SF Gard app review

SF Gard

Price: Free

For: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad with iOS 4.3 or later

SF Gard by iCartel s.r.o. is an app that will help you stay safe while you’re in San Francisco.

The app shows a unique view of San Francisco: one that is based on stats of violent crimes as reported by the SFPD. If you’ve ever wondered if the restaurant, apartment, or hotel you plan on visiting or staying at is safe, this is the app to check out.

You’ll be notified, real-time, with vibrations or sounds if you are about to enter an area that may be dangerous. Alternatively, before you head out, you can look up the area or streets you plan on using and see if it’s Low, Medium, or High risk.

The app shows Hybrid, Satellite, and Standard maps of the city.

SF Gard would be great for home-buyers, visitors to the city, and apartment hunters if they want to find out how much crime is going on around them or in areas they may find interesting when it comes to visiting, renting, or buying a home.

For a free app, this would be great to have if you’re interested in having an idea of the safety of your area at a quick glance, but it’s not certain what type of crime constitutes “High risk” compared to “Low risk.”

The app was released at the beginning of October 2012 and is optimized for iPhone 5. It is available in English only. SF Gard does not yet have enough customer ratings for iTunes to display an average and there are no feedback comments yet.

As I’ve not been to San Francisco I cannot say how this app works in a live sense but the idea behind it seems sound.