Airtel launches My Circle safety app for women

India's second largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel and the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) has launched a safety app My Circle for women which has been designed to help in the event of any distress or panic situation.

The carrier-agnostic app can be installed by both Airtel and non-Airtel customers.

My Circle app enables women to send SOS alerts to any five of their family or friends in 13 languages including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Bangla, Urdu, Assamese, Oriya, and Gujarati.

Harmeen Mehta, Global CIO and Head of Digital, Bharti Airtel said "My Circle app is an effort by Airtel towards building a safer environment for women. We have leveraged the power of technology to empower women with a simple and intelligent tool that can respond in real time during an emergency situation."

The SOS alert can be launched by simply pressing the SOS prompt on the app. It can also be activated via voice command through Siri on iOS. The voice activation via Google Assistant will soon be available on Android devices also, the statement said.

It will instantly send an SOS alert along with the user's location over SMS to the five contacts selected by the user and advise them to immediately reach out/respond to the emergency situation. The app operates by estimating the accurate location of the user which their family/friends can track real time on a link that is sent as part of the alert SMS.

"This apart from being an emergency App is also a utility app developed by Airtel as it has simplified the process of downloading and registering", said Avantika Dalmia, Member governing body, FLO.

How to use My Circle app

1. Download the app and register

2. The user will receive OTP to verify the identity

3. Add details of five people you are close with and who are most likely to reach out for help

4. Select language settings

5. Get started