If you need help now, start here.
- If you are in danger, call 911.
- Save your campus police or public safety number in your phone before you need it.
- In New Orleans, the police non-emergency line is (504) 821-2222.
- If something has already happened, VictimConnect gives free, confidential help. Call or text 1-855-484-2846.
- If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or text HOME to 741741 to reach Crisis Text Line.
If you walk home alone after dark, your phone can help with part of your plan. This guide covers the free features already on most phones, the kinds of safety apps available, and what to check before you rely on one.
Your phone already has free tools for sharing your walk.
- On iPhone, Check In in Messages tells a friend when you arrive. If your trip stalls or you don’t arrive as expected, and you don’t answer the prompts, your friend gets the details. You and your friend both need iOS 17 or later.
- Google Location Sharing shares your real-time location with people you choose.
- On an Apple Watch, Emergency SOS calls emergency services and then texts your location to your emergency contacts.
Safety apps usually do one of three jobs.
- Some apps share your location with people you choose, like the free features above.
- Some apps connect you to a monitoring service. With Noonlight, for example, you hold a button while you feel uneasy and enter a PIN when you’re safe. If you let go without the PIN, Noonlight notifies local police of your location.
- Some apps alert you to incidents nearby. Citizen is the best-known example. Its basic alerts are free, and its Premium tier costs extra.
Many colleges and some employers also offer their own safety apps. Ask your campus police or security office which one they use.
Check five things before you rely on an app.
- Find out who the app notifies, and how they find out.
- Find out what you have to do in the moment. An app that needs you to unlock your phone and press a button asks a lot of you when you’re stressed.
- Ask what happens when your phone can’t connect. Most apps need a data or cell connection to send anything.
- Learn how to cancel a false alarm.
- Read the privacy policy to see what location data the app keeps and who it shares it with.
A plan for the walk matters as much as the app.
- Charge your phone before you leave.
- Tell one person your route and when you expect to arrive.
- Choose lit, busy streets, even if the route is longer.
- Keep one ear free if you listen to music.
- If you think someone is following you, cross the street, go into an open business and call 911.
Edge Orbital is developing a device for the walk home.
Edge Orbital, which publishes this site, is designing a small clip-on device that would use NowScape, its software in development, to show what’s moving near you on a walk home. The device still has to be built and tested. It would not call for help or prevent a crime. The free features above are available today.
Editor’s note: an earlier version of this article described Tripwire Recon, Edge Orbital’s iPhone app, as a safety tool. Tripwire Recon is a game and has no safety features.