This is a snapshot listing the system requirements and a few of the highlighted features for the McAfee Personal Safety丨Family Locator App mentioned in “Smart Personal Safety and Security.” It also complements “The Gift of Fear,” which discusses how to recognize potentially dangerous situations.

From McAfee Innovations in Santa Clara, CA, is a free personal security app for Android devices. Version 1.3.0.15 is compatible with Android 4.0 and higher.

McAfee Personal Safety|Family Locator takes a somewhat more simplified approach than some of the previous applications, but adds a few intriguing features as well. Capabilities include:

• The ability to create Trusted Circles. These are custom groups of contacts that allow you to share your location and watch each others back. The app also allows you to exchange information with the whole group at once.
• McAfee Personal Safety|Family Locator enables a feature referred to as Priority Calling between users. As long as their phone is on and the app is running, you can reach your contacts even if their phone is set to silent or do-not-disturb mode. The app will generate a distinct ring tone and display a contextual message along with your location on the map.
• This app can be configured to generate Auto Check-ins, by pre-configuring a location on the map. When you reach one of these locations, the app will automatically send out a notification to your group.
• The McAfee Personal Safety|Family Locator’s Shadow Me mode allows you to define a destination and route, then request one of your contacts to follow your progress in real-time.

John Joyce is a laboratory informatics specialist based in Richmond, VA. He may be reached at editor@ScientificComputing.com.