The application has been tested for a week and the first thing that stands out is that when installing it there is an assistant that explains how it works and informs you that your location will be shared. The operation is very simple, there is a main screen in which you can select between five types of emergency (medical, accident, robbery, assault and family loss) and ask for help from people who have the application installed within a radius of 2 km. your location. The alert reaches almost instantaneously to the rest of the users of the application within a radius of 2 km through a notification along with the location on a map of the person who needs help. However, the notification does not show which of the four types of emergency the person has pressed, so if that information is not used, the main screen of the application could be simplified by unifying these four types of emergency with a single button. If we accept, the person who has requested help receives confirmation that help is on the way.   

The fifth type of help that can be requested corresponds to the loss of a family member. In this case, a file appears with information (name, photo, phone, email and address) of the person being searched and that is shared with the users of the application. As with other emergencies, this notification reaches users and in this case the file with the information of the person being searched also appears.

As a summary, it can be noted that the application works well and although there are many similar applications it is true that Firstcall incorporates a novel concept, being the first application that allows you to share help requests with everyone in your area while other applications are more focused on sending the alerts to a closed environment of friends, family or emergency services. The consumption of the battery is highly optimized since I have not observed a reduction in the battery during the week of use, the alerts arrive instantly and also notifications from other users are received even if you do not have the application open. The application has recently been awarded by the Red Cross as the best Application in the Protecting Lives category, corresponding to the Awards for Technological Innovation Applied to Humanitarian Purposes.

An improvement recommendation, which could be useful, would be to incorporate a widget type shortcut or access from the notification bar. That would make it easier to open the application in an emergency situation.

Regarding accessibility, we recommend increasing the contrast of the text with the wallpaper, incorporating feedback to the user through vibration, and improving navigation for screen readers.

The tests have been carried out with two mobiles with Android 6.0 and 5.1 operating systems.

Highlights

• Defibrillators in the area appear on the map.
• Low battery consumption.
• Quick to receive notifications.

Improvement points

• Accessibility
• Have a direct access that makes it easy to open the application.