Beginning this semester, students will have a new safety app.
On Tuesday, UF announced the official launch of GATORSAFE, a free app, to provide safety services to students. University Police did a soft launch of the app Dec. 1 to ensure the app was working for Spring, said Wayne Clark, a UPD officer.
The app, which costs UPD and Student Government $3,000 a year, allows students to text UPD and call police without notifying others, said UPD spokesman Maj. Brad Barber.
“You can send us photos, you can send us videos,” Clark said.
About 600 students have downloaded the app, which can also be used to contact U Matter, We Care and UF’s Counseling and Wellness Center, he said.
“There’s other things that are directly related to safety,” Clark said.
GATORSAFE replaces a previous safety app, TapShield, which cost $50,000. The app, created under former UF Student Body President Christina Bonarrigo (Unite), was stopped Nov. 30 after the company that created it stopped supporting its software, according to Alligator archives.
The new app will not have TapShield’s yank feature, Clark said, which allowed students to call UPD by yanking their headphones from their phones.
Travis Trout, a UF advertising junior, said the app allows him access to several UF services.
“This combines all the apps they told me to get at Preview,” the 21-year-old said. “It’s better than individual apps.”
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostroff.
