2 Smartphone apps developed at Startup Village among 10 best

Two smartphone applications developed by firms at Kochi's Startup Village have been named among the 10 best apps designed for the security of women, by IT industry body NASSCOM.

Sentinel developed by MindHelix Technosol Pvt Ltd and iFollow from Aucupa Innovative Solutions were among winners of NASSCOM's first all-India App Fame Contest to search for mobile tools to aid personal safety of women and to help deal with emergencies, a press release said.

Sentinel is a GPS-based application developed by MindHelix for Android devices and iPhone. It can make SOS calls and send text alerts and emails with location information to pre-saved emergency numbers and IDs at the touch of a button.

The application works even in situations where the user is unable to trigger the alert manually or the phone is destroyed or there is no internet access. It can be downloaded for free from Google Play and the App store.

Aucupa's iFollow is an Android app that automatically dials voice calls to emergency contacts pre-configured on the device.It is activated if the phone is shaken continuously for five seconds, and on standby works silently in the background to reduce power consumption and CPU usage. iFollow is also a free application that can be downloaded from Google Play.

MindHelix and Aucupa are both fledgling companies incubating at Startup Village. The latest award follows a series of honours and recognition for products and services developed by young innovators at India's first telecom technology incubator.

NASSCOM's App Fame Contest received entries from around the country. The awards were presented at a function in Delhi on June 19.