Best Lone Worker App UK
Finding the best free lone worker app across the UK can be challenging. Often the apps for may seem free but they will often have different pricing models such as subscription or licensing fees. Prices then differ on both the size and needs of your business.
It is estimated that around 20% of the working population will end up lone working at some point each day. Lone working apps therefore offer both employees and employers the opportunity to mitigate risks from afar but also allow consistent communication to take place, so better timely support can be provided whenever it is needed.
But what makes the best lone worker app? How do lone worker apps differ? What key features should all lone worker apps have to follow lone worker safety guidelines and regulations?
At Access Personal Safety we know that investing in new devices and solutions can be daunting and the risk of investing money in new devices can be risky if they don’t work. We want to diminish that stress by comparing different lone worker apps across the market to help you decide which lone worker app is best for you.
This article will summarise the differences between lone worker apps and devices and how they can work together to mitigate risks further, as well as explain the main differences between some of the top lone working apps across the UK – People Safe, Stay Safe, SafePoint, and Access Personal Safety App.
- Best Lone Worker app vs Best Lone Worker safety devices – What’s the difference?
- Best Lone Worker App UK – What features should it have?
- Stay Safe vs Peoplesafe vs Safepoint vs Access Oysta Technology – Which is the best lone worker app UK?
- Best Lone Worker App – the advantages and disadvantages
- Best free lone worker app – how much do they really cost?
- The best lone worker app – Which one is best for you?
Best Lone Worker app vs Best Lone Worker safety devices – What’s the difference?
Ultimately both lone worker apps and devices serve the same purpose. Both ensure the safety of individuals working independently, but they differ in both form and functionality.
Lone worker apps are software-based and installed on smartphones and often contain features like GPS and sensors, whereas lone worker devices tend to be standalone hardware with additional features such as panic buttons and fall detection.
Lone worker apps also tend to be more versatile. What makes them both best depends on several factors including reliability, functionality, usability, battery life, and customisation.
Some of the best lone worker apps and lone worker devices also offer seamless integration with existing workflows and each other to enhance overall efficiency.
Best Lone Worker App UK – What features should it have?
Best lone worker apps should include several different features to ensure the safety and wellbeing of individuals working alone. The best lone worker app should also make it easy to mitigate and reduce risks identified in lone worker risk assessments and be able to adapt as needs and circumstances change.
Equally, if your business is unsure of what features or customisation you need for a lone worker app, it is important to note that regularly reviewing and updating your lone worker risk assessments can help identify your needs and what support you need to keep your employees safe.
The list below demonstrates some of the key features the best lone worker app should include to accommodate a wide range of business needs:
- Check-in functionalities
- GPS tracking
- Emergency alerts
- Real-time communication (often two-way communication)
- Risk Assessment tools
- Panic buttons
- Fall/Man Down detection
- Battery Management
- Offline functionality
It is also crucial to understand that the best lone worker apps should be flexible to create bespoke packages for your needs both now and in the future as they change. Often many lone workers can work in multiple locations in one day so their risks can change frequently, lone worker apps need to accommodate that and be able to adapt as locations and circumstances change.
Another feature that should be expected in the best lone working app is being able to integrate with wearable technology. Whether it is a Badge or a Watch, lone working apps should have the compatibility to work with wearable technology. When this happens often both wearable technology and the best lone worker apps offer discreet features allowing lone workers to raise alarms without putting themselves at any additional risk.
Stay Safe vs Peoplesafe vs Safepoint vs Access Oysta Technology – Which is the best lone worker app UK?
StaySafe, PeopleSafe, SafePoint, and Access Personal Safety app all ultimately have the same aim of helping keep lone workers safe, however, all their apps do differ. The remainder of this article will review each app and summarise why or why not it may be the best lone worker app for you.
What is the Stay Safe app?
StaySafe helps organisations easily and quickly locate lone workers to send immediate assistance when needed. Their app includes keeping employees safe as well as monitoring as they work and travel.
Suitable for IOS, Android, as well as a web-based version, StaySafe advertises itself as a reliable, easy-to-use, and a flexible lone working app that offers a cloud-based monitoring hub to help keep your lone workers safe.
What is the Peoplesafe app?
