I am sure I sound like a broken record, but everyone who is even moderately active should have a Road ID product. These simple bracelets and tags let you keep emergency contact and health information on your wrist, shoe, or around your neck so that, if something were to happen to you and you are unable to communicate, first responders have information to help assist you. The products are inexpensive but offer an immeasurable value and, more importantly, safety. Road ID is now taking their protective ideas to a new level now with an iPhone app that offers its own safety-minded features as well! It is impressive and EVERYONE should read this and then get the app.
Road ID’s app centers around three ideas: ecrumb, stationary alert, and lock screen information. The lock screen info is pretty simple- the app creates a lock screen image with your emergency contact and any other notes about you. If you have a life-threatening condition, an allergy and collapse during your activity someone can now grab your phone and immediately have a sense of who to call and what might be wrong. Obviously, you could create this kind of information and make it your lockscreen yourself but the Road ID app makes a nice clean version for you.
Ecrumb and Stationary Alert are much more interesting. Ecrumb is what it sounds like- a virtual breadcrumb trail of where you’ve been during your activity. You can broadcast the information to up to five people at a time. This approach seems like it would be a smart move if you are, for example, running in a new area, or out early in the day or late at night. It can also come in handy if you just want friends to have the chance to hop in and meet you en route.
The stationary alert is very cool as well. If the app detects that you haven’t moved for five minutes, it will send an alert to your emergency contacts letting them know you’ve been stationary. My biggest fear when I run early in the morning is that I will trip and fall and no one will be around to help. I’ve had a few falls where it took me a moment to get my bearings and figure out if I needed to call for a ride, and while I was fine every time, knowing if I wasn’t fine within five minutes Sarah would know (and have my location) is a pretty comforting thought.
It’s also impossible to talk about the risk of something happening while running and not reflect on tragedies like what happened to well-known ultrarunner Micah True, aka Caballo Blanco. He went out on a simple (for him) 12-mile trail run, and somewhere along the way suffered a heart issue and died. Using something like the RoadID app probably wouldn’t have saved his life, but it would have been easier to locate him and saved his friends and family days of searching the wilderness for him.
This isn’t a full review, because I haven’t had the chance to test the app out on Sarah’s 4S yet, but it’s a free app that is definitely worth the download. And if you happen to use any of the features, let us know how they work for you!