Personal Safety Apps: Help Is Just A Tap Away

CHICAGO (CBS) -- How can you protect yourself, when you know you will be alone, in a potentially dangerous place?

As CBS 2's Audrina Bigos reports, there are an array of personal safety apps that could be lifesavers.

Ellie Robertson says she would love to use one safety app called WatchMe911.

A user can double tap the app and it calls police, something that could be useful for Robertson, who often runs alone at night.

"It makes it a lot easier and more convenient and it makes me feel a little safer being by myself," she said.

There are other apps, like Guard Llama and Guardly, that provide similar features with some differences, too.

Guardly, for example, will alert a user's designated contacts in the case of an emergency, sounds an alarm and can take photos of an incident.

Chicago app developers have even taken it a step further. Guard Llama uses a remote which activates your phone to call police

"What we've found is that when a lot of people are in trouble they don't have the luxury of time," said Guard Llama CEO Joe Parisi.