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A friend of mine belongs to a WhatsApp group and together they have signed up to a location sharing app which also has crash detection enabled. This friend recently came off his bike and his group was notified of this and between them they were able to get him the help he needed.
This got me thinking (again!) I am often out on my motorbike on my own and what if I came off in a remote location, it could be some while before it was noticed I had not made it home (this would probably be when they are getting hungry and wondering what’s for dinner 😂)
I started to have a look around at the very many location sharing/tracking/safety apps that are available and if they are actually a good thing to have.
I was also curious as to how such data that has been gathered on the app can be used. Let’s have a look.
So, what are location sharing/tracking/safety apps?
It is an app on your smartphone that uses GPS, wi-fi or cellular data which shows your real-time geographic location to the contacts you have selected.
The app shows your live movement on an interactive map and can send alerts when you arrive at or leave a designated place like home, school, or work, that you have selected.
The emergency SOS allows you to send quick distress signals or exact coordinates to contacts or emergency services and you can add additional features like crash detection, driving speed reports, and safe-walk monitoring.
Apps like Life360 or iSharing offer continuous tracking, location history, and driving alerts which are ideal for families.
Are these apps a good idea?
The plus side of these apps is that your exact GPS location can be sent to your emergency contacts or monitoring services with a single tap on your phone.
Some apps have features like stealth activation or fake phone calls so if you find yourself in a sticky situation you can use one of these features to help you remove yourself from the situation in which you find yourself.
Some apps automatically record video or audio during an emergency situation too which documents the incident.
Are there any negative points?
These apps rely on mobile signals and GPS so if you are in an area with poor or no signal, for example, in a subway or remote location, then you may have very limited use or even no use of the app or someone trying to locate you may find they are unable to see you.
These apps can use a lot of your battery life or a technical glitch may mean the app is not working when you absolutely need it.
Who can see my app data?
You manually add your friends or family – the people who you choose you would like to share your location app with and they can see where you are or where you have been.
The company that runs the app collects your data for ads, features or fixing bugs. If you go into Settings on the app, you can change the permissions so your location is only shared while you are using the app instead of always.
You can of course always turn off or pause the sharing part of the app when you want privacy but you need to remember to turn it back on!
Can the Police access my data and use it against me?
Why would they want to? To possibly prosecute you for dangerous riding or speeding.
Potentially, yes, the police can use data from a personal safety/tracking/location app such as location tracking, panic button logs, audio recordings, or timestamps against you if it becomes relevant to a criminal investigation or court proceeding.
If your phone is lawfully seized during an arrest or via legal powers, digital forensics tools can extract app data, logs, and even deleted files from your device.
Police officers may well get a court order etc. so that app developers or service providers have to hand over account logs, user data, and stored cloud information etc. There are now a large number of cases where people have been prosecuted from information they have recorded themselves on their own devices.
However, this is obviously only likely to be used in a more serious case. In the UK, standard location/tracking data, such as from a phone GPS app would not usually be used by the police as the sole primary evidence to prosecute you for a standard speeding offence.
This is because if you were to have legal defence, such as from White Dalton Motorcycle Solicitors, they would be able to argue that it is not accurate enough for a prosecution case due to potential GPS/data glitches.
So, would I have one?
Yes, and in fact I now have a safety/tracking/location app on my phone which I have just downloaded as I feel that the benefits in case of something going awry outweighs the minus points.
I’ll keep you posted on how I find it …..
BK
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