On Watch

On Watch · iPhone · Free · circa 2011–2012

Summary

On Watch is an iPhone personal-safety app built for college students. It lets a user transmit critical information — by phone, email, text, and social media — to a chosen support network. Two touches can call 911 or campus police; “check-in” messages keep friends informed; and countdown timers automatically send a message with GPS coordinates if an activity does not go according to plan (for example, a walk home that runs long). It also connects users directly to sexual-assault, dating-violence, and domestic-abuse hotlines.

It was named alongside Circle of 6 as a co-winner of the federal Apps Against Abuse Challenge, whose brief was to keep young adults connected to trusted friends in real time and to provide fast access to help.

Recognition

WonApps Against Abuse Challenge
- Co-winner with Circle of 6, announced November 2011.

Safety features

ImplementsPanic Button
- Two-touch call to 911 or campus police.
ImplementsLocation Sharing
- GPS sent automatically on a missed check-in / countdown.
ImplementsTrusted Network
ImplementsCrisis Hotlines and Resources

Addresses

AddressesSexual Violence
AddressesIntimate Partner Violence

Connections

Instance ofPersonal Safety Apps
Informed byBystander Intervention
Related toCircle of 6

Sources

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1is2many/apps-against-abuse

Tags: #app #campus

Backlinks

Linked Pages

circle-of-6

Circle of 6

Tech 4 Good (Nancy Schwartzman, Christine Corbett Moran, Thomas Cabus) · iOS (Feb 2012) / Android (Sept 2012) · Free · Active (founding lead developer departed 2015)

Summary

Circle of 6 is a bystander-style personal-safety app for preventing dating violence and sexual assault, built on the premise that the fastest help is often a trusted friend. A user picks six people for their “circle”; from then on, two taps sends those contacts a pre-set message together with the user’s GPS location — for example “come and get me,” “call and interrupt me,” or a request for advice. The app also links directly to reputable domestic-violence and national hotlines, and originally invited contacts to take a Facebook pledge to help stop violence before it happens.

It was co-created by filmmaker and activist Nancy Schwartzman with developer Christine Corbett Moran (lead developer / CTO until 2015) and Thomas Cabus, under the umbrella “Tech 4 Good.” A university edition, Circle of 6 U, customised the trusted-resource links per campus; the team ran a two-year pilot with colleges including Williams. The app reported over 15,000 downloads within its first months and wide press coverage.

Recognition

won::Apps Against Abuse Challenge
- Co-winner with On Watch of the White House / HHS challenge, announced November 2011.

Safety features

implements::Trusted Network
- Exactly six pre-chosen contacts — small, intimate, low-friction.
implements::Panic Button
- Two taps to send a pre-set message.
implements::Location Sharing
- GPS location attached to the alert.

bystander-intervention

Bystander Intervention

Bystander intervention is a violence-prevention approach that equips the people around a potential victim — friends, peers, colleagues, communities — to notice, interrupt and prevent harm before it occurs, rather than placing the whole burden on the person at risk. In safety tech it shows up as tools that lower the friction of reaching trusted people: Circle of 6, Círculo, On Watch, and the federal Apps Against Abuse Challenge that promoted them were all explicitly bystander- and prevention-oriented.

Insight Exchange’s Responders Lab extends the idea beyond the crisis moment, framing everyone as an ongoing “responder” whose interactions matter.

In this vault

prevents::Gender-Based Violence
related_to::Trusted Network

personal-safety-apps

Personal Safety Apps

Personal safety apps are mobile applications that help a user summon help, share their whereabouts, or deter harm. Most combine a Panic Button, Location Sharing, and a Trusted Network, and many connect to Crisis Hotlines and Resources. They span two broad postures: alarm-and-summon tools aimed at acute danger, and network-and-intervene tools rooted in Bystander Intervention that aim to prevent harm before it escalates.

The central design tension is Privacy and Safety: the same capabilities that protect (continuous location, contact lists, always-on microphones) can be turned against a user — see Location Tracking Abuse and Stalkerware — so survivor-facing tools must be weighed with Trauma-Informed Design in mind.

In this vault

addresses::Gender-Based Violence
related_to::Bystander Intervention
tension_with::Privacy and Safety

Member apps assert instance_of::[[Personal Safety Apps]]; see backlinks.

intimate-partner-violence

Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined by the WHO as behaviour by an intimate partner or ex-partner that causes physical, sexual or psychological harm — including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviours. It is the most common form of Domestic Violence and is best understood not as isolated assaults but as an ongoing pattern of domination; the surveillance, isolation and monitoring of Coercive Control are often the core of the abuse rather than incidental to it. This is also why Tech-Enabled Abuse is so potent in IPV: an abuser with shared accounts, devices and location data has ready-made tools for control.

IPV is strikingly prevalent. WHO estimates that about 25.8% of ever-partnered women aged 15–49 have experienced physical and/or sexual IPV at least once in their lifetime, making it the most widespread form of Gender-Based Violence against women. The Lancet’s 2018 global analysis similarly found roughly one in four ever-partnered women affected over their lifetime, with around 13% reporting partner violence in the past year. IPV is also a leading context for femicide: a large share of women killed worldwide die at the hands of an intimate partner.

