A Lifesaving Smartphone App Inspired by a Brush With Tragedy

Michael Martin, an entrepreneur and recent Harvard Business School graduate, teamed up with Nick Horelik, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate with a doctorate in nuclear engineering, to start RapidSOS, a start-up offering a smartphone app that, with the touch of an icon, connects cellphone callers with 911 dispatch centers; it is not unlike summoning an Uber car.

RapidSOS has created a program called One-Touch-911 that uses cloud telecommunications and data analytics to push essential information, including a user’s exact location, into the 911 system. With the tap of an icon on a smartphone, the call is connected to the nearest three-digit emergency number, so it will work not only in North America but also in 135 countries, and it can also transmit via Wi-Fi. Included in the free app are features to send medical information and pictures and video, language translation aids and geography-based alerts that provide instructions for users in emergency situations. The data is transmitted directly to the nearest 911 dispatch center in a way that is compatible with the emergency system. “That means there is no new training or new equipment required for them,” Martin explained. “It looks like a landline call to them except with a host of new information coming through.”