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App gives users a virtual safety halo

Photo: Virtual Halo.
Virtual Halo

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Virtual Halo is a new personal protection app for the iPhone and Apple Watch, aimed at increasing safety around the world.

Virtual Halo
Photo: Virtual Halo.

The app has three key features.

SOS is designed as a personal panic button. When pressed in the iPhone app or on the Apple Watch, an emergency notification is sent by the Virtual Halo cloud to the user’s emergency contacts, providing the nearest street address and a link to the user’s location on their map.

The Check In feature lets emergency contacts know the user is OK; optionally, the user can include a custom message and location.

With the Going Out feature, adventure sports enthusiasts let the app know their intended destination and when they’ll be back. If they don’t disable the app by their preset time, the Virtual Halo service sends a text to their emergency contacts letting them know the user went out, the activity they were participating in, that they expected to be back by the specific time and that they haven’t returned; it also provides the user’s last known location.

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