Apps offering travel safety alerts
Travelling to unfamiliar destinations can be an exciting experience, but it's important to stay informed about potential dangers and disruptions. Here are some recommended smartphone apps that can help you stay updated on weather warnings, local unrest, conflicts, and crime rates.
- Ozzi - Turn your phone into a global safety guide with real-time alerts, risk heatmaps, and safety scores for areas around the world. Ozzi is highly recommended as a travel safety app, providing up-to-date safety information to help you explore unfamiliar places with confidence [1].
- Global Rescue Security Membership - While not a general app, this service offers valuable benefits for higher-risk travelers. It provides 24/7 access to a team of military special operations veterans and intelligence experts who offer real-time alerts and destination-specific security advisories, plus emergency response and extraction services in conflict zones, civil unrest, and terror events [2].
- Weather Apps - While not specifically listed, most travellers should use reliable weather apps for real-time weather warnings. Commonly used apps include the default weather app on their smartphones or international weather services.
- For other travel needs:
- Google Maps and Waze provide traffic and local disruption information.
- Planning apps like Wanderlog and Gaia GPS help with route planning and offline access but are less focused on safety alerts [3].
Additionally, apps that may help with local social context include: - Green Book Global offers traveler tips and insights, particularly helpful for Black travelers concerned about safety in unfamiliar cultural or sociopolitical environments [1].
Although crime rate-specific apps were not directly mentioned, combining apps like Ozzi (for safety alerts) with local government or embassy apps may provide detailed crime and security information.
The Foreign Office provides a free "Safe Travel" app for travellers to keep track of travel and security advice for various countries. Marcel Conrad, from A3M Global Monitoring, advises downloading local apps for faster and more precise information [4].
In California, the ministry's app lists "Watch Duty" as an app for wildfire and bushfire warnings around Los Angeles. This app provides precise and fast updates from local emergency services and interactive maps with evacuation centers and routes [5].
To receive these warnings, the smartphone must not be in flight mode and must have at least Android version 11 or iOS version 16.1 installed.
In extreme weather situations or power outages in vacation regions, apps like WarnApps are an important supplement to crisis management. These apps offer push notifications about current changes and comprehensive information, ranging from entry advice to crime information in the country [6].
Dertour provides travelers with emergency information via SMS in crisis situations, while the Katwarn app is useful internationally and receives warning messages from authorities, institutions, and control centers about floods, terror alerts, or storms [7]. Some countries, including the USA, the Netherlands, and Greece, use the mobile phone service Cell Broadcast to send warning messages directly to smartphones [8].
Cell Broadcast works without the internet and only requires a connection to the mobile network. In an emergency, the app may publish urgent messages, such as warnings about natural disasters or unrest in a specific country [9].
It's always a good idea to leave your mobile number when booking to ensure quick communication, and to ensure cost-effective online access while traveling, consumers can buy a prepaid SIM card from a provider in the destination country or use a roaming offer with an eSIM for non-EU countries if their smartphone supports eSIM technology [10].
In conclusion, using a combination of apps like Ozzi for real-time alerts, Global Rescue for premium security advisories and emergency extraction, and local resources will provide comprehensive safety information during travel.
- A prudent traveler should consult the Community policy provided by the Foreign Office, which offers a free "Safe Travel" app for tracking travel and security advice for various countries.
- To enhance knowledge about potential dangers and lifestyle aspects of a destination, traveling individuals might find useful applications like Green Book Global, which provides traveler tips and insights, particularly helpful for those concerned about safety in unfamiliar cultural or sociopolitical environments.
