While we can all take steps to improve our personal safety, sometimes its out of our hands. Whether you’re in a dodgy neighborhood, out late at night or just worried about making it to work on time, it pays to have back-up.

Since you can’t bring a posse of friends with you on every outing, carry your network in your pocket with these clever apps designed to help you feel safe.  

While they’re no substitute for dialling 000 when you feel at risk, these apps will provide you with supplementary safety measures and comforting back-up.

My Witness

If you’re at risk, My Witness allows you to activate an alert which records video evidence and GPS location and uploads it to a cloud, alerting your “incident team” (a group off friends and family you can hand-pick) by text message. $1.29

bSAFE 

Tracks your location and lets friends virtually “walk you home”. Another cool feature: it can send fake calls from friends to you so you have an excuse to leave an awkward situation. Free

Help Me 

Launched by the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, this app is specifically focused on protecting children. It features helpful tips for staying safe in a variety of situations and has a list of useful numbers children can call in a crisis. If kids feel unsafe, they can push the “help me” button and it will sound an alarm and notify two chosen people by text message. $1.29

Get Home Safe 

StaySafe centres on a timer that lets you allocate periods for an activity and alerts contacts if you don’t check in within the allocated time. The best part? The app functions with a cloud system, meaning that even if your phone loses battery your contacts will still be notified if you don’t make it. Free

Guardly

If you’re feeling uncomfortable or at risk, Guardly lets you tell your contacts and see who is nearby to help out. One of its key features is a loud siren that you can activate to frighten and deter an attacker. Free

First Aid by Australian Red Cross

The official app for the Red Cross, First Aid lets you act quickly to independently to remedy a crisis. Easy-to-use and comprehensive, it’s a great back-up option if you or someone you know is hurt and time is of the essence. Free