New smartphone app for water safety logs location for family
A smartphone app being launched today aims to save lives at sea.
ISA Safe Trx allows users to log their trip before they leave the shore and it tracks your progress using a GPS system.
If you're not back when expected, it sends a text to your next of kin, who can then check a website and establish if you're still out at sea. The coastguard can then be alerted.
CEO of the Irish Sailing Association Harry Hermon said the app will shut down other processes on the phone to save battery life if the phone battery begins to die.
"It will tell people on the shore- the next of kin - that the battery has run low and that's why they're not getting a signal," he explained.
