Parents won't need to worry about their little trick-or-treaters this Halloween, thanks to a new app that helps wary mothers and fathers track their children on the ghoulish holiday.
A free app called SecuraFone, developed by Chris Holbert, will help give parents peace of mind this Halloween. “The free version will load and instantly allow them to see where the child is at any point in time from their phone or any connected device,” Holbert told CBS News Denver.
“It will send a text message and an email alert to as many people as you want. So it can be their friends, their parents, or older brother, or whoever it is; and they will see exactly where they are,” Holbert further explained.
The app will update a child's location every few minutes, and it allows children to send SOS text messages in case of emergencies, according to a press release obtained by WKMG. The release states that every 40 seconds a child is reported missing in the U.S., with about 800,000 children missing each year.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a series of safety guidelines for children trick-or-treating on Halloween. The center recommends going out in groups, never approaching a vehicle, wearing reflective clothing and staying in well-lit areas.
SecuraFone is available for both iPhone and Android devices. Halloween is not the only time this app would prove useful, however. It can provide added safety for children, young drivers and seniors yearlong.
Alternatively, parents can also order BrickHouse Security's free Spark Nano 3.0, a portable GPS device that can be inserted into a trick-or-treater's bag and will instantly track his or her location from any computer or smartphone.
Parents can use this device on Halloween to create a "geofence," or a safe area for child to stick to. A text or email alert will be sent the moment the child crosses this boundary.