Concerns surrounding women’s safety in public spaces continue to dominate national debate, with a survey from the Office for National Statistics finding that half of women feel unsafe walking alone after dark.

YouGov has also surveyed the population to find how unsafe British women feel doing day-to-day activities, particularly when alone at night. This data revealed that 66% feel unsafe at least sometimes while walking alone after dark, and roughly four in 10 women report similar fears when riding alone in a taxi or ride share such as Uber. This also applies to cycling, presenting an even higher barrier, with Lime reporting that 81% of women express safety concerns about riding alone at night.

In Newcastle, a new app called VigilAuntie, developed by a team that has eight Jesmond-based volunteers, has launched to combat this issue and provide a sense of comfort and protection through everyday technology.

Published by the charity Right to Resist, the free app allows users to begin recording video and audio instantly with one tap, while simultaneously alerting five trusted contacts and sharing their location.

The app is designed to act as a deterrent, ensuring incidents are witnessed and recorded securely. Footage is stored in the cloud and cannot be deleted by perpetrators, addressing what volunteers say is a critical gap in personal safety tools. “It’s about calling upon friendship,” said Em Beattie, Brand Ambassador for VigilAuntie. “Even if it’s the smallest thing, it is better to have evidence than nothing at all.”

VigilAuntie is run by a team of volunteers and trustees with expertise across education, law, technology and policing. The charity is chaired by co-founder Belinda Speir, supported by app developer Tod Yeadon and trustees including solicitor Jane Gibson. Former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord John Stevens acts as a patron, lending his experience in surveillance and public safety to the project.

Surveys and focus groups conducted during the app’s development found that 83% of participants were likely to use the app, 71% said they would feel more confident walking aroundin public having the app, and 90% were very favourable of having the app on their phone. The app has also been tested at Newcastle University, where they interviewed students to understand how they could make the app better, how they could use it, and when they would use it.

Beattie said a key finding from their pop-ups at universities and in the city centre was that a lot of women loved the concept of the app because it is much needed. Many of the incidents shared with them by people were scenarios where this app would have been useful.

She explained: “It’s heartwarming to know we can help people from these situations.”

Newcastle University have their own safety service called Safe Zone, however during VigilAuntie’s pop-up at the university, they found that many students did not know about the service, which showed them there is a missing gap that they could fill.

One of the biggest challenges for young women who are students is leaping from the first year of university, where you are in accommodation, and there is CCTV and on-site security, to the second and third years, when students make the move to residential areas like Jesmond, Sandyford and Heaton, where that security is no longer available. “Sometimes the police can’t always be there, and this app offers an instant deterrent for these situations,” said Beattie. “We are trying to be an extra tool that students and everybody can use.”

Beattie said that if the app had existed earlier “I would have used it about 100 times.” She added: “Everybody I know has had something happen to them, which is horrible. It’s not just females, it’s for everybody.”

Jesmond resident Saffron Hughes told JesmondLocal: “I wish I knew this existed sooner. Having something like that on my phone would give me a lot more peace of mind when out alone.”

This app isn’t just aimed at Newcastle. It started there because that is where the team are from, but the goal is for it to move nationally and worldwide, to help people. Beattie told JesmondLocal, “Universities are such a good catchment, because everyone goes out on a Wednesday night, or multiple nights of the week… In some areas, they may be the most vulnerable.” Taking on volunteers from the universities and having that perspecitve aided the advertising and how they would approach things with the app.

Beattie said that having a lawyer on the team, Jane Gibson, provided the insight that a lot of cases aren’t solved or don’t go forward because of the lack of evidence. In the year to June 2024, nearly 1.9m violent or sexual crimes in England and Wales were closed without a suspect being caught or charged. The VigilAuntie app secures evidence in the cloud, and they hope it will help a lot of people in these situations.

Currently, VigilAuntie is continuing to roll out the app and trying to grow its number of volunteers to develop new ideas and to engage with more people. Its objective is to communicate with everybody and expand the app’s reach, by getting universities onboard. Find more information about the app on the VigilAuntie website here.