AppArmor Mobile

Our Company, AppArmor, develops custom mobile apps that provide tools to foster community safety. Our custom mobile safety apps can be modified in real time and are branded to each client organization. AppArmor enables institutions to aggregate safety resources, send emergency mass notifications and communicate with users in distress. Our custom safety apps are downloaded 50 to 100 times more often than those of our competitors. We currently serve 60 institutions in Canada, the U.S. and Australia, including Queen’s University, the University of Florida and The Australian National University.

Why we started the company: As an undergrad member of the Alma Mater Society, Dave was involved in an audit of the on-campus emergency blue-light poles that found that a number of these weren’t working. In coordinating efforts with university administrators Dave determined that a smartphone app could act as a massive connected network of virtual security intercoms and, with other features, could help make the Queen’s campus a safer place. Dave and his co-founder and brother Chris worked to build the app (called SeQure) now used by Queen’s Campus Security and more than 67 other institutions around the world.

What is the business problem that your product/service solves? Universities and colleges, healthcare facilities and other organizations struggle to find new and innovative ways to improve the safety of their staff and those they serve. Traditionally, improving safety is a very expensive undertaking and physical-safety infrastructure can be unreliable. As well, there is significant apathy among people when it comes to safety; finding a meaningful way to reach individuals can be challenging.

The most fun we’ve had so far was:  Seeing our safety apps help first responders and students handle ongoing threats. It is incredibly powerful to see your own product help make the difference in a crisis.

A Smith School of Business connection?  AppArmor started at Queen’s, developed in close consultation with the Campus Safety Working Group, which helped us build SeQure. We were also recipients of the Battat-Steffensen Dare to Dream Internship from the business school in 2013, which helped us expand our young enterprise.