Life saving app to help nail criminals now in Kenyan market

Snap Mail Country's Marketing Director Rolly Etabale (seated) demonstrates how the system works. (Photo:Kelvin Karani/Standard)

In this era of increased cases of terror attacks, rape and robbery, life for many city dwellers has not been easy and security is not guaranteed. Fact is many of us are not adequately prepared to handle an intruder.

This, however, does not need to be the case. A panic button is now on the market to assist you nail criminals. It is called the SnapMail app.

Once you press the button, it instantly takes several pictures and automatically sends them to your email and at the same time sends a distress text to five people of your choice.

The innovation is the brain-child of a UK-based firm, No Means No Worldwide, which introduced the app to the Kenyan market three months ago. Director Connor Foley says this was after they discovered that the country is among those where sex offenders and robbers go Scot-free for lack of tangible evidence.

Already, four local universities, Technical University of Mombasa, Pwani University, Technical Training College in Mombasa and Taita Taveta University College have tested the app with the intention to use it on campus.

This follows security concerns across colleges following the Garissa University terror attack where 147 students lost their lives. The app can be downloaded for free on Apple IOS and Android smartphones but the information generated can be sent to any phone.

SnapMail has two versions. In the first version, pictures are processed automatically and sent to the person’s email complete with geological location, time and date taken.

The second version gives one the option to insert contacts of five people who will also receive the photos. In a span of five minutes, the five also receive an SOS text to inform them that you are in fix. Once downloaded, this version is free for three months.

“By clicking the Snapmail app, a big yellow button appears on the screen with everything displayed on the camera lens behind the Snapchat icon. A click on the icon takes the photo of the attacker, which is immediately uploaded to a SnapMail account and sent to five people, including the sender’s email,” Foley says.

Once the upload process has begun, there is nothing one can do to stop it. Even if the intruder were to smash the phone, the App will still send the photos and SOS message.