Citizen App is a mobile app that allows users to report and share safety concerns with one another, and it was launched back in 2016. Users can access a team of highly-trained professionals who can help them in times of need. These individuals, known as Protect Agents, are former law enforcement officers and medical responders who have completed a four-week certification course. In addition to providing basic safety assistance, Protect Agents are also qualified in discrimination deterrence, anti-racism understanding and mental healthiness recognition and response.

In Citizen App’s latest update, Citizen App is launching its first paid feature; “Protect”. The new feature will allow subscribers to have a live safety agent aspect (similar to Uber Eats’ emergency button) contact them when they are in stressful or uncertain situations. This new feature aims to reduce the number of non-emergency calls that are made to 911.

This is the first time that Citizen App has offered a paid service for their app, and it comes at the cost of $19.99 per month. Citizen’s safety agent provides access to a team of on-call experts who can help users by calling the police and family, contacting local authorities and providing information about nearby shelters. Citizen is also offering free trials for their new service.

How does Citizen App work? How is Citizen different from other crime alert apps? Citizen is unique because it uses crowdsourced content and public police scanner traffic information, which alerts users about nearby incidents around where they are located. The Citizen Safety Agent also has a “panic button” that alerts the app user’s contacts and first responders. This is activated by pressing and holding the button for three seconds.

The Citizen App had hit the headlines several times since its inaugural — for example, it helped locate a kidnapped boy in Manhattan after the app dispatched a caution. Go to this page to learn more.

 

More about Citizen App on https://medium.com/citizen/tagged/citizen-app