Mobile service connects users with help during emergencies

Hard on the heels of our story about Bluelight earlier this year comes word of another mobile app focused on personal safety. Guardly is a new service that lets users in emergency situations connect with family, friends and authorities at the touch of a single button. Now in beta, Canadian Guardly begins by helping users create a personal emergency network on their phone, complete with friends and family who can be relied upon to help in emergency situations. Public services such as 911 can be included, and Guardly is partnering with regional security agencies, police services and university/college operations as well. Either way, when trouble arises, the app immediately alerts and connects the user’s personal safety network via voice conference, sms and email, thereby speeding the arrival of help. Guardly’s LocationAssure technology pinpoints the user’s precise GPS location and provides information about what resources are nearby. Users can even snap a photo of a threatening person or situation, and Guardly automatically tags the location, uploads it to a secure server and shares it with the user’s emergency contacts. Finally, to coordinate an action plan, the service allows those involved to collaborate as a group via mobile web, web, sms and voice conferencing. Once it launches fully, Guardly will reportedly operate on a freemium business model, with an alert system offered at no charge but a monthly subscription fee for the service’s other features. It’s currently available only for iPhones, but versions for BlackBerry and Android are on the way. App-minded entrepreneurs: what could you bring to the table for enhanced personal safety? Spotted by: Bryce Hufnal