Mobile Device on Your Finger to Call for Help

A new location-based device devoted to personal safety gives runners, walkers, hikers and others who find themselves alone a more effective way to raise the alarm and call for help in an emergency without fumbling for a phone.

Worn on your pointer finger, MyRingGuard is a ring that has a button within easy reach of your thumb. With one discreet press of the button, MyRingGuard tells your smartphone to send an urgent distress text, your GPS location and medical history, to up to four pre-programmed emergency contacts.

After the initial distress signal is sent, MyRingGuard continues to send updated text messages to your emergency contacts at regular intervals with your latest location information. A free, downloadable app syncs the ring with your Android smartphone; compatibility with the iPhone is coming soon.

“MyRingGuard is essentially a portable, personal panic button,” says New York-based MyRingGuard founder and CEO Rachel Owens.

“In addition to runners, walkers and hikers, it’s the perfect safety companion for college co-eds, night-shift workers, real estate agents, or anyone else who finds themselves alone before sunrise or after dark, or anyone who frequently works with strangers.“

Owens notes that women are particularly vulnerable in these circumstances, and it was her own personal safety concerns as a runner that prompted her development of the product.

MyRingGuard retails for $49.99 and can be ordered at myringguard.com.