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“Are you home?” reads the message I’ve received at the end of many late Saturday nights in Berkeley. In college, I lived on the quiet side of campus, a 0.8 mile and 15-minute walk away from the hubbub of south side and my close friends’ apartment. I can’t count the number of times this situation has happened: It’s 2 a.m. and as I leave their apartment, I promise to message them as soon as I got home, only to forget to the minute my weary body enters the safety and warmth of my house.
One summer, I worked until midnight at a hotel off-campus. Once my mom found out about the late hours, she always texted me asking if I had gotten home safely. Even if I wasn’t walking, there had been assaults at the very night shuttle stop I often waited at.
With its share of robberies and assaults at all times of the day, UC Berkeley wasn’t going to win any campus safety awards anytime soon. The startling reality of campus and city safety everywhere prompts concern about getting from one destination to another, especially when traveling alone. This worry and stress affects not only the traveler, but also the traveler’s loved ones.
Wearable company Revolar, whose mission statement is “Safety for all,” seeks to combat these concerns and make it easier to send and receive help in unsafe situations.
Co-founders Jacqueline Ros and Andrea Perdomo drew from personal experiences in building Revolar. Ros developed the idea for safety wearables after her sister was assaulted as a teenager and she found herself wishing her sister had been able to simply press a button to send for help. Perdomo’s family moved to the US from Colombia after her grandmother was kidnapped for eight months, and Perdomo always wondered what she could have done to prevent the kidnapping.
Revolar’s newest product, the Instinct, wants to empower users to be proactive about their safety. Whether you’re living alone, going on a run, or going out at night, the Instinct will help put both you and your loved ones at ease.
Because it’s a relatively new introduction to the safety app and device space, we’re going to walk you through what it’s like to set up and use the device. You’ll be able to see the perspectives of all parties involved and decide for yourself whether the Revolar Instinct is for you.
The initial setup and getting accustomed to how the device and app work can take a little time, but it’s a worthwhile investment in the long run. You can purchase it on Amazon for $ 79.99. It’s a small price to pay for your personal safety.
Setting up the device
You must own an iOS or Android device and download the Revolar app. I went through registration and synced the Instinct to my app.
Setting up your contacts
You can add up to five contacts to receive notifications. On the left is what your contact will see when you invite them to Revolar. The right is what your own contacts list will look like.
Next, you’ll practice checking in so you can get comfortable with the device. Your contacts won’t receive any notifications. You can also always return to practicing in ‘Settings.’
There are three types of check-ins:
- Safe Check-In — Hold the button until you hear a beep.
- Yellow Alert — Double click the button (like you would a mouse).
- Red Alert — Triple click or click the button as much as you can.
I liked that these were pretty intuitive and discreet. The clicks are easy to remember and perform when holding the device on my key lanyard. The Yellow and Red Alerts send silent vibrating feedback to let you know the alert has been triggered.
You have the option of customizing the alert messages your contacts receive to more appropriately address your personal situation or feelings.
The app provides examples of messages. On the right are the messages I ended up writing.
Now that everything was set up, I snapped the Instinct into its small case and attached it to my keys lanyard.
I tried sending a Safe Check-In alert. This is what my roommate received.
My location was a little off, but this was most likely due to my own phone’s location calibration rather than the app, since the app is simply using Google Maps.
As I escalated the alerts, the messages sent to my contacts became more involved. On my end, I had to enter a PIN number, which I devised during the initial set-up, to turn off the alert and location tracking.
My contact now has the option to call me. He also received a notification when I turned the Yellow Alert off, essentially sending an “all-clear” message.
The yellow alert also includes a ‘Ring Me’ option.
This is a good feature to employ to get out of an awkward or potentially unsafe situation, like a date you’re getting bad vibes from.
Here’s what the Red Alert looks like. Your contacts can opt to receive emails in addition to texts.
Additional features and information about the Revolar Instinct:
- Step tracking — I wear a Fitbit so I chose not to use this feature.
- Battery — The battery lasts up to a year and is easily replaceable.
- Water resistant — Up to a 2-meter depth.
- Bluetooth low energy — Conserves your phone’s battery life better than other types of Bluetooth.
- Find My Revolar — If you can’t find the keys that your Revolar is attached to, you can use the app to make the device chirp.
The initial setup and getting accustomed to how the device and app work can take a little time, but it’s a worthwhile investment in the long run. You can purchase it on Amazon for $ 79.99. It’s a small price to pay for your personal safety.