Peoplesafe is an organisation that concentrates on protecting all types of lone workers including home workers. Their Peoplesafe Pro App provides smartphones and tablets the opportunity to turn into personal SOS alarms to safeguard lone workers continuously.
Peoplesafe Pro App is both suitable for IOS and Android and is flexible to all lone worker situations by offering multiple ways to engage an alert.
What is the Safepoint app?
The SafePoint app offers protection and safety via a lone worker’s smartphone. Safepoint is a user-friendly solution that makes it easier to see a lone worker’s location and what they’re working on to ensure their safety.
Safepoint is accessible via IOS and Android to provide the most accurate location data 24/7 to protect lone workers’ safety.
What is the Access Oysta app?
The Access Personal Safety app helps to protect people from all roles who are working independently or out of sight of their colleagues to ensure they are always safe at work.
Compatible with Android devices Access Personal Safety app can turn any mobile into a 24/7 lone working safety tool.
Learn more about personal safety solutions for lone workers
Best Lone Worker App – the advantages and disadvantages
To find the best lone worker app for you and your business you need to be aware of not just the features of each of the best lone working apps in the UK but the advantages and disadvantages of them.
The table below shows both the pros and cons of the lone working apps described above to identify which is best for your business needs.
|
Type of Lone working app |
Advantages |
Disadvantages |
Features |
|
Staysafe |
|
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|
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People safe |
|
|
|
|
Safepoint |
|
|
|
|
Access Oysta |
|
|
|
The table above shows the services they all offer are very with all having concerns about privacy and the reliance on technology as well as a potential resistance to change.
Like all digital transformations, regardless of the industry you work in, it can be hard to motivate employees on the benefits of the transformation. Having a lone working app that can adapt to your needs helps not only implement your new lone working app but also provide both onboarding support and training. All types of lone working devices discussed are explained on their websites, they all can offer bespoke packages to help accommodate all needs. Before deciding therefore which one is the best the most important thing to do is contact them all and see what training and onboarding packages they provide.
Equally, the table shows that the main decider amongst the lone working apps discussed is the features each of them offers. Some of the lone working apps have more features than others. Most people would think that the more features an app has the better it is. It depends on what you need.
For example, if your lone workers often work in locations that have poor signal and connectivity to the internet you need a lone working app that offers continuous communication and a low signal mode so you can always be in contact with your employees to provide timely support whenever it is needed. Staysafe, Safepoint, and Access Personal Safety all advertise that they have both open communication and low signal modes.
What can make a lone working app more beneficial is that it can record and recognise typical working behaviours of your lone workers. For example, if a lone worker must drive from place to place every day it can be beneficial to have an app that identifies when they are driving or what their safe zones are, so your management team can be notified when they arrive at the next job safely as well as when they have arrived home.
Privacy concerns are also a key thing to understand. Unlike the others, Staysafe advertises that they use biometric controls including fingerprint and face ID to ensure only the person registered to the phone can get into the app to avoid issues with data and information leaks.
Finally, another feature that can make the lone worker app the best for your business is offering discreet features. This is something all four of the lone worker apps do to enable alarms to be raised when a lone workers can’t reach their phone or it isn’t safe to do so. At Access Personal Safety they also allow their Access Personal Safety app to be paired with their Access Personal Safety button which lone workers can attach to their clothing to make it even easier to raise an alarm safely and discreetly.
To find the best lone worker app for you, it is important to identify what features you need to get the best outcomes and provide the best support for lone workers. All lone working apps discussed offer several different benefits. With the majority offering safe zones, open two-way communications, and discreet features.
Staysafe goes one step further to enhance privacy with biometric controls, making it easier for lone workers to go from place to place without the risk of any of their data being lost.
PeopleSafe offers an activity log making it easier for management to identify if a task has taken longer than it should have to then trigger a welfare check to make sure lone workers are safe.
Safepoint offers reminders including low battery signals so both employees and employers alike can be notified to ensure devices get charged as soon as possible so they can remain in contact.
Access Personal Safety offers interoperability with all their other lone worker devices as well as other third-party software, to make it easier to share information and make better data-led decisions through the Assure dashboards (formely Intellicare)
Regardless of what lone working app you choose as well as having the features you need the next most important thing is the cost and ensuring that it is suitable for your budget and size of the business.
