User Guide v.5 (2020)

User Guide v.4 (2019)

Introduction

App-Elles® is the first international free personal sefaty app for women and girls victims of violence. Its purpose is to meet the main needs for assistance and support for victims, their families and witnesses, in the face of a situation of present, past or potential violence. Since 2015, the non profit organisation Resonantes has been developing this application on a voluntary basis, thanks to its support and partners, in order to offer the world a tool complementary to the call to the emergency services and a single access point to all the resources of existing help and support.

Before you start

App-Elles® is not just an alert system but above all a help resource application. The offline availability of certain key information or emergency numbers is therefore a main feature of the application.

The app’s notification alert service is provided for convenience only and is not intended, nor should it be considered an alternative to emergency calls to the appropriate authorities.

The directory of contacts (telephone numbers and third-party listening and assistance services) accessible from the application is non-exhaustive. It is mainly built on proposals from Departmental Delegates for Equality and Women's Rights, government agencies, federations and associations specializing in the reception, orientation and care of victims and witnesses.

The advice and information contained within the application and / or via the listed websites are shared in view of their legitimacy and consistency. This information is based on the expertise of recognized professionals in violence against women, security and public health.

Presentation

Services & features

Alerts and assistance

Automatically send alerts by notification to your trusted contacts, sharing the GPS position of your device and access to listening to their microphone in real time,
Improves access to emergency numbers.

Help and support

Improves search and phone call to professional help and listening platforms,
Improves access to the service for reporting on gender-based and sexual violence (Gendarmerie Chat and National Police).

Information and advice

Advise on the first measures to follow in an emergency,
Informs and locates specialized reception structures and places,
Improves access to resources for help and information on gender-based and sexual violence.

Downloads

App-Elles® can be downloaded for free only from the download platforms:

Play Store (Google)
App Store (Apple)

Compatibility

To access and use the application, you must have a mobile phone with the operating system:

Android® OS 5.2 or later
Apple iOS 7 or later

Privacy

The App-Elles® application is developed so that your personal data and identities are secure and remain confidential. Questions around personal data / privacy and data security are one of our major concerns. We comply with the GDPR and maintain our register for the collection / processing of personal data.

Technical support

The version of the Application may be updated from time to time to add new functions, new services or patches and upgradeable maintenance. The application is accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week except in the event of force majeure or the occurrence of an event beyond the control of Resonantes and subject to any breakdowns and maintenance interventions necessary for the proper functioning of the application. . Direct access to technical support is available within the application (Settings menu).

Technical support

Trusted contacts

Protectors | Protected

To be able to send or receive alerts, you must create your own network of trusted contacts.

To do this, you must connect to each other using your connection emails. A page and two screens will allow you to manage your relationships with your protective and / or protected contacts.

Your protectors

The [Invite a Contact to Protect You] button allows you to invite a user to receive your alerts.

To log with, you must invite them by using their account email. The app can help you find it if this email is entered in the directory of your device.

A choice :

validate the email of a contact proposed by the app from your directory,
enter their account email address directly into the search bar.

Once your invitation has been sent:

If accepted, the user is automatically defined as one of your 3 protectives. The indication [Accepted] is displayed.
If it is not yet accepted, the indication [Pending] is displayed
If it is refused by your contact, it automatically disappears from the list.

You can invite several users but only 3 acceptances will be retained.

The [Discard] icon allows you to withdraw an accepted or pending invitation.

Your protected

On this screen are displayed the invitations which have been sent to you and which you have accepted or which are awaiting your validation.

On this screen you can choose:

accept them
refuse or withdraw

The [Send your login email] button allows you to send your account email to one of your contacts to help them invite you.

Bracelet

Charge | Scan | Pairing | Trigger

Charge

Make sure your bracelet is properly connected to the charger:

the 3 tips of the charger must be in contact with the 3 connectors of the wristbands;
the fixing lugs must rest on the flat surface of the bracelet;
the USB plug of the charger should preferably be connected to the socket on a USB port on a computer;

To prevent any risk of overheating, do not charge your bracelet for more than 1 hour;

Scan

This screen allows you to pair the App-Elles bracelet with the application. You can :

start the bracelet detection [Search]
order a bracelet via our distributor partner Need [Order]

Click on [Search]

If the bluetooth of your device is not activated, the application offers to activate it.

Pairing

Once the scan is complete, this screen asks you to choose a bracelet from among the detected bracelets and to confirm the pairing after clicking on the desired bracelet line (in gray).

Once the bracelet is paired, a status screen displays the battery level (in green) of the bracelet as well as an icon [Remove] allowing to unpair the bracelet.

You will see the connection and battery status icon of your bracelet on the main page of the application thanks to a color code of the Bracelet icon.

Trigger

To trigger an alert from your bracelet:

make sure that the BLE indicator on the main page of the application is active (icon Green bracelet);
press for 4 consecutive seconds on the flat surface of your bracelet.

Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQ”)

You will find below the answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding the handling of the Application and the use of its Services.

For any questions regarding technical assistance, please use the Technical Support area directly from the application settings.

We will then be able to automatically collect (with your authorization) basic information concerning your configuration and the installed version, and thus begin to deal with your situation more effectively.

How do I send alerts to my contacts?

Anyone wishing to use the services and functions of the application must install App-Elles on their mobile and create their own user account. Whether it is to be able to launch alerts and / or receive them, this procedure is essential to secure exchanges between users and create interconnection contracts. Before you can send alerts to your contacts, you must invite them in the My Contacts section, by entering the email they used to create their App-Elles account or else launch a search for this email in your directory.

Why is no contact to invite listed to me?

The application shows you contacts to invite, only if it finds email addresses registred in your directory. The app does not search for phone numbers, only email addresses. Make sure then, to have well informed the card of your contact with the email of his account or else to create a new contact card containing this email.

How do I hide my identity?

To create a user account, the Application only asks you to enter a Login (email) and a password. You must then define a Username. We advise you to create a specific email address reserved for the use of the Application without any attachment to your personal identities or accounts and to define a Username that only your trusted contacts will recognize. Communicate your login email only to your trusted contacts so that they are the only ones who can identify you.

I do not receive notifications when an alert is sent to me !

Make sure you have authorized the sending of notifications in the Application settings on your device. For it :

Go to your phone's settings;
Select the Application section and click on App-Elles;
Allow all notifications to be sent.

I received an alert, the audio works but the geolocation was "unavailable" !

There can be two answers to this case:

Either the GPS has been deactivated on the mobile of the protected contact (and therefore no GPS data can be taken)
Either your follow-up screen opened before the end of the connection procedure.

In the latter case, exit the tracking screen, go to your alert history and click on the current alert again. All the tracking data will have had time to synchronize.

How long are alerts saved on my phone ?

When you consult an alert that you have launched or received, you automatically download its data to your mobile. It will be stored there and can be viewed for as long as you want, unless you delete it from your history.

Please note: If you have launched or received an alert but have not yet viewed it, you have 14 days to download it (retention time on our alert processing servers) before it is permanently deleted .

My bracelet is not detected !

Make sure that your bracelet is connected to the charger for a few minutes before it is first detected. Then unplug it;
Check that your mobile has not already connected to the bracelet: To do this, go to the bluetooth settings of your device;
If necessary, remove App-Elles from the list of devices already connected to your mobile;
Resume the pairing process from the Pair my bracelet menu;
Authorize the Application to activate the Bluetooth of your mobile.

If the Bracelet is still not detected, refer to the service conditions of the supplier and / or distributor of your bracelet.