Safety app aims to ‘Rally' up help during an attack

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in five women on college campuses is sexually assaulted. One Austinite is trying to curb those numbers with a new app called Rally.

"Rally is a wearable Bluetooth button and mobile app that gets you help instantly by sending GPS alerts to safety circles," Rally App CEO Mike Murphy said.

If a user is in a predicament, they can just tap the button on the back of their phone quickly three times.

"It really is safety on demand, almost like ordering a rideshare," Murphy said. "You send out an alert, people come to help you.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time when these attacks happen, it's late at night, there's no weapon involved, typically just a coward trying to take advantage of somebody," Murphy continued. "When somebody comes, they run. The situation is kind of settled down, then police can come and help afterwards."

With four tours in Afghanistan and working as a bodyguard under his belt, protecting the public has always been a passion for Murphy.

"Our mission is to help fight back against sexual assault, rape and other dangerous situations, specifically on college campuses," said Murphy.

He said his app is about the community coming together to protect one another when police are not there just yet.

"911 gets a lot of calls and it's very difficult for them to respond as quickly as Rally can be," Murphy said. "So it has nothing to do with police necessarily, it's just getting people to the situation as quickly as possible."

The app launches on the UT-Dallas campus with just a little over 100 users first, then it will expand to more people in the fall.

"It's really for everybody. If you have a 12-year-old who's walking home and you want to make sure they're safe, get them a Rally button and the Rally app," said Murphy.

The app will be available on iOS and Android devices.