Whether walking in the Lake District, exploring alone in the Dolomites, or skiing the backcountry – Uepaa! is a new smartphone app that could save your life, and the lives of others around you.
Walking or running in mountainous areas of the UK often entails covering large areas of mobile signal blackspots. Despite this, some of us still justify the safety of our activities, and the possibility for rescue, by saying “I have a mobile phone, i’ll find signal when I need it”.
When hiking in parts of the UK, you can go for days without seeing a single person. Even with people in the area, in the case of an accident, it’s more than likely that no one will be aware until you find a way to call for help.
How can Uepaa! increase the safety of anyone that ventures into the hills, anywhere in the world?
“This technology has the potential to improve our response times, especially in areas where there is poor or no network reception. Incident location and other detailed information, obtained from an area where there is no network signal, is a very positive step in the right direction!” – Alan Prescott, Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, Mountain Rescue England & Wales
The Uepaa! app turns your smartphone into a life-saving tracking, alerting, and rescue device. This revolutionises personal safety in the mountains by enabling users to raise emergency alarms, in areas without mobile phone reception.
The outdoor app allows you to call for rescue, stay connected with the 24/7 Emergency Centre, and be located by professional rescue teams from both air & ground.
The premium version of the app includes ‘Accident Detection’, and will automatically call for help after 5 minutes of inactivity, plus 5 more minutes of no response to mobile phone alerts. In this case, the ‘Buddy Aid’ feature is activated, calling for help from anyone nearby. Live tracking allows your friends and family to follow your progress in real-time.
Something to consider…
Becoming reliant on any kind of device, for rescue or survival, has always been considered to be unwise. The app has already proven that this technology has the potential to save lives, however, despite being “off the grid”, and able to function without mobile phone signal, the app becomes totally useless when your phone’s battery dies.
The idea behind this new technology is smart, but it’s important to remember that while the app is designed specifically for the outdoors, our mobile phones are not. Using GPS services and P2P communication can quickly drain the battery of mobile devices, and could leave you in an even worse situation than having a working phone, with no signal in the current location. Another thing to consider is the effect of cold temperatures on battery powered devices (especially iPhones) – even close-to-zero temperatures is enough to quickly deplete a battery.
Uepaa! works – it has already helped save lives, and assist rescue teams with the location of accidents. The app has the potential to revolutionise mountain rescue, just remember that it relies on your phone’s battery!
For more information, head to uepaa.ch