aspire news: domestic violence and abuse

I found this app via Tumblr recently and just shared this with my couples counseling class tonight, as we covered domestic violence. However, I'd like to correct and elaborate on some of what was written on Tumblr.

Aspire News appears to be a regular news app; however, the Help section of the app directs the user to domestic violence, crime, and sexual abuse resources (websites and phone numbers).  The help resources all seem to be national organizations, so users would most likely have to call the national organizations in order to find local assistance.

While on any of the pages, the user can triple-tap the top of the page to notify "trusted contacts" if the user is in danger (or perhaps suspects danger). The trusted contacts are notified via text message, so users would have to keep that in mind when choosing which phone numbers to input as trusted contacts (landlines would probably not be useful). To test the app, I used my own phone number as a trusted contact and received three text messages:

• the first (which can be personalized) said, "SOS: Your friend is requesting your assistance";
• the second included a 7 second audio clip; and,
• the third included a link to my approximate location (however, it was not my exact location, which could be problematic if the recipient does not know exactly where the sender is).

Furthermore, while on any of the Help pages, the user can click the "X" and be directed to an arbitrary news page, which could be helpful if the abuser is nearby while the user is using the app. The website functions similarly--if you press "esc" or the orange bar at the bottom of the page, an arbitrary website pops up (The Weather Channel, in my case) and the Aspire website changes (Google, in my case).