A SMARTPHONE app which sends a text to an emergency contact if you do not arrive home on time has been designed by three students.

University of Essex students Dmitry Christie, 24, Cameron Kyle-Davidson and Emeka Onwuezobe, both 21, are the brains behind OwlApp.

But they need £3,000 to make happen.

The free app will be launched with three main features - Find my friends, Lookout for me and Safety Bus tracking, specifically for students on campus.

So far, the trio, who are studying economics and computer science, have raised 41 per cent of their target helped by a £500 cash prize from the university’s social enterprise programme.

Crowdfunding for their production costs will cover further development, equipment, licences and staff costs.

Masters student Dmitry said: “The winner of the social enterprise competition was decided by the audience and I asked them to raise their hand if they’d ever lost a friend in a nightclub and they all did.

“Then again if they’d every felt unsafe walking home and the same happened.

“Inside a nightclub, the music is so loud you cannot hear someone on the phone and their internet connection is usually poor, which is why we’ll enable users to send messages using a hybrid between bluetooth and wifi, called bluetooth low energy beacons, so there’s no need for the internet.

“People feel stressed if they’re in the situation where a friend is missing. And some people feel particularly vulnerable when out alone.

“At the moment we have some basic functionalities on the app but we have developed the designs further and are applying for other competitions to raise money.

“The next step after we reach £3,000 would be finding talented students to join the developers team and help us progress the technology.”

Since Dmitry began researching the app in June, just months before his friends came on board, the co-founders registered Soteria - Smart Safety Solutions as a limited company.

Looking ahead to the future he said they want to transform into a community interest company and partner with Essex Police for witness appeals.

He added: “Being a CIC means our primary goal wouldn’t be achieving profit - we’d be a business with strong social ethics and goals.

“I’m also passionate about witness appeals. We would offer police assistance if there’s a serious incident and send out a push notification for users to come forward to the police if they were potentially witness to a crime given their location at a particular time.

“This would be done with the greatest of respect for user privacy but help the police investigate crime.”

To support OwlApp, visit https://click.hubbub.net/p/owlappproject.