS name—the system notifies your contact and shares your location, machine battery stage and community connection.
I used it to trace a path to dinner and that nighttime return journey dwelling. After I didn’t reply to the Verify In, the service despatched a crucial alert to my good friend and prompted her to view my location.
Location monitoring
My fiancé and I, like many {couples}, share our iPhone places with one another by means of Apple’s Discover My community. Many teenagers additionally need their dad and mom to always observe their telephones.
To share your location with mates, open the Discover My in your iPhone and go to the Individuals tab on the backside left. Faucet the + then Share My Location. Choose an individual out of your contacts, hit Ship and select how lengthy: one hour, till the top of the day, or indefinitely.
Some free apps relay your real-time location, too, together with Google Maps and Google’s Household Hyperlink service, Meta’s Messenger and Snapchat’s Snap Map. Life360’s family-locator app can be free to make use of, however many households pay for its premium companies.
Select the service that matches with the gadgets and apps you and your closest contacts already use.
Driving protected
Uber and Lyft designed security options particularly for riders. Positioned within the apps’ settings, they do issues like ship journey particulars to an emergency contact, or file audio of the journey.
This coming week, Uber will let U.S. riders set some security instruments to begin robotically—for all rides, night time rides, weekend journeys, or rides originating close to a bar or restaurant. “There are conditions the place you don’t need to actively select a function. You simply need it turned on,” says Sachin Kansal, an Uber product-management vp.
As soon as enabled, Uber will robotically share your journey standing with one trusted contact. It reveals your dwell location and driver particulars straight away, and your contact could have entry to the knowledge for 2 hours.
Even with out computerized monitoring, you possibly can activate it manually throughout rides by tapping the blue security protect. That’s additionally the place you possibly can join straight with emergency companies and ship them your dwell journey info.
Lyft has provided computerized dwell monitoring since 2020. My app robotically shares my journey info with my fiancé for all nighttime journeys.
Excessive circumstances
In uncommon circumstances, you may want greater than only a digital tether. The self-defense product market totaled $5.6 billion final yr and is anticipated to rise 4.7% yearly by means of 2032, in line with analysis agency International Market Insights.
Web-connected Tasers, security alarms and pepper sprays from Sabre and Mace can alert your emergency contacts whenever you’ve used them. Some even join with subscription-based security-monitoring companies.
One main caveat: Some states prohibit using these merchandise. Additionally, all these gadgets should hook up with a telephone for monitoring and SOS alerts. In case your telephone dies or will get stolen, or your Bluetooth connection fails, you’re out of luck.
I attempted the Sabre $30 “good” pepper spray, and two items each dropped their iPhone 15 Professional connections and wouldn’t robotically reconnect. When the Bluetooth held up, it labored as billed: I discharged the spray and the system texted my fiancé with a hyperlink to my location, and likewise robocalled him.
Safety Gear Corp., which makes Sabre merchandise, is engaged on a brand new model with longer wi-fi vary, and is attempting to repair the older mannequin’s connection points, says Bob Nance, vp of operations. Should you discover the identical spotty connection, use different monitoring tech as a backup.
In all circumstances, it’s good to recollect these instruments are only a complement, says Kathleen Gallagher, who runs the crime-prevention agency SafetyChick. “With out that intestine intuition of caring about your private security, the entire expertise on the planet is just not going that will help you.”
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Write to Shara Tibken at shara.tibken@wsj.com
Supply: Live Mint