6 Emergency Smartphone Apps For Your Family

Everyone wants their home to be a haven from dangers. Thanks to some of the more innovative smart phone apps on the market, you can now handle some of the most basic safety tasks effortlessly. Whether you have kids, pets, or just hang out alone, we've got the scoop on the most effective applications designed to help you live a healthy, happier home life!

WebMD Mobile
Cost: Free
Compability: iPhone

While a smart phone app can never be a suitable replacement for a doctor's advice, we're all prone to "Googling" symptoms and emergency first aid procedures as a first response to the medical unknown.  With the WebMD Mobile app, most of the information you can find on the trusted WebMD website is available with just a few taps on your iPhone screen, giving you answers to your most pressing questions in a snap. Whether you want to know if it's OK to take ibuprofen with your antidepressant, or you're not sure of the proper procedure for treating a mild sunburn, this app has you covered. With basic CPR instructions (complete with illustrations), this is a must-have app for acting appropriately in any medical emergency.

Label Lookup
Compatibility: iPhone
Cost: Free

Before you assume that your child's toy is safe, simply because it's labeled "non-toxic" - think again. With all the inconsistencies in labeling, these days, it's imperative to have a trusted source at your fingertips, giving you the truth behind labels. Label Lookup is the best thing to happen to consumer awareness, and it's a project of the reputable Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).  Covering food, personal care, cleaning supplies, paper, paint and wood, it's easy to find just what you're looking for based on the certifications of the EPA, USDA, and more. Let this app lead you to better buying choices, before you bring potentially dangerous items into your home!

WeatherBug
Cost: Free
Compatibility: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Mobile

It's tornado season where I live, and to be quite honest, I'm not likely to get a severe weather alert through traditional means (I don't watch much TV.) With the WeatherBug app for the iPhone, however, I can get real-time severe weather alerts, letting me know that it's time to hit the cellar or put my car in the garage before the hail comes. Packed full of user-friendly features like 7-day forecasts for my region, radar maps with zoom, and streaming access to live weather cameras in my area, it's a nifty tool for those who want to stay safe and leave the storm-chasing to the professionals.

Emergency Info
Cost: $3.99
Compatability: Blackberry

If you end up unconscious or unable to relay important personal or medical information to the paramedics or the hospital in an emergency, what would you do? Thanks to this kicky little app from Mobidala, you can store all your important allergy, emergency contact, and personal medical history information in a format that easy for medical professionals to access - just in case the worst happens. Simple to update, and a great way to keep it all together, this Blackberry exclusive just might save your life!

myLite Flashlight
Compability: iPhone, Blackberry, Palm Pre, Android
Cost: Free

It might seem ridiculous that a simple app that controls screen brightness could truly be a "safety" must-have, but trust me - I can't live without this app! A free to download, multi-purpose solution to having the lights go out unexpectedly, it allows you to see your way in the dark on the off-chance that you're more familiar with the location of your smart phone than your emergency candle stash. While not suitable for long periods of darkness (it only lights up a small area directly in front of you and eats up gobs of battery life), it can get you safely from one point in the home to another with minimal bumping and bruising - and it sports a mean strobe and "concert lighter" functionality.

FocusPocus
Compatibility: iPhone 3GS
Cost: $0.99

My eyes are eagle sharp (thanks to a potent contact lens prescription), but what can you do when your peepers start to fade? If you're already experiencing the need for a magnification tool, or find that the printed words on medicines, household cleaners, and appliance instructions are becoming more difficult to interpret, the FocusPocus app is the perfect solution. Used just like a traditional magnifying glass, it brings things "close up" with a 2x -10x real-time capture zoom and 20x zoom in gallery mode, using your phone's camera function. Images become clear in a snap, so you'll never again mistake your vitamins for sleeping pills.

[Top Image Credit: iStock]

Have any helpful emergency apps to share? Let us know in the comments below.

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Linsey Knerl is the Community Manager for Wise Bread, a community dedicated to helping folks live large on a small budget. She loves savvy tech solutions that help her share the world with her children.