New Personal Safety Device for Phones Could Prevent Assaults
A new device that sticks onto the back of your phone or phone case immediately alerts a group of contacts when activated, making it easier to leave a potentially threatening situation.
For anyone who has even felt like they were in danger and needed to send out a call for help, there is now a new product on the market to do exactly that. Launched just yesterday, the Aluma Connect has been designed to help anyone who feels they may be in danger or in a situation where they feel they could be sexually assaulted.
Co-founded by Todd Baldree, who said he wanted to create something to help people protect themselves after watching a documentary about campus sexual assault – and learning that 1 in 4 college girls are sexually assaulted on campus.
Aluma Innovations has created the personal safety alarm device, which easily mounts to your phone or phone case. It offers two different alarms: one is a loud siren that is activated by pulling a wristband that’s on the device. The other is a silent alarm that goes off once you slide a button on the back of the device.
When either and/or both of these alarms are activated, a group of 5 of your contacts (pre-selected by you) is immediately notified via phone or email. And if those contacts have a browser, they can instantly see where you are on a map, so there’s no need for your contacts to download the app to help you.
The device works via Bluetooth and it bypasses your lock screen, so you don’t have to worry about unlocking your phone before it’ll work. Since most people always have their phones on them, Aluma Connect can easily be used when an intimate situation takes an unexpected turn.
With so many sexual assaults being reported on campus, having a personal alarm device such as this one could help prevent those attacks, and others, from happening.