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New Companion Safety App Makes Sure You’re Not Alone

Ann Marie Langrehr
Her Campus Placeholder Avatar Catherine Lowe
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Winthrop chapter.

Hey, text when you get home!”

Is this really the most efficient way to keep track of your friend walking home?

In today’s society the normality of walking home alone isn’t a safe option anymore. Girls walk home alone on their own college campuses without a second thought all too often. Unfortunately, when we do this we are feeding right into predators. It’s scary to think about someone hiding on a college campus looking for girls walking home alone, but it’s a reality we need to face.

Although we cannot eliminate the problem of predators all together, there are precautions that girls can be taking. No I am not talking about the normal, take a cab, use buddy system, or carry pepper spray, etc. because let’s face it, women today don’t want to feel helpless. We want to feel empowered and independent that we can handle ourselves in those kinds of situations. There is now an app that will keep you safe called “Companion.”

Companion was created by five students from the University of Michigan. According to CNN Money.com the app has had about 500,000 new users just in the past week.

Companion is like a tracking device you can share with friends. All you do is open the app, drag the locator or type in your location and drop the pin then pick your companions. Your contacts automatically download when you download the application. Whomever you choose to be your “companion” doesn’t even have to have the app.

Once you select the contacts they will receive an SMS or notification from the app that they are now your companion for your trip. Once you start your trip there are two buttons on the screen at all times. One says, “I feel nervous” and the other says, “Call Police.” If you press the nervous button, your companions will be notified and track where you are. Once you have reached your destination, your companions will be notified and the app can be used again for your next trip.

According to CNN, “The app uses the phone’s built-in sensors to detect changes in movement — like if the user starts running or the headphones come out. If that happens, the app asks users to confirm that they’re OK. If they don’t do so within 15 seconds, the app notifies your companion who has the option to call the police.”

Seems fool proof right? After having the Sexual Assault meeting last week on campus, this might be the perfect way to make girls feel safer on campus. This app by no means is an excuse for girls to walk home alone, it is just an added safety measure to hopefully prevent future incidents on campus. It’s free and hopefully a deterrent to predators from causing incidents and keeps college students safe. I suggest anyone reading this share it and get the word out so that more people download the app and make college campuses a safer place.

Stay alert and be aware of your surroundings ladies. HCXO

Paris Enthusiast. Macaron Lover. Lacrosse Player. Avid Photo Taker. Social Media Junkie. Travel Bug. ​ Born in Dallas Texas, but raised in the cities of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and Greenville, South Carolina. Ann Marie is a twenty-one year old student athlete living in Rock Hill, South Carolina where she attends Winthrop University as a mass communication major.  ​Currently, she is the Editor-in Chief, Campus Coorespondant and one of the social media directors of her college's Her Campus chapter where she edits articles, runs her chapter, and assists in running the Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Pinterest page. She also helps write articles with a team of 50+ writers who put out content daily. On top of Her Campus Winthrop and classes, Ann Marie plays on the Women's Lacrosse Team at Winthrop at the Division 1 level. Over the years, Ann Marie has learned the value of hard work, developed skills of teamwork, as well as expanded her knowledge marketing, writing, editing, publishing, social media and communication skills, which will give her the ability to be successful in any field.  Outside of her busy lifestyle, she enjoys being home with her family, dogs, and twin. On the weekends she likes to plan adventures with her friends and is on the ultimate search for America's best pistachio macaron, and dreams about going back to Paris, France and eat all the baguettes France has. Her dream is to inspire people and spread positivity while becoming a travel blogger taking pictures of her adventures and sharing them with the world. Ann Marie aspires to be like Blair Waldorf and can't live without her phone, french fries, Demi Lovato music, Gossip Girl, and of course chicken nuggets.
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Catherine is an ambitious twenty-something woman living in Rock Hill, South Carolina where she attends Winthrop University as a mass communication major. She is the President and Campus Correspondent for Her Campus at Winthrop, which she co-founded in November 2014. She has also been a member of the Winthrop chapter of the Association for Women in Communications, and is currently the President of the Society of Professional Journalists chapter at Winthrop. Since being involved with Her Campus, Catherine received an internship at Her Campus Media in Boston, MA. She also currently works as a Chapter Advisor for the company and writes about Grey's Anatomy each week for the site. Because of Her Campus, she has also received writing positions at many publications throughout her 3 years at Winthrop. Outside of her busy lifestyle, Catherine enjoys relaxing with her friends on the weekends and having Sex and the City marathons. She can't live without her dog, family, Cosmopolitan, friends, Starbucks, Instagram, The Bachelor, Grey's Anatomy and of course Chick-fil-A. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter: @cathclowe!