StepSafe — Mobile Safety App
Traveling alone should not have to feel unsafe.
A safety companion for solo travelers — risk awareness, safer routes, and real support when it counts.
A safety companion for solo travelers — risk awareness, safer routes, and real support when it counts.
Solo travelers don't fear emergencies. They fear the street they're about to turn down — the route that felt fine on a map but doesn't feel fine at night.
Most safety tools only respond after something happens. StepSafe starts earlier.
Unlit streets, empty paths, and invisible safety infrastructure are the primary risk signals users scan for — before they even start walking.
Emergency apps are designed for after something happens. Navigation apps don't account for safety. Nothing is built for the anxious in-between.
Phone calls while walking, silent location shares, longer lit routes — people have developed real safety behaviors without any product to support them.
A structured survey targeting women who travel alone regularly — mapping fears, avoidance behaviors, and the decisions they make under uncertainty.
Twelve online interviews to go beyond survey data — understanding the emotional reality of solo travel and the workarounds people already use to feel safer.
Feel alert every time they walk alone through isolated areas
Take a longer route to avoid a path that feels unsafe
Contact someone they know — not emergency services — when afraid
Identify unlit alleys as the most dangerous environment type
Design implications
Fear is anticipatory, not reactive.
Risk awareness had to be built into the planning stage — not the emergency response.
Trusted contacts come first — not emergency services.
The primary support layer needed to be personal, not institutional.
Users choose longer routes when they know it's safer.
Users already made the safer choice instinctively. The product needed to make that option visible and easy to act on.
Nothing exists between uncomfortable and emergency.
That gap is where most solo travel anxiety lives — and where the product had to work hardest.
Nuch
Student — 21 years old
Lives alone off-campus. Travels solo frequently, often returning late. Phone-first — LINE, Maps, Instagram.
Scenario — Walking home through a quiet area, late evening, alone
Three principles drove every design decision.
Risk had to be visible at the planning stage — not delivered as a notification after the user was already somewhere unsafe.
Route comparison was redesigned to lead with safety signal, not travel time. A better option always sits alongside the riskier one.
The support layer mirrors real behavior: trusted network first, emergency services last — never the reverse.
Before — During — After
Route Comparison shows the risk level of each path alongside travel time — so a safer choice is always visible before the user sets off.
Track Me shares your live location and ETA with selected contacts. If a check-in is missed, they're quietly alerted — no panic, just presence.
Three layers of support, scaled to the situation. Nothing is buried. No unnecessary friction at any level.
Share your route. Contacts notified if check-in is missed.
Optional community support — controlled and abuse-resistant by design.
One action. Location attached. Always visible — never buried.
Every token, component, and color choice reinforces the same principle: fast comprehension, low cognitive load, and emotional reassurance.
Four core flows that show where decisions are made, how safety features interact, and how the product escalates support progressively.
Five key screens — from risk awareness to emergency escalation.
