Consider Bluetooth trackers and security prior to now few years and your first thought is likely to be the misuse of Apple AirTags and comparable units in opposition to girls in home abuse and stalking circumstances.
Alongside collaborative initiatives to counter and shut down these malicious makes use of (such because the IETF’s Detection of Undesirable Location Trackers, or DULT, normal), tracker makers themselves are flipping the script, turning tech that has been used to observe girls in opposition to their will into tech that protects them.
In mid-July, Seattle-based Pebblebee introduced a brand new, free SOS security function, named Alert, for its $35 Clip Bluetooth tracker which, like the remainder of its Common line-up, will be arrange with both Apple’s Discover My or Google’s Discover Hub networks, is constituted of round 30 p.c recycled plastic and runs on a chargeable battery, with 12+ months between USB-C expenses.
When multi-pressed (six-plus presses), the Clip can set off a siren alarm, flashing LED lights and robotically ship an SMS textual content notification to at least one “Security Circle” contact that you just’ve pre-saved within the Pebblebee app.
Courtesy of Peebblebee
It’s easy to arrange the contact within the app, and an extended press on the gadget shuts off the siren and LEDs, although it’s unlikely you’ll fumble or by accident set this one off. The Clip’s siren isn’t as loud and the lights don’t cowl as a lot radius as a devoted private alarm would, however they’re sufficient to alert passersby when out strolling at night time. Plus, the Pebblebee web site states: “The Alert performance together with the siren, strobe, and first Security Circle contact is and can at all times be utterly free.”
We examined out the SOS system and it labored and not using a hiccup. Our Security Circle buddy acquired a textual content saying: “URGENT: Sophie activated a Pebblebee Alert. Please verify in instantly” with a hyperlink to the right location by way of Google Maps. Clicking the “Mark as secure” button within the app and/or long-pressing on the Clip sends a follow-up textual content to say “Sophie cancelled their Pebblebee Alert” with the final location hyperlink.
Now, nonetheless, Pebblebee is including a paid-for subscription possibility, named Alert Stay, which presents a Security Circle of as much as 5 contacts to obtain the SOS textual content notification when triggered by way of the Clip, plus reside location monitoring for these contacts, for $3 a month or $26 a yr. There’s additionally a brand new Silent Mode, which sends the alert with out the siren and LEDs, for each free and paid-for customers: helpful, although we haven’t had the prospect to check this or the brand new real-time location sharing out but.
