Student Support - Student Safety

WalkSafe+

WalkSafe+, the UK’s leading free personal safety app, has launched in Manchester.

The free app combines journey-sharing features with a detailed safe-space map to help residents, workers and visitors in Manchester to safely navigate the city with confidence.

Features include:

HomeSafe: Set a specific destination and an ETA, then share your journey plan with your trusted contacts without sharing your live location. If you don’t successfully complete your journey, your contacts will be notified

WalkSafe: Commuting, exploring, or just heading out? WalkSafe journeys allow you to share your live location with your friends. Your location will update in real time, allowing your loved ones to keep track of your journey alerting them if you don’t arrive on time

Follow Me: From walking the dog to getting some exercise, not every journey is set in stone. Follow Me allows you to start a journey with no set destination in mind while letting your friends see where you are.

Community Map: See which Manchester venues offer safe spaces, are trained in the Ask for Angela and Active Bystander schemes, are LGBTQ+ inclusive, offer Wi-Fi or charging stations, and more. Learn what other users have said about venues, and report your own concerns, such as large crowds or poor lighting.

WalkSafe+ is available in Manchester now and can be downloaded for free from manchester.gov.uk/walksafe

Peer-to-peer support

There are a number of student groups you can access to get peer-to-peer advice and support, as well as get involved in events and initiatives that tackle sexual harassment in Manchester. The Manchester Students Against Public Sexual Harassment group is Facebook group that acts as a virtual place for all those passionate about ending Public Sexual Harassment (PSH) in Manchester to come together and support each other.
+ Resist Rape Culture student group

The Students' Union are there to support you with any questions, worries or concerns you might have, and who can help you with anything personal that is going on. They can help you to access additional support through the College and relevant external support organisations.

Feeling safe in the city  

The Manchester Safe Taxi Scheme has been set up in collaboration with StreetCars so that students can get home safely – if you don’t have any cash, you can call StreetCars quoting ‘Manchester SU Safe Taxi Scheme’ and leave your student ID card with them as temporary payment. All you have to do then is pay your fare by 12pm the next day at the Students’ Union Helpdesk and collect your student ID card. 

Alternatively, upload your card details on the StreetCars app so you can pay by card. That way you don’t need to cash out or to leave your student ID card behind. More details can be found here.

If you are in the Oxford Road area, Manchester Safe Zones have been set up for anyone being followed, feeling vulnerable or are unwell. All premises participating in the scheme have a ‘Safe Zone’ sticker on display in the window. You can wait for the problem to pass, call a taxi or get help from the business or they can call the police if required. Asda and Tesco have also promised that people can use stores as a ‘safe space’ while you wait for a taxi, a friend or public transport.

Tips, resources and apps 

Emergency SOS: If you need to make an emergency call on an iPhone, you can press your lock button 5 times to activate a loud siren and countdown to 3 before calling emergency services and sending an alert to your emergency contacts of your situation and location. Search ‘Emergency SOS’ on your iPhone to set it up. Samsung Android phones carry emergency call buttons on their lock screens.

‘Hey Siri i’m being pulled over’ iPhone shortcut: This one is designed for car drivers, it requires downloading, it only works on the operating system iOS 12 and above – and certain permissions will have to be activated first. However, if you’ve completed the necessary steps, saying “Hey Siri, I’m being pulled over” will result in the phone screen dimming, pausing any music that’s playing, activating do not disturb and starting a video recording through the front-facing camera. The handset will also send an automated message to a chosen emergency contact saying that the owner has been pulled over, and giving their location.

My SafetiPin: This is the highest-rated app designed to keep women safe. SafetiPin offers functions like tracking GPS location to help calculate the best routes to keep you safe. The app also shares details like nearby safe spots where the user can go in case of an emergency, with pinned locations marked with safety scores. 

Life360: Created for families, Life360 allows you to create ‘circles’ where you can add friends or family members into specific groups who will then have access to your location all the time – as long as your location is turned on on your phone. The app can send real-time alerts when you arrive or leave destinations, as well as having a ‘Safety’ section where you can tap a ‘Help Alert’ which tells those in your circle that you feel unsafe 10 seconds after pressing.

bSafe: bSafe has a range of features, such as an SOS button, which can be activated by touch or voice and records your surroundings to send to your chosen contacts, and lets you invite your contacts to follow your location via GPS. There’s also a Fake Call feature, which you can use to make your phone ring to get you out of situations you’re unsure of.

Reclaim the Night is an annual campaign against sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Each year we take to the streets to march for an end to violence against women and the right to feel safe on our streets at night. No woman should ever have to fear for her safety on our streets and the devastating events of recent days have shown how important it is that we continue to raise our voices against sexual violence and street harassment.