Ushahidi new apps will help you capture realtime reports anywhere

Kenyan-born tech company Ushahidi released apps today for iOS and Android devices. The apps boost its mission to empower anyone to gather reports from anywhere, anytime, the company said.

With support for offline data collection including videos and photos, Ushahidi for iOS and Android will help people quickly complete surveys from their smartphone in any location, with or without an Internet connection, the company said, adding that the app saves data that contributors collect with it, including detailed GPS location data, and sends the report to the appropriate Ushahidi deployment, once it can be reached.

One of the apps, dubbed Safecity,will use Ushahidi to crowdsource personal stories of sexual harassment and abuse in public spaces.

Chief Executive Officer ElsaMarie D’Silva said the release of Ushahidi for iOS and Android will help reporters in India more quickly and accurately submit that data to Safecity.

“The mobile app is easy to use and is a long-awaited addition to the solution. We would definitely use it for our crowdmaps on safety in public spaces,” D’Silva said in a statement.

“We look forward to further developments from Ushahidi to help organisations like ours to use technology for good in a very economical manner.”

D’Silva said she runs multiple Ushahidi deployments, including “Women Speakers List,” which collects the profiles and locations of women who contribute to speaking panels. Ushahidi for iOS and Android streamlines her effort to manage and contribute to multiple deployments by providing a menu to quickly navigate between them. And a simple search-by-name tool makes it easy to add them.

An Ushahidi deployment is a comprehensive software tool that allows people to collect, monitor, visualiz, and respond to data in a single place, the company said. It helps you build custom surveys, import data from third-party services (like SMS and Twitter), share it publicly in a map or timeline, and triage response with your team, the statement added, noting that anyone can create an Ushahidi deployment at ushahidi.com.

Once added to the iOS or Android app, a deployment’s survey data is available to explore in both map and timeline views.

Any of the 5,000-plus deployments already created at ushahidi.com can be added today to the iOS and Android apps. A forthcoming release this spring will extend support to deployments that are installed on third-party servers, the company said.

You can download the iOS app today at the Apple App Store and download the Android app the Google Play Store to contribute to an existing Ushahidi deployment.

Ushahidi is a Nairobi-based tech company that empowers people to raise their voices and equips organisations with the tools they need to better listen to and respond to their audiences. It’s crowdsourcing data platform enables organisations to better collect, manage, visualise and respond to data across various communication channels, including SMS, web form, mobile app, email, and Twitter.