iNeedHelp! is a Virtual SOS Signal for iPhone
It is no surprise that thanks to Apple’s debut into the smartphone market, the entire industry has shifted to a much more software-centric market. The various app stores now host hundreds of thousands of apps that offer different features we would never have imagined possible only a few years ago.
While games is the most popular category in the Apple App Store, it never ceases to amaze me how creative developers have become in other categories as a result of the rising competition. A relatively new app I came across in the App Store was so brilliantly simple and original, I just had to share it with the rest of you.
This is going to be a short review since the app pretty much does one thing, and one thing only. It sends an email to your designated contacts telling them you are in trouble with a live dynamic link to a map of your current location. As soon as you hit the big Help button in the iNeedHelp! app, the app sends that email to your contacts.
You can define multiple contacts to receive the email, but as far as I can tell, the person needs to have an email address and needs to be in your phone’s address book. The obvious next step is to send the person an SMS for people who do not use email, possibly some Facebook connect action, and if the developer wants to get really cutting edge, maybe even allow the app to send someone a tweet.
I tried out the app and sent myself an email with a distress call. The email arrived immediately and the map was updated and accurate.
There is nothing more to say about this app. The main interface has a dangerously inviting Help button and a large Settings icon. In the Settings screen, you configure your details and choose the contacts you are sending the message to.
Is the app worth it? Well, this is the kind of utility you will only need once and that one time, this kind of thing might seriously help you, so I say yes. I have spoken to the developer and everything I mentioned above is already available in the next version of the app, plus a whole lot more.
To sum it up, iNeedHelp is a smart, creative, and useful iPhone app that has the absolute simplest interface you can possibly imagine. Seems like a winner to me. You can download the app here. One last thing. The app is free now, but from what I understand, it will not stay that way for much longer…
