The Making Of SafelyHome - Part One

"Sic Parvis Magna", or "Greatness from Small Beginnings" in English, for those unfamiliar with Uncharted, is one of my favourite quotes and games! It's never felt more appropriate given the recent release of SafelyHome, a small idea that grew into a big project. That being said, with many more features and ideas in the pipeline, it still feels like the beginning. For all those wanting to know, this series of articles will outline the story so far and help us reflect in years to come and see how far much we’ve achieved!

Given this is part one, we should start from the beginning. Over three years ago, one sunny evening on a park bench in the middle of summer.

After moving back home from my second year of university due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my mood was grim. With many of the rules at the time restricting my ability to see friends, it didn't improve. That was until my old primary school best friend Oli reached out. Initially over Messenger and then Discord, we began to reconnect after losing touch during secondary school.

After a couple of video calls playing silly games and catching up, the rules suddenly changed again. We could finally meet up outside – so we did. At first we met up to play football and chat, and later to park walks with a couple of beers at our favourite park bench, the view from which you can see below.

This was when Oli mentioned his idea for an app to try and prevent uncomfortable situations. Many people choose to call someone if they are in trouble or want company walking home alone. Oli had the idea of creating an app that meant even when there was no signal, or no one to call, you could speak to someone. However, when he tried to create this on a web-based app-producing platform the quota to make such this non-profit idea was thousands. The idea was dropped. But, with not much going on and a half-completed computer science degree to my name, I suggested we give it a go.

Years later and our friends have joined us to form Appatree Ltd to keep SafelyHome running well into the future. We could not have done it without the dedicated work of our friends, CEO Luke Meir, Graphic Designer Theo Griffin, and Software Engineer Luke Chester. But as I said, this is just the beginning!

Stay up to date by following us on our socials for future parts and articles related to staying safe on nights out!

SafelyHome is available to download on all app stores and via our website. It is an app designed to get reassure and deter when you are on your way home, without the need for signal or data. SafelyHome is entirely not-for-profit and any donations or funding will be used to keep our social project running.