Domestic violence app aims to help victims, including disguised emergency button

A domestic violence app aims to provide help to victims of intimate partner violence (IPV), offering everything from an encrypted diary of evidence to a way to call police without the need to speak.

To guard against the risk of abusive partners recognizing the app, it takes a number of precautions – including having no name …

Intimate partner violence (IPV)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that the effects of IPV can be devastating – from PTSD to death.

About 35% of female IPV survivors and more than 11% of male IPV survivors experience some form of physical injury related to IPV. IPV can also result in death. Data from U.S. crime reports suggest that about 1 in 5 homicide victims are killed by an intimate partner. The reports also found that over half of female homicide victims in the U.S. are killed by a current or former male intimate partner.

There are also many other negative health outcomes associated with IPV. These include a range of conditions affecting the heart, digestive, reproduction, muscle and bones, and nervous systems, many of which are chronic. Survivors can experience mental health problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. They are at higher risk for engaging in behaviors such as smoking, binge drinking, and sexual risk behaviors. People from groups that have been marginalized, such as people from racial and ethnic minority groups, are at higher risk for worse consequences.

Domestic violence app

Technology such as AirTags can be misused by domestic abusers, but one app aims to use put tech on the victim’s side. TNW explains that an app currently being piloted is disguised as something else – but the creator is deliberately not giving any clues as to what the app looks like or appears to do.

Users will have the opportunity to access important information on domestic abuse as well as report an attack. This way, they can collect evidence such photos of injuries or diary entries, which can be stored in the app in an encrypted form, and can be later used in court.

In the instance of a life-threatening event, women can make an in-app call to the police without actually speaking to them. Alternatively, the app can notify a person they trust.

Plus, users will be provided with essential references to support facilities in case they wish to leave their relationship.

As noted above, the app’s camouflage feature is a crucial element, which can be used even if the abuser has access to the victim’s phone.

Creator Stefanie Knaab specifically gives no details on what the app looks like, aiming to avoid perpetrators of domestic violence from recognizing it.

The idea is to create a bit of software that’s disguised, but allows women to collect evidence and contact the authorities without being noticed.

For the same reason, the app will have no name.

Currently, the project – known as is Gewaltfrei in die Zukunft (Violence-free into the Future) – is a pilot project in Germany, but it’s hoped that it will be fully integrated into the country’s anti-IPV measures, and then rolled out to other countries.

Photo: Melanie Wasser/Unsplash