If you’ve ever woken up on a fraternity couch the night after a party, I can almost guarantee you didn’t decide to fall asleep there because it was comfortable. It’s probably because it got late and your friends were all busy hooking up so you had no one to walk home with. Rather than walk home alone, you decided the wiser option was to risk communicable diseases and fall asleep on the couch. It might have a funky smell, but at least it’s safer than risking being turned into a “Law and Order: SVU” episode!
There’s a new app called Companion that makes walking home alone much safer. Companion is an app made by five students at the University of Michigan who saw firsthand how scary it can be to walk home alone, especially if you’re a woman. “Back at school in Ann Arbor, it seems like we get a crime alert email nearly every other day,” the creators wrote in a blog post. “While we brush them off most of the time, they are always a bit spooky.”
We’re always urged not to walk home alone, but if we do we make sure to call a friend and talk to them on the phone until we get there, but sometimes they don’t answer. The Companion app lets your friends virtually walk you home at night, even if they don’t have the app.
Check out exactly how it works below.
All you do is pick a friend to be your “companion,” and share your location and destination with them and they can see your location as you walk home. If you stray from your path, or you suddenly start running, an alert pops up and asks if you’re okay. If you don’t respond in 15 seconds, your companion will be notified and your phone makes a loud noise.
I think this app should be a required download for every college student, because I know we’ve all walked home alone even though we knew the danger of it. We know it’s stupid, especially when you’ve been drinking, but sometimes it just happens.
Download the app here and tell all your friends. .
[via Business Insider]
Image via Companion
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Cristina Montemayor
Cristina is a Grandex Writer and Content Manager. She was an intern for over two years before she graduated a semester early to write about college full time, which makes absolutely no sense. She regretfully considers herself a Carrie, but is first and foremost a Rory. She tends to draw strong reactions from people. They are occasionally positive. You can find her in a bar as you're bending down to tie your shoes, drinking Dos XX and drunk crying to Elton John. Email her: cristina@grandex.co (not .com).
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