Well thought-out safety layer. And it’s free!
As easy as it can be to pooh-pooh the idea of ‘safety apps,’ when Road ID’s founders described theirs at Interbike this fall it sounded well considered and hard to fault. Not intended to replace smart planning, proper identification, or anything else that mountain bikers should be already doing, the Road ID App should add a layer to one’s safety net without adding much fuss.
Is everything OK?
In essence, the App is a motion sensor GPS-enabled notifications. If planning, say, a two-hour ride, that time would be entered into the program. For the next two hours, if something goes wrong and the user is unable to respond, those contacts are sent coordinate-linked notifications and can notify the authorities as appropriate. That stationary alert will be triggered if the user hasn’t moved in five minutes and is unable to respond to the phone- a very good thing for anyone who has conked their head or spent time lying in a ditch on top of a broken arm.
In addition, the switchable eCrumb feature allows those included to follow the user’s progress online. As one iTunes reviewer noted, the App “worked great for runner tracking during a recent half marathon, spectators didn’t have to gauge my pace to pick spots – they knew where I was!” Along those lines, it could also come in handy timing 24-hour race transitions.
A Lock Screen Creator function provides first responders with important medical information and up to three In Case of Emergency (ICE) contacts from the phone’s lock screen. This feature is also intended to supplement RoadID’s identification bands, which are fare likelier to survive a bad crash and less likely to have their batteries die. Still, it’s a painless addition.
Unfortunately for those of us who prefer robots to fruit, there is no estimated timeline for an Android version. At Interbike, Road ID were having trouble caused by the latest iOS release, but those have been solved save for occasional Lock Screen Creator issues for iPhone 4/4s users running iOS 7. They are working on these, but everyone else should be A-OK. The Road ID App is free (hooray!) from Apple’s iTunes Store. More at roadid.com/eCrumbs.
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I might be waiting a while before they bring out a version for my Nokia 3210 then
My missus just tracks my progress using “Find My iPhone” – mostly so she knows when to get my tea on, though it’s useful for safety too I guess.
The advantage of that app over Road ID is that it is built-in so I don’t need to remember to start it.
Still this looks like an interesting idea to me and it has some nice features. I do wonder how many “Stationary Alerts” will be sent from the beer gardens though 😀
Great idea for an app, however if you have a passcode on your phone MAKE SURE you turn off posting notifications to your lock screen for all applications otherwise no one will be able to see the lock screen info
That came up on our guiding course, Dan. If you must have a lock screen, then it’s a good tip to have your ICE number as part of your lock screen picture.
Chipps – presumably the advice for a smart phone is to display the number on the lock screen rather than have an entry in your phone book due to all the security features for keypad/phone lock?
Hmmm, we have been looking at solo working apps at work – just like this but ‘plugged in’ to your diary, so that when I should finish at 5, if I haven’t left by then an alarm goes, and then 15 or 30mins later, an alert to boss is made…
Hopefully the “rest time” can be reset, 5 min breaks are a regular feature of my rides ! Endomondo auto pauses during my average climb, it thinks I’ve stopped !
I have 20 min snack and relax breaks sometimes LOL, Is there a 25 min feature 😀