Are You Safe? Google 'Trusted Contacts' Arrives on iOS

Google'south Trusted Contacts app, which lets you hands tell loved ones you lot're safe, debuted on Android in Dec and is now available on iOS.

Google is also rolling out some updates for Android users that should "make it fifty-fifty easier to feel safe and give your loved ones peace of mind," Google Staff Software Engineer Minh T. Nguyen wrote in a blog post.

Trusted Contacts lets you share your location with loved ones, even if your phone is offline or you tin can't go to information technology. Once yous install the app, you lot tin can characterization your closest friends and family members as trusted contacts who can request your location.

"If everything's fine, you can deny the request," according to the app's description. "If y'all're unable to respond, your terminal known location is shared automatically" — fifty-fifty if your phone is offline or expressionless.

With the latest version of Trusted Contacts for Android, you tin can choose how long before the app automatically shares your location with a trusted contact who asks for information technology. "Previously set to v minutes by default, y'all tin now choose to share immediately or wait up to an hour," Nguyen wrote.

Android users can also now add trusted contacts by phone number as well as by email address.

"When you type in a phone number, an SMS is sent to that person with an invitation to connect," Nguyen explained. "If they take, then they become a trusted contact and yous'll come across their name and profile motion picture in your app from then on."

Trusted Contacts is also now available nine new languages: Amharic (Federal democratic republic of ethiopia), Greek (Greece), Persian (Iran), Bahasa (Republic of indonesia), Macedonian (Macedonia), Burmese (Myanmar), Nepali (Nepal), Serbian (Serbia) and Urdu (Pakistan). With those additions, the app at present supports 25 languages worldwide.

Trusted Contacts is bachelor for download in the App Shop and Google Play. Android users: make sure you're using the latest version of the app (ane.five) to get the new features.

Near Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag'south skilful on fitness and smart home products. Instruction yoga for well-nigh 10 years has helped her in evaluating a range of continued health products including fitness trackers, heart rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, strength training machines, treadmills, and more. Angela also tests smart habitation devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, just to name a few.