AC students design personal safety app ahead of RE/ACTION Showcase

Posted on Wednesday, August 10th, 2022

A team of Computer Engineering students at Algonquin College wanted to make safely walking the streets as easy as pushing a button.

The project, which will be presented during the RE/ACTION Showcase on Aug. 12, has culminated in a personal safety app called Aegis. Currently, in its beta phase, the app is designed to send emergency messages to a prechosen personal contact using Short Message Service (SMS) signalling.

“A user decides to choose specific contacts that they trust, and then when they know they’re going somewhere, they just input the address and then [make their way] there,” said group member Musa Bisimwa.

“And if they’re in distress at any time, [the app has] an SOS button. Once they click it, the person they selected will receive their current [location], and that person can either call them to figure out what’s wrong or call emergency services.”

While there are a number of personal safety apps on the market, Bisimwa and his group — including members Jacob Caroll, Iman Dirie, Dao Minh Duc Hoang, Arshdeep Kaur and team leader Hoang Do — have incorporated several uniquely useful features.

“For example,” said Bisimwa. “If you are in an emergency situation and you click the button you’ll [start] an audio recording and also a video recording. And then this can be used in case you call the police, as proof of an incident, so that you don’t have to rely on eyewitnesses.”

Additionally, the use of SMS messaging means it can function without internet access, preventing WiFi dead zones from interfering with the technology. The group also claims the app’s use of SMS messaging will make it more secure than their competitors.

“One more thing that makes this quite different is that, compared to the other applications that we have seen, most of them require you to subscribe and share your information,” said Bisimwa. “With this one, you are deciding what kind of information you’re sharing…. No one in the backend can see [your information], only you and the contact.”

Though there were some hiccups along the way, the group considers their app a success and are hoping for big results at the RE/ACTION Showcase.

“I feel like we’re in a really good spot,” said Caroll. “We’ve finished everything for RE/ACTION, we’ve spent a lot of time on [it] and we have gone over multiple times, drafting documents and going back and forth trying to get everything right. We feel confident.”

The RE/ACTION event will be held in a hybrid format on Aug. 12. See here for more information on the showcase and click here to register.


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