SOS app lives up to wish for fast rescues

The police's emergency rescue mobile application, HKSOS, is going places since its launch in January, with 57,000 downloads recorded to date.

The app has not only proven popular but also led to a noteworthy reduction in prolonged rescue cases in its initial two months of operation.

Senior superintendent Mohammed Swalikh of the digital policing services bureau information systems wing said "the number of rescue cases that lasted four hours or more in the first two months was reduced by 90 percent compared to the same period last year."

He added: "There were 21 prolonged rescue cases in the first two months last year, while only two such cases were reported in the same period."

HKSOS, a locally-developed application launched on January 20, facilitates direct communication between users and the 999 emergency hotline command and control center.

By simply pressing the "SOS" button within the app, users can transmit a distress signal and allow the center to pinpoint their location.

Swalikh said this feature has significantly expedited the process of locating individuals in distress.

"In the past few years, we witnessed numerous cases in which rescuers needed to spend days or even weeks searching for people in distress," he said.

However, due to the accurate location information provided by the app, the rescue time has been reduced to one to two hours in recent cases.

To make the point, officers cited a case in which a hiker, Chan, had embarked on a hike from Sharp Peak to Mai Fan Teng in Sai Kung on February 20.

However, he underestimated the difficulties posed by the route and began experiencing symptoms of sunstroke after six hours.

And he sustained abrasions and lost his sense of direction, prompting him to seek help using the HKSOS app.

"I was too sick to recognize the place where I ended up being and could not even speak clearly on the phone. The SOS app really helped me in such a situation,"Chan said,

To further enhance user safety, the app encourages users to input their planned route and estimated activity duration, such as hiking, paragliding or canoeing, and activate the "quick start" button.

This allows police tracking of users' locations and evaluation of potential risks using algorithms.

Swalikh assured users that personal privacy is respected, saying, "the app has reached a perfect balance between privacy and rescue needs."

He also said the police would only track users' locations if they consented to it and that all personal data would be deleted after 48 hours.

Swalikh also advised app users to activate the track function by using the "quick start" button before engaging in outdoor activities, particularly in areas with poor signal reception or when experiencing physical discomfort that may hinder the ability to send an SOS signal.

The police also announced that the app has received positive feedback from international experts and successfully passed a field test in a Dubai desert, demonstrating its ability to accurately locate a phone covered by 54 centimeters of sand.

Considering these achievements, the police expressed an intention to explore additional scenarios where the app could be employed, as well as to share the technology with police forces in other countries.