This is one mobile application I think everyone should have installed. And be recommended by them to all of their friends and relatives to boot.
Meet iMobile Care, a potential life-saver that you can carry around in your pocket.
Launched at the beginning of this month, the app is primarily a reference guide that lets you obtain essential information about medical conditions and situations quickly and easily. The tool allows users to get a visual and textual explanation of how deliver aid and care during emergencies and events such as accidents, bites and stings, choking, injuries, poisoning, burns, and many other critical situations.
But billed as a mere mobile first aid guide even by its own makers, it’s actually much more than that. And I’m not saying that because you can make fart noises with it (you can’t), but because iMobile Care also boasts a number of location and personalization features that could well make the difference between life or death for yourself in the situations described above.
I purchased and installed the iPhone app, which allows me to have the app automatically pinpoint my location if I choose to configure it that way. In addition, I can provide additional, optional data like my blood type, address, primary contact in case of emergency, any medication I use, allergies I have, and more.
As you can see in the screenshot above, the app lets you call your local emergency number – which it automatically fetches as soon as you set your country – and access your camera or photo library in just one click. This can prove very useful e.g. in case of a car accident where you can provide much more information about the situation with one image than with a thousand words (and much faster too).
You can also sound an SOS alert from your phone in case of distress, and provide additional information for when you switch it on, all of which you can store in advance to make sure you don’t lose time explaining your situation (provided you’re even capable to do so at that point). Here’s an example of how that might work:
VisionSync, the company behind the app, is careful enough to clearly state it doesn’t substitute for care that well-trained first aid personnel can deliver and that it works best for users who have gone through the various conditions and situations located on the iMobile Care app prior to them actually occurring.
We should probably also point out that the company’s privacy policy shows that they cannot guarantee the absolute privacy of the data you provide, which can include confidential information like medical history, conditions, medications, and location. I purchased the app and I’m willing to take that risk because I think the advantages outweigh the potential disadvantages, but you may feel different about that.
iMobile Care is available for the iPhone ($2.99 – iTunes link) and smartphones running Android. Support for Blackberry devices and Windows Mobile-equipped phones will be added in the near future.
Cheesy video with more screenshots: