While I’m the first to fight with the naysayers, we can’t hide from the fact that for girls travelling around South Africa late at night, the possibility of crime is high. Kitestring is a web based service that allows you some piece of mind on your late night partying missions.
Kitestring is free and relatively simple to use. You log on to their website: http://www.kitestring.io and enter a list of emergency contact numbers to your account. When you’re hitting the town let the app know and fill in the time you expect to be home. At that specific time Kitestring will send you an SMS to check up on you. Then all you need to do is reply with your set check in word if you’re safe. If you’re not, the app will then send SMSes you’ve customised to your emergency contacts to notify them that you haven’t checked in.
While the web based app is free you are going to be hit with international SMS rates. Something to keep in mind before you sign up.
If your phone does get stolen even a tech savvy criminal won’t be able to reply pretending to be you as you can set customised reply “check in” words. Also if you’re running late you can extend your check in time with a simple text message or if the party wasn’t so great and you arrived home early you can check in earlier. You can also add a secret duress code word which can be sent when in trouble, once Kitestring receives it, it will notify your emergency contacts.
So basically, it’s like living at home again, when your mom insisted on checking in on you when you were out on the town. But, if you’re a girl on your own it may also be a useful way to make sure you’ve always got a way of calling for help when you need it…. we’re on the fence, what do you think?
