A new safety app called Companion that allows friends to digitally walk the user home is gaining popularity among students, partly because when a university partners with the app creators, students gain particular benefits.
At UBC however, administrators are questioning the value of such a partnership, mainly due to concerns that students would eschew other, more effective services in favour of the app. When asked whether the AMS would consider a partnership with the app's manufacturers, Jenna Omassi, VP Academic & University Affairs, did not sound positive.
“It provides a nice alternative to the services that are offered,” said Omassi. “However, I would provide caution that [although] this is another option, it does not substitute for the safety measures that UBC and the AMS have in place, such as Safewalk, Campus Security and the new and enhanced Blue Phones."
Companion asks the user to input their point of origin and destination, then allows him or her to select contacts who will receive a message with a link to a map of the user’s live GPS location as they walk home. As the user moves towards their destination, the app will be able to watch over their path.
Not only can the user expect their friend to be keeping an eye out for them, the app also has “smart triggers” which detect abnormal behaviour during the journey, such as sudden changes in pace, removal of headphones or changes in route. At that point, the user can expect an “Are You Ok?” button to pop up on the screen that, if not pressed within 15 seconds, will send an alert to your companion.
If the user is located on a campus that has partnered with Companion, the app can also notify campus security if the trigger is set off to alert them of the user’s location.
Despite gaining ground at other universities, Barry Eccleton, director of UBC Security, sees potential problems with a partnership.
“[We have] already been contacted by a few other similar apps with common interests of protecting the public and although they are interested, [we] are going to set it aside for now,” said Eccleton. “In the future, an app such as this one would lose support, and cease to improve as the creators of the app will venture off to work on other projects.”
Eccleton also questions the durability of such apps. “You don’t know how good these are long term in terms of support and if the company will still exist in 12, 24, or 36 months time, to continue to support it…. [An app is] something that is of interest to us but we are cautious about leaping in when there is no proven track record, and whether they will still be around.”
He strongly believes in the functionality of the Blue Phones placed around campus, which raised the question, in the situation where blue phones are not available, would the app be a potential method of staying safe? Eccleton said no.
“In a situation of duress, no app will be able to save you -- when there is an emergency you need to call 911,” said Eccleton.
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