By Avigayil Kadesh
The months of June and July have been full of tragedy and stress in Israel, beginning with the kidnapping and murder of four teenage boys and continuing to the unrelenting missiles fired from Gaza that necessitated Operation Protective Edge.
Realizing that Israelis are feeling vulnerable and frightened by these unpredictable events – especially the unrelenting Code Red alerts that send citizens of many Israeli regions to bomb shelters throughout the day and night – several app developers worked quickly to make products that will help Israelis feel a bit safer and better informed.
Within 72 hours of the June 12 abduction of three Israeli teens, the nonprofit emergency medical response service
United Hatzalah unveiled a public “SOS”
emergency alert app for Android and iPhone that dispatches a distress call to the Israeli police and its own dispatchers, complete with GPS location of the caller.
The fast development work was accomplished by NowForce, the Israeli company that built the LifeCompass GPS-oriented technology for United Hatzalah several years ago to help cut response time by locating and alerting volunteer medics closest to the emergency scene.
“We quickly understood that this technology serving our volunteers can be utilized for the general Israeli public, and we decided with NowForce to do this,” says Dov Maisel, director of international relations at Jerusalem-based United Hatzalah.
The existing technology functions in Hebrew and English, so those were the two languages in which SOS was launched, but an Arabic version soon followed.
“We want everyone in Israel to be able to benefit from it,” says Maisel, noting that United Hatzalah’s 2,400 volunteer medics include religious and secular Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze.
United Hatzalah President Eli Beer demonstrates
the SOS app. Photo by Moshe AssulinAnyone living in or visiting Israel can download the app at the website sos.nowforce.com. Registration must go through the website to ensure that users enter emergency contact information, explains Maisel.
“When the app is activated, it dials the police and pops up in our dispatch center to give us the user’s location, phone number and additional information. At the same time, the app automatically sends a text message with a link to Google Maps to the contacts entered by the user upon registration.”
Maisel says organizations and communities in Israel and other countries have approached United Hatzalah about implementing the SOS app. An action plan to work with all interested communities is in development.
He stresses that the app is intended to remain free of charge. All costs are borne by philanthropists, as was the original development of LifeCompass.
RedAlert Israel, Google Glass
Another free smartphone app, Tzeva Adom (RedAlert Israel), was developed for iOS by Kobi Snir during heavy shelling from Gaza about two and a half years ago to make sure users in the affected communities would not miss an air-raid siren.
With Snir’s permission, Jerusalem resident Ari Sprung developed an
Android version in response to the 2014 hostilities. He also updated the app to include a chat feature so people can share their emotions. Now the
iOS version is available in English, and RedAlert Israel interfaces with the popular Israeli social app Yo. Subscribers to both apps receive a “Yo” every time a missile is launched.
“We’re learning that people are downloading it not only to make sure they hear the alert but also to keep tabs on relatives anywhere in the country,” says Sprung.
Subscribers to Google Glass can download a new app from RustyBrick Software alerting them of incoming rockets fired by Hamas and providing real-time updates of location and time of the attack to help Israeli users find shelter quickly. However, you don’t have to be in Israel to get the app.
Neither do you have to live in Israel to get an idea of what it’s like to live under a constant barrage of rockets, now that two Israelis have launched IsraelHasBeenRocketFreeFor.com, a real-time online clock that automatically resets when Hamas fires toward Israel.
The site was the brainchild of Aaron Friedman, marketing manager at the Israeli browser app startup Curiyo. He turned to 18-year-old tech developer Yehonatan Tsirolnik, who will serve in the IDF’s military intelligence unit in October, to code the site as a way for people anywhere to better understand what Israelis are going through. The clock uses data coming from the IDF Home Front Command system.
On his Facebook page, Friedman points out that the website’s counter “never really gets above an hour” due to the constant barrage, and further notes that this situation is hardly new; Israel has been under intermittent threat of missile attacks from Gaza for about 14 years.