Companion: the app that walks you home at night
by Hannah Verdier from Technology | The Guardian on (#S92J)
An app that turns your friends into digital chaperones (via GPS tracking) aims to reassure those travelling alone late at night. We put it to the test
Dreading the long, late-night walk home alone before you've even set off on a night out? There's an app for that. Companion is the brainchild of five Michigan students concerned about safety on campus. It allows friends to monitor your return journey via GPS, whilst also providing a means of quickly raising the alarm should you run into danger.
An inbox full of 5 Uber invoices is proof that I never walk home alone after dark, even if it's just the 12-minute dash from the station, but a free app that "allows you to reach out to friends" sounds like a good idea. For the sake of my safety and my bank balance, I arm myself with a newly downloaded Companion as I walk back from my friends' house at 11.30pm on a Saturday night.
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