Best free lone worker app – how much do they really cost?
To fully understand the costs of lone working apps it is important to note that many companies may use lots of different pricing models such as subscription, licensing, per product, or user.
Often on the surface, an app may seem free to download but running it to meet your business needs may come with extra costs.
All costing and pricing models for lone worker apps can be different and every package can vary so the scales in pricing can differ significantly.
In most cases, a lot of lone working devices or apps do not always advertise their specific price this is because discounts can be applied depending on the number of users needed or the specific features needed to create bespoke packages for you. Some also offer free trials to work out what features you need to come up with an exact pricing guide.
PeopleSafe
PeopleSafe’s lone working app works on license subscription fees and the cost per month will depend on how many licenses or what they call ID tokens are needed. Up to 9 ID tokens can be purchased online but if your business needs more then you have to directly contact them. On their website, they advertise that there is an upfront cost of £4.99 and then a monthly cost of £6.99 per user per month.
Safepoint
Safepoint similarly uses a licensing pricing model for their lone worker app. However, it is a bit more structured. Safepoint advertises they offer both packages for 12 months and 24 months. The cost per month differs by how many users there are. For example, if your business has 1 – 50 users needing access to the lone worker app it would cost £5.50 per month per user for 12 months or £4.50 per month per user for 24 months. Here the licensing fees vary depending on how many users there are to up to 500 users.
StaySafe
StaySafe offers a subscription service. They offer two packages, a standard package and a guardian package. In the standard package, they charge £10 per person per month, and the guardian package they charge £12.50 per person per month. They advertise they also charge annually.
Access Personal Safety
At Access Personal Safety we understand that employers with lone workers may need more flexibility. That’s why all our pricing is completely bespoke on your needs. Whether you just want our Access Personal Safety App, or whether you want to use our app as well as our additional lone worker devices including our Access Personal Safety Watch, or Access Personal Safety Badge we cater to your every need.
We are also flexible in changing your plans as your needs change. For more information contact us today and we can cater your package that not only best suits your needs but your budget too.
The best lone worker app – Which one is best for you?
This article has reviewed the differences between lone worker devices and apps and how they can work better when they integrate to help make better data-led decisions.
By explaining what key features a lone working app should have this article has summarised how the best lone working apps can help support a lone worker’s mental and physical health as well as their welfare.
Through comparing some of the top lone working apps this article has been able to highlight the different advantages and disadvantages of each. Through this analysis, it was clear on the surface all had very similar advantages and disadvantages with advantages relating to timely responses and disadvantages involving resistance to changes and concerns on being dependent on technology. In reality, the best way to identify which lone working app is best for you is through acknowledging the risks that need mitigating and how that can be done with the features different lone working apps provide.
This article has also addressed that even though the majority of the time downloading a lone worker app may be free, there are actual monthly costs depending on how many users require a login.
By comparing Staysafe, PeopleSafe, Safepoint, and Access Personal Safety, it is clear that StaySafe has made data privacy a top USP to ensure that lone workers who travel a lot and have to work in multiple different places have tighter security to get onto the app, so only they can have access to the information within the app. Equally through PeopleSafe offering activity logs they are making timing and monitoring daily activities a priority to ensure that welfare checks can be quickly triggered if a task is taking longer than expected.
Safepoint also allows lots of their features to trigger alarms or welfare checks quickly including notifying employers if an employee has a low battery or a low signal mode. Alternatively, Access Personal Safety heavily concentrates on integrations not just between their own lone worker devices but also third parties to help further ensure the welfare of lone workers. Additionally, Access Personal Safety also goes one step further by acknowledging that lone workers may not always travel around nationally but also internationally, so they have made their connections with ARCs global to best support all types of lone workers wherever they are.
You should now be aware of some of the features that you need in a lone working app to ensure your employers are always safe and that timely support can always be provided when needed. You should also be aware of how pricing models can vary and which ones will be best for you.
For more information on how our lone worker technology and pricing work at Access Personal Safety contact us today.
Let’s work together on making a fully bespoke package to best cater to your business and your employees’ needs to mitigate risks and keep your lone workers safe all the time.
