Global: Five Apps to Address Street Harassment

For over 15 years, there have been various phone apps created to address and respond to the serious problems of street harassment and insecurity in public spaces. Our organization, for instance, has the Safecity app, through which users can report incidents of harassment and where they took place, and their reports help inform targeted community responses.

Many apps are a variation of the Circle of Six app, where users can designate trusted contacts to receive an alert with the user’s GPS location if they are in danger, and it can also send the user’s information and location to emergency responders. Two examples of these apps that have launched in recent years include Epowar and WomanAid.

A few other newer apps offer other ways to address street harassment and safety. While some of the apps are localized to certain areas, they could be replicated or adapted in other areas.

Here are five of them.

1. SafeAgain

The SafeAgain app is available anywhere and helps connect users with local, verified allies when the user is feeling unsafe and/or is facing street harassment.

Specifically, users who feel unsafe can alert verified SafeAgain allies who also have the app, and they can instantly receive a notification and choose to step in, to pretend to know the user and generally help the user not be alone. Male allies (who have to be personally invited by a woman to join and can only respond to signals, not send them) can be among the allies alerted.

There is also an option for location sharing to trusted friends and family via text. And there is an audio recording feature to help create evidence if the user wishes to report an incident to the police and an “alert police” feature for urgent incidents.

Creating a way for people to be allies and bystanders for each other is an amazing idea.

2. Start Safe, Stay Safe

This app was launched in York and North Yorkshire, funded by the mayoral combined authority and developed by Stop Hate UK. It is specifically for users in this region who want to capture evidence of street harassment and then report it anonymously to the council or police for information only or for formal investigation.

This is a good model other cities and townships could use to make it easier for community members to directly report incidents.

Read more about it on BBC.

3. The Safest Way

This app is currently available in London, York and Northern Ireland. It helps users evaluate the safest route by focusing on well-lit and secure paths and places with CCTV coverage and it incorporates in real time local crime rates. It also includes a built-in alarm.

Helping people make an informed decision about their route is really useful and hopefully the app will be expanded to other regions soon.

Read about it on BBC.

4. SafeHer

This Netherlands-based app is like other apps that let users create a trusted circle and send them an alert if the user is in an unsafe situation. An additional unique aspect to the app is that the app also points the user to the nearest SafeZone.

People can join the SafeHer Network and submit a location to be considered a SafeZone which is reviewed and verified before it is listed on the app as one. Partners receive a SafeHer certificate, window sticker and digital badge and a listing in the SafeHer App Map.

This is a great idea for empowering local businesses and other places to be ready to help people who feel unsafe and for letting people who are out and about on their own know they are not alone; they can go to a SafeZone for help.

5. Safer Plage (Safer Beach)

The app was developed by the NGO Orane for beachgoers in the city of Marseille, France. When needed, the user can choose a message to be sent to a pool of mediators which says, “I’m being bothered,” “I’m being harassed,” or “I’m in danger.”

The city invested funds in training 16 mediators to handle these situations. When someone sends an alert, two mediators are dispatched. One mediator goes to help the person being harassed and the other goes to the harasser.

It’s wonderful to see a city invest in keeping their beaches safe not by restricting women’s behavior and movement but by training people to help deescalate situations and deter harassers from harassing again.

Read more about it on NPR.

Thanks to our intern Emma Rincon for assistance with researching the safety apps.