Youngsters are being urged to stay safe, with the help of a new iPhone app which allows peace of mind for parents, without compromising the new-found independence of their university offspring.

Lookout Call, which is already widely-used commercially by lone workers across the UK, is being opened up to individual use and made available via Apple’s App Store, in a bid to improve student safety, on and off campus. To celebrate the launch Lookout Call are offering a limited one-week free subscription, allowing the young adults to try out the app for themselves, alongside the chance to win one of 10 iTunes gift cards.

Lookout Call allows parents to be reassured that their children have the tools to help enhance their safety, without being an overbearing presence in their adventures.

Youngsters use their mobile phone to provide regular spoken updates describing their location and planned activity. They also input an estimation of the length of time their activity will last.  This causes a timed countdown to begin. At any point during the countdown they can press the safe button and enter their PIN to deactivate the countdown.

If a countdown expires, the protection system phones the student to prevent a false alarm being triggered. If the student fails to deactivate the alarm, the system enters an alert mode.  When in alert mode the system alerts the students nominated ‘Responders’ ( the students friends, family and loved ones ) and replays the message left earlier. Responders are prompted to confirm their intention to take appropriate action and the app confirms immediately that help is on the way.

Unique to Lookout Call and unlike other similar alarm systems on the market, Lookout Call will alert the friends, family and loved ones, regardless of geographical distance even if the individual’s phone is out-of-battery, lost or even destroyed.

Lookout Call Sales and Marketing Director John Wood says “Lookout Call has already proven itself as an efficient, cost-effective and reliable personal alert system for people who are repeatedly placed in vulnerable situations. As such we are delighted that we can offer this world-class technology and subsequent peace of mind, to youngsters and their parents.”

The Lookout Call iPhone app is FREE to download and if you download before December 31st 2011 you could win yourself a £15 iTunes voucher.

For more information on Lookout Call you can visit the website www.lookoutcall.co.uk or visit the Apple App Store.