New app will help Aussies 'Get Home Safe'



Wednesday November 13th 2013

New app will help Aussies 'Get Home Safe'

A company that privately monitors users’ location during an activity and raises a pre-set alarm if they don’t ‘’Get Home Safe’ was launched in Australia this week.

Believed to be the first app of its kind in Australasia, Get Home Safe (GHS) topped New Zealand’s iPhone app download charts on its first day of release.

The app came about after Kiwi entrepreneur Boyd Peacock read about a boating accident in New Zealand’s Foveaux Straight in 2012, when a group of fishermen’s boat sank with all their mobile phones and emergency equipment on board.

“I thought to myself, if only someone was monitoring the use and location of a smart phone on board it could have been apparent much earlier that the fishermen had capsized and even where it happened, the alarm could have been raised much earlier,” Mr Peacock said.

“GHS sends alarms independently of mobile phone coverage so if the fishermen had set regular half hour alarms with GHS then the alarm would have been raised as soon as they missed their first check-in and their last known location identified,” he said.

GHS is simple and easy to use, and aimed at people from all walks of life undertaking everyday activities such as children walking home from school alone, women travelling home after a night out and people working unsupervised in remote areas or in the bush.

Once downloaded, users register with GHS what they intend on doing, such as walking home after dark or going for a bike ride, and the time they will be ‘home safe’, for example  in 15 minutes. GHS then acts as a ‘guardian angel’ safely recording GPS location data and check-in prompts to privately watch over the user’s movements throughout their chosen activity.

If something unforeseen happens and the user doesn’t stop or extend tracking as planned, an alarm is raised and the information GHS has safely recorded is sent to the person’s pre-selected personal emergency contacts. As the alarm is sent from the GHS servers not the phone, users don’t need a working phone or coverage for the alarm to be raised, making it a vital safety tool if something unforeseen happens.

“GHS is capable of checking every Australian child and teenager gets home safely from school this afternoon and even if every Australian party goer gets home safely tonight,” Mr Peacock said. “GHS is capable of checking every Australian driver arrives safely at their destination today. And it can do it all again tomorrow.”  

“Even the best-made plans can encounter the unforeseen. Regular alarms prompt you to check-in, so if you ever did need help the alarm would be raised far quicker and your last location mapped by our servers,” he said.

It is free to download from Apple’s App Store at itunes.apple.com/app/id654865653 and Google Play Store via play.google.com/store/apps/details