A small startup that has been around for less than a year has created a free mobile app aimed at helping Americans and people all over the world resist the police state. The app, called Cell 411 (or Cell 112 in Europe), is available in Spanish, Portuguese, German and Romanian, and it helps activists and people from all political shades resist government abuse with decentralized GPS-based alerts and live video features. Whether you are a gun-rights activist, an anti-Trump protester, concerned with police brutality or simply a muslim woman concerned for her safety, this app can help you build decentralized groups, or “cells” of trusted connections which you can then use to dispatch when you need help.
Because this app has been so revolutionary in its approach to building a new way to handle emergencies and the police state, it has been selected by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London to be featured in the “Future of Design” exhibit in 2018.
Think of this app as an “UBER for emergencies” or a “911 on steroids” except it doesn’t involve government, police or people you don’t trust. The app was created by a small group of passionate engineers, activists and people concerned with the growth of police state all over the world. It can be used by anyone with an Android or iOS smartphone and it has tens of thousands of users all over the world.
Here is how it works: users can freely download the app and signup for an account using their e-mail address of Facebook account. Once signed up, a user can join existing public “cells” or groups in their areas, or can create their own cells. Joining a cell allows you to send and receive emergency alerts from the members of that cell. Let’s say you want to create a cell in your town called, “Denver Mutual Aid.” Al users in the Denver area will be notified when this cell was created and can join the cell in order to offer each other help when the members request the help. There are thousands of cells all over the world used by users for many reasons, such as immigration help, neighborhood watching, etc.
You can also create private cells which are only visible to you an not other users, and you can add your friends to your private cells.
The app allows you to send emergency alerts about medical problems, police abuse, vehicle problems, crime, and other issues; the alerts are tagged with your exact GPS coordinates and your friends can get turn-by-turn directions to your location, should they decide to come and offer you help. You can stream live video to your cells and friends, and the video cannot be erased by a malicious user who may gain access to your phone. The video can also be streamed to YouTube and Facebook and is distributed instantly to all your friends, making it nearly impossible to be destroyed.
The app was specifically designed to be resistant to censorship and government surveillance and has been used successfully all over the world to save lives and keep users safe from criminals, police abuse and many other malicious actors.
The company also created a “panic button” which is a bluetooth device that pairs with the mobile app and allows users to issue alerts instantly without having to unlock the phone or spend precious time navigating an app. Recently a “ride sharing” feature was also added to the app to allow users to offer rides to each other when they need help and accept payments for cash, Bitcoin, silver and even bartering.
You can download Cell 411 for Android and Apple devices from http://getcell411.com/download
You can also watch a quick walk-trough of the main features of this app below: