New app expands features to increase Ithaca College campus safety

In July, Ithaca College launched the SAFE IC mobile safety application for iOS and Android devices. The app replaced the Rave Guardian mobile app, which the college ceased to support starting Aug. 1.

SAFE IC includes features like alerts and updates from the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management, contacts for emergency services, a campus map and resources, the ability to report suspicious behavior or safety concerns, a mobile blue light system and a friend walk feature.

The friend walk feature of SAFE IC allows students to share their location with a friend to ensure they can get to their destination safely. A similar feature to the friend walk existed in Rave Guardian. First-year student Isabella Como said SAFE IC was promoted to her during orientation week.

“I did see there was an option for a friend walk,” Como said. “I thought it would be cool if you could send someone your location and they could come and meet you there.”

Members of the campus community will continue to receive emergency notifications from IC Alerts, the college’s emergency notification system that sends out alerts via voicemail, email and text messages, in addition to the notifications sent out over SAFE IC.

Rave Guardian is used in multiple higher education institutions as a safety app, while SAFE IC was developed specifically for the college using templates from AppArmor, a custom safety app developer and subsidiary of Motorola Solutions. Samm Swarts, assistant director for Emergency Preparedness and Response, said he designed and built the app along with the Office of Information Technology and Analytics and Marketing Communications. 

“The previous app was a little bit static and we didn’t have a lot of control of the look and feel,” Swarts said. “Now we’ve been able to brand it to IC colors and all those sorts of things too.”

Swarts said via email that SAFE IC has received just shy of 1,000 downloads as of Aug. 26. Casey Kendall, deputy chief information officer and associate vice president of applications and infrastructure, said IT worked alongside OPS by helping get the app up on the Apple and Google Play Stores.

“We’re strategic partners,” Kendall said. “We work together hand in hand. If there’s additional needs from Information Technology and Analytics, we will certainly be there to help support it.”

Swarts said that while he was designing SAFE IC, he sought out feedback from students on features they would like to see included in the app through focus groups and emergency preparedness presentations on campus. He said a new feature of SAFE IC that was requested by students is the mobile blue light feature that allows students to call campus police and alert them to the student’s location. 

“When you do call in to us, we can see exactly where it is that you are, if you so choose,” Swarts said. “It’s an optional feature inside the app.” 

SAFE IC was announced to students via a July 8 campus-wide email and a July 14 Intercom post. Sophomore Hazel Moran said she only found out about SAFE IC from an IC Instagram story.

“Not everyone checks [IC’s Instagram], plus not everyone checks their email over the summer too,” Moran said. “I’m sure all the freshmen would download it, but I think the upperclassmen might not know about it.”

Swarts said he is working to expand SAFE IC to work for students studying at the Ithaca College London Center and in the Ithaca College Los Angeles Program. He said he is aiming to launch the expansion to the London Center and ICLA in the next few weeks.

“You’ll have all the local resources available to you and all of the information, kind of like you would on the main campus,” Swarts said.

Swarts said via email that the college decided to look into getting a new safety app in Fall 2024. He said the college was limited in what it could include on Rave Guardian because it only allowed the college to include six icons for students to click on, while the college can add an unlimited number of icons to SAFE IC. Swarts said that despite not having any prior app development experience, he developed the app in around two months from April to June.

“You have to learn the system,” Swarts said. “You have to play around with it a little bit. So it takes a little bit of time, but I feel like I’ve sort of become an expert at it now.”

Kendall said the college will continue to send out communications materials on SAFE IC to help the student body become more aware of the app.

“I think it’s really helpful,” Kendall said. “I use it. I have it on my phone. … I think it’s a great thing to explore and important to use.”