The Growing Popularity of Personal Safety Apps

Leah Page, Vice President — Mobile Security & Strategic Partnerships

The past year has elevated consumer awareness about personal safety, from COVID-19 issues to social unrest, making safety top-of-mind and the need for personal safety solutions, even more prevalent. In addition, consumers spent more time at home, as schools closed, events were canceled and remote work increased.

This prompted two major shifts that, in my opinion, most significantly opened the need for and raised the popularity of mobile safety solutions.

Rise In Use Of App-Based Delivery Services

During the past 18 months, the use of app-based delivery services has skyrocketed. With more use comes more interactions among strangers in homes and businesses, and while the majority of these moments are completely safe and convenient, incidents are happening, ranging from uncomfortable situations to physical assaults.

And, with more delivery drivers on the road, there are going to be more accidents among gig-economy workers. Based on recent estimates, food and grocery delivery are expected to remain popular, even as we get back to normal life.

With more work shifting from stationary locations to working on-the-go, mobile security apps or wearables can be a lifeline in all sorts of situations. It’s important for these mobile safety products to be comprehensive, dynamic and designed to address the full range of people’s safety and security needs, from providing simple human reassurance to dispatching emergency help.

Increase in Domestic Violence Amid Lockdown Restrictions

According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, domestic violence rose as a result of many victims being stuck at home with their abusers, while sheltering in place and working from home.

These situations necessitate the need for discreet ways for victims to call for help. U.S. Attorneys General and other state-elected officials have endorsed mobile safety apps, like SoSecure by ADT, as a tool to help victims of domestic abuse, safely call for help, without alerting their abuser.

Over the past year, the mobile safety app market has seen tremendous innovation, including more user-friendly ways to make SOS calls. Today, within a single app, a person can summon help hands-free, by saying a secret phrase, by text or by swiping a button.

Users can connect with people trained to help in unsettling situations over video, which can be an effective deterrent and provide video evidence. We’ve also seen the extension of mobile safety into wearable devices, in order to make these devices more discreet and usable.

There will always be some safety risks in our lives. However, the good news is there’s no need to live in a constant state of fear. The easiest, most direct way to be prepared and ready to ‘fight back’ is by having a personal safety tool in your pocket, a mobile safety app that is there, when you need it most.

Leah Page is the Vice President of Mobile Security and Strategic Partnerships at ADT. She is responsible for driving the development and advancement of ADT’s positioning in the mobile space, which includes everything from product development to establishing and managing strategic partnership relationships. Leah helped spearhead the creation of ADT’s first mobile platform, Safe by ADT. In addition to using the platform to develop the company’s own mobile safety app, SoSecure, she has built a strategic partnership database of well-known brands that now incorporate ADT’s Safe by ADT mobile security software into their own app platforms.