Google’s new application, Trusted Contacts, aims at safety first, helping users to ping some people their exact location in a sketchy situation.
Emergency Contacts
With the new Trusted Contacts app, Google is aiming at helping people to get out of a difficult or emergency situation with an application on their smartphones. People can use this app as a form of emergency contacts to let some people know about their exact location.
Keeping You Safe
The search giant announced this new application Trusted Contacts on Monday, to help users in a dicey situation, such as natural disasters or just while walking on the street on a dark night.
Using GPS
The app is presently available only for downloading and running on Android software smartphones. It allows the user to give his or her exact location to people whom they trust within a moment’s time using the GPS on the phone. For instance, if the user is in a location with bad signal system, the contact will be able to view that the smartphone is offline and can also see if the battery on the phone is dead.
Saving Lives
According to David Tattersall, a product manager of Google, the app can offer powerful sensors for ensuring the safety of the user. He states that the app will actually be useful in helping users and even saving lives in some situations.
Many companies from Silicon Valley have been focusing more and more on personal safety. For instance, Facebook came out with a Safety Check feature, whereby people of those areas can make posts regarding their safety on the website, so that friends may not worry. Google also offers a webpage for crisis response, along with maps for disasters and climate emergencies.
How to Works
The user can designate specific friends or any family member in the trusted category of the application, up to a maximum of fifty people. However, most users will select only five or six people. When the specified person opens the application, he or she will be able to view whether the user has been active, whether there is reception on the phone and whether it is offline and when the person was last active and so on. For instance, if the user is caught in an unsafe situation, he or she can pig these specified people the exact location or the others can request him to share his location. However, if the user does not reply in 5 minutes, the location will automatically be sent out by the application. If the phone is not online, the app informs the specified contacts about the last known location.
The trusted contacts can view the user’s location on the map and keep a track of movements. For instance, a worried parent can view a loved one’s walk from one point to another. The user will also know that he or she is being tracked, as a big banner appears on the lock screen along with a map.
Privacy Problems
The program is opt-in form, and settings can be adjusted, changes can be made to the trusted status of a person at any point.