The French government has launched an app to alert smartphone users in the event of a terror attack. SAIP (System for the Alert and Information of the Population) was developed after November’s deadly attacks in Paris, and will go live just two days before the first ball of the European Championships soccer tournament, which it is hosting, is kicked.
SAIP, which is available on iOS and Android, will alert users to incidents in eight different ‘geographical zones’. Alerts will not cause the phone to vibrate or emit a sound as they could tip off attackers to hidden victims.
If a user is caught in a zone experiencing an attack a warning screen will flash onto his or her device. The user can then request to ‘stay informed’, upon which information on the incident, and instructions on measures and behavior to adopt, will be delivered.
The app will be updated in coming months, to apply to “all major natural and technological risks,” according to a French interior ministry statement. Authorities are highly concerned about security ahead of Euro 2016, and have already pledged to implement anti-drone technology.
Paris’ Stade de France, where France was hosting Germany in a soccer friendly match, was one of the targets of November’s attack. A suicide bomb blast outside the stadium, 20 minutes before the game’s scheduled start, resulted in the deaths of four people. A total of 130 people died in the attacks.