If you need help now, use these numbers first.
- If you are hurt or in danger, call 911.
- In New Orleans, the police non-emergency line is (504) 821-2222. The NOPD also takes some reports online.
- VictimConnect gives free, confidential help to victims of any crime. Call or text 1-855-484-2846.
- The National Sexual Assault Hotline, run by RAINN, is 800-656-4673. You can also text HOPE to 64673.
- If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988.
- Crisis Text Line is free and open 24/7. Text HOME to 741741.
Citizen is a free app that sends alerts about crimes and emergencies near you. Some people look for an alternative because they want different information, fewer alerts, or a way for a friend to know they got home. This guide explains what Citizen offers today and which free tools do a different job.
Citizen sends neighborhood alerts for free and sells extra detail.
Citizen’s App Store listing describes free real-time safety alerts, a live crime map, video from people at the scene and alert zones you set yourself. Its paid tier, Citizen Premium, adds police and fire scanner audio clips, incident archives, more alert zones and a custom alert radius. The listing shows several in-app prices between $5.99 and $19.99, so check the price in the app before you subscribe.
The listing also names the cities where Citizen’s free alerts are best supported. New Orleans is not on that list, so coverage here may be thinner than in the cities it names.
An alert tells you that something happened near you. It does not tell anyone that you are on your way home.
Free features on your phone can tell a friend you got home.
- Check In is built into Messages on iPhone. You choose a destination and how you’re traveling. If your iPhone stops making progress or doesn’t arrive as expected, and you don’t answer the prompts, your friend gets the details of your trip. When you arrive, Check In tells your friend automatically. You and your friend both need iOS 17 or later.
- Google Location Sharing shares your real-time location with people you choose in Google Maps and other Google apps. They can see where you are and your battery level.
- A plain text works too. Tell one person where you’re going and when you expect to arrive, and message them when you get in.
Some apps connect you to a monitoring service.
Noonlight works differently from Citizen. According to its App Store listing, you hold a button while you feel uneasy. When you reach a safe place, you release it and enter a four-digit PIN. If you release it without entering the PIN, Noonlight notifies local police of your location. The app is free to download and sells optional upgrades.
Many colleges offer their own safety app or a walking escort. Your campus police or public safety office can tell you which one your school uses.
Choose a tool by the job you need it to do.
- To learn about incidents near you, use a neighborhood alert app such as Citizen, or local news.
- To let someone know you got home, use Check In, location sharing or a text.
- To get help in an emergency, call 911.
- To talk with someone after something has happened, contact VictimConnect, 988 or RAINN.
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 is not an alert service, it would not call for help, and it would not prevent a crime. The tools 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.