Google’s Trusted Contact App Wants to Make Users Safe

Google has recently released the Trusted Contact app. For quite some time, expediting communication between users has been a goal of Google’s. But while most of their efforts in this field have been on with social platforms, the Trusted Contact app is specifically intended for emergency situations. User safety is the primary goal here.

This is an app intended to give users peace of mind and help them in those hard-to-prepare-for situations. The questions regarding this app are functionality, effectiveness, and whether or not this app can be as helpful as Google intends it to be. We will assess those questions now and let you know if this is an app necessary in any emergency.

How the Trusted Contact App Works

Users are able to designate their closest friends and family members as trusted contacts. If they feel comfortable doing so, they can share their location with these contacts. This works no matter the circumstances. Even if there’s no service, or if the user’s battery happens to die. The user’s location will be updated for whichever contact is chosen.

Pros and Cons of the Trusted Contact App

Having an app that allows the user to contact someone in the direst of situations is essential. On that alone, Google’s Trusted Contact app does what it sets out to do. It’s a good safety net to have. And at 5 MB, there’s very little to worry about in terms of storage.

The only negative there is to this app derives from the overlap with other apps and phone software. Facebook has had the safety check for a few years, Apple has the iCloud Family Sharing feature, and apps such as Familio and GeoZilla all provide similar services. In fact, people who use other Google apps have also pointed out that Google+ and Hangouts also do this in some form.

Redundancy issues aside, compared to the other apps of its ilk currently out there, Google’s is the most thorough. Consider downloading it as a precautionary measure.