Stay safe

The rise in crimes against women has brought into focus some ways their constant companion - the mobile phone - can help. Here are a few useful apps:

Damini
Available for Androids, this app, named in tribute of the Delhi gang rape victim, alerts relatives by sending an SOS message with the user's address and location details. Using the phone's camera, this app also records video clips and sends them to the to cloud while the links are sent as text messages to the emergency contact list.

FightBack
Available for free across most phones, the app uses a phone's GPS, GPRS, SMS, email and also Facebook to ask for help from near ones during emergency situations. It also uses Google Maps to show the location of users.

Eyewatch

Available for most smartphones, instant alerts can be sent to emergency contacts, with location and audio visuals. This service also works when the GPS of a phone isn't working.

Circle of 6
This app, available for iPhones and Androids, sends out alerts to six pre-determined numbers during an emergency. The app also lets the user set up two hotline numbers (say of the police and home) which can be called along with the alert.

Life360 Family Locator
Available for Android and iOS devices, this app tracks the location of the user via GPS and has a single click alarm the user can push in times of distress.

Guardly
Available for most smartphones, the app makes phone calls to numbers on the emergency list with the name, real-time location and the type of emergency, whether it be medical or a safety issue. The paid version tracks the user's location in real time.

iHollaback
This popular free app, available for Android and iPhine, can be used by users to take the photo of the person harassing her and it can be uploaded on ihollaback.org, to publicly shame the perpetrator.

Emergency Alert Service
For those women who don't feature featurephones, Airtel's paid SMS service lets users send alerts to their closest 10 family and friends along with their geographic location with just one call on 55100 in case of any emergency. 

Scream Alarm
Available for Androids, the app just does that. A loud scream will definitely set up a distraction and can help the user gain precious moments to escape to safety.