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Safety should be free for all!
In Partnership With
WOTC Magazine
Emma Kay is the compassionate co-founder of the safety app WalkSafe, a free platform that highlights reported crimes area by area and provides comfort to its users when walking home alone or on occasions where they feel unsafe, through its distinctive ‘TapSafe’ feature.
On a holiday with family in January 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic, Emma began to discuss personal safety and her experiences growing up as a female. Following the conversation, and partnering with her brother-in-law, the pair sprung into action wanting to more than simply have a conversation and began planning the launch of the WalkSafe app.
When WOTC Magazine initially caught up with Emma in November 2021, a mere 11 months on from its inception, WalkSafe had already experienced a surge in user downloads, drawing in over 500,000 new users following the unfortunate murder of Sarah Everard. “That was really the catalyst for us and we suddenly became very busy,” Emma tells WOTC. “There’s very much a place for us in the world right now. I always say that I wish we didn’t have to have a personal safety app and that these things weren’t happening, but it’s needed.”
On first realising the dire need for an app like WalkSafe, Emma comments “It’s like a double-edged sword. It’s really bittersweet. It feels empowering to know that as a female I’m helping other females, but how awful is it that they have to use it.”
Emma ensures that the WalkSafe data is continuously analysed to create a better user experience, and has seen 20,000 uses of the TapSafe feature, which is used in cases where someone has felt nervous or unsafe and have alerted someone to check in on them. Businesses have also used the WalkSafe app to determine where they need to deploy more budget to ensure complete safety for their staff.
“Ultimately, we’d really like everyone to understand that our app is there to empower and inform people, and by sharing their journeys, it will help them to stay safer.”
WalkSafe have recently received £300,000 in funding helping them to develop the new stages of the app, and are looking at expansion into America as a natural next step. They will host their very first event in Hanover Square, Mayfair marking International Women’s Day, which will feature a live panel on safety. Guests are to be greeted with champagne whilst viewing a powerful installation designed to tell a story and will include some of the hard-hitting data acquired from the WalkSafe app.
Their new version boasts a “Follow Me” feature allowing users to be safely followed by trusted individuals on their journeys, for extra peace of mind.
The WalkSafe app is available for free download via the Apple and Android stores.
Visit: www.walksafe.io
Instagram: walksafeio
