Walking home alone at night can make any collegiette nervous, no matter how safe her campus or campus town is. We’ve all binge-watched Law & Order: SVU and Criminal Minds, and as much as we love them, these shows do not ease our nerves.
Collegiettes, you are not alone if you get spooked walking home late at night — the creators of Companion, an app that will virtually walk its user home, developed this app in reaction to a stream of campus crime alerts. Companion allows a contact of yours to become your “Virtual Companion,” who can monitor your activity as you walk home. After setting a destination, the Companion app will monitor if you suddenly start running, stray from your path, fall or have your headphones yanked out. If the app picks up on this activity and you don’t respond to the in-app alerts in 15 seconds, then your “Companion” will be notified and your phone will begin to make loud, alarming noises. The continuous interaction between the app and its users have made it popular for college students across the nation, already having tens of thousands of downloads.
As well as monitoring the walker’s movements, the app allows easy access for the user to call the local authorities and campus security.
While walking home with a group or having a safe designated driver is always the best option, Companion is providing a close second for any collegiettes that walk home alone. Take a look at how the app works, and download your Companion!