In this vault

subtype_of::Gender-Based Violence
related_to::Coercive Control
related_to::Domestic Violence
manifests_in::Tech-Enabled Abuse

Sources

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736(21)02664-7/fulltext

Tags: #concept #violence

sexual-violence

Sexual Violence

Sexual violence is defined by the WHO as any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, or other act directed against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting. It spans a wide continuum — rape and attempted rape, sexual assault and unwanted sexual contact, sexual coercion, sexual harassment, child sexual abuse, forced marriage, and the denial of contraception or sexual-health protection. Because consent is central, the defining feature is the absence of freely given agreement rather than the presence of physical force. It can be perpetrated by an intimate partner — overlapping with Intimate Partner Violence — or by acquaintances and strangers (non-partner sexual violence).

It is a major and persistently under-reported form of Gender-Based Violence. WHO estimates that about 8% of women aged 15 and over (roughly 263 million) have experienced non-partner sexual violence at least once since age 15, and that around 31.6% of women worldwide have experienced partner violence or non-partner sexual violence over their lifetime. Children are also heavily affected: a 2023 global analysis estimated lifetime prevalence of childhood sexual violence at about 18.9% for girls and 14.8% for boys. Stigma, fear and disbelief mean recorded figures substantially understate the true scale, shaping how survivor-centred Reporting and Disclosure tools must be designed.

In this vault

Sources

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12100463/

Tags: #concept #violence

crisis-hotlines-and-resources

Crisis Hotlines and Resources

Crisis hotlines and resources are the human-staffed support infrastructure behind much anti-violence technology — the warm referral that an app’s “get help” button should ultimately reach. In the US the National Domestic Violence Hotline offers free, confidential support by phone (1-800-799-SAFE), online chat, and text in over 200 languages, while the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides a broader mental-health crisis line. Confidentiality is the defining feature: domestic-violence service providers operate under strict rules that sharply limit what can be shared with outside parties, because a leak can be life-threatening for a survivor. This is precisely why a hotline disclosure differs from a report to the Criminal Legal System — the survivor controls what happens next.

NNEDV’s Safety Net Project sits at the intersection these notes care about, working on how technology affects the safety, privacy, accessibility, and civil rights of victims, and publishing survivor-facing guidance on Stalkerware, Location Tracking Abuse, and device security. Most Personal Safety Apps embed hotline numbers or resource directories, and tools like Circle of 6 and My Safety Kit are built around connecting users to trusted help rather than replacing it. The design principle is that technology should route toward — not substitute for — confidential human support; treating an app as a stand-in for a hotline is a form of Techno-Solutionism.

In this vault

Sources

Tags: #concept #crisis-hotlines #resources

trusted-network

Trusted Network

A trusted network is the set of people a user pre-selects to receive alerts, check-ins and location from a safety app — Circle of 6’s and Círculo’s “circle” of six, On Watch’s “support network.” The design choices that matter are who can be added, how easily the list can be changed under duress, and whether contacts can actually help in time. It is the connective tissue that makes Bystander Intervention work in software.

In this vault

part_of::Personal Safety Apps
enables::Bystander Intervention

location-sharing

Location Sharing

Location sharing transmits a user’s real-time or on-demand GPS position to chosen recipients — the feature that lets a Panic Button mean “come and get me, here.” It is one of the most protective capabilities in safety tech and one of the most dangerous: the same mechanism, in the hands of an abuser, becomes Location Tracking Abuse. Privacy-focused tools such as Círculo respond by encrypting location and sending it only to a Trusted Network, never tracking or exposing it.

In this vault

panic-button

Panic Button

A panic button (or SOS trigger) is the central primitive of most Personal Safety Apps: a single fast action — a screen tap, a hardware-button sequence, a voice command, or a wearable press — that raises an alarm and usually shares the user’s whereabouts with a Trusted Network or emergency dispatch. Design tensions include speed versus accidental triggering, and visibility versus the need for discreet activation under threat.

In this vault

part_of::Personal Safety Apps
paired_with::Location Sharing

apps-against-abuse-challenge

Apps Against Abuse Challenge

Convened by the US White House (OSTP), HHS, and the Office of the Vice President · 2011

Summary

“Apps Against Abuse” was a US federal technology challenge launched in July 2011 by Vice President Joe Biden, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, as part of the 1 is 2 Many initiative against dating violence and sexual assault. It called on software developers to use mobile technology to keep young adults connected to trusted friends in real time and to provide fast access to help (local police, abuse hotlines).

The framing was explicitly bystander- and prevention-oriented: because many incidents of dating violence and sexual assault involve an acquaintance isolating a target, the envisioned app would let someone reach trusted friends before harm occurs. In November 2011 two co-winners were announced — Circle of 6 and On Watch — and the Vice President urged college and university leaders to make students aware of them.

Connections

Winning apps assert won::[[Apps Against Abuse Challenge]]; see this page’s backlinks for the full list.

Sources

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/1is2many/apps-against-abuse

Tags: #initiative #policy #government