The subject of personal safety is one close to every woman globally. Young or old, independent or dependent, alone or in a crowd, personal safety is rarely an absolute guarantee that women enjoy. As a result, products and assistants like mobile applications, pepper sprays and safety sticks have been popular. Among these are wearable and attachable tech equipped devices combining sound alarms, strobe lights and more, activated at the first hint of risk or danger.
Deterrence and Defense
A recent addition in the market is PebbleBee’s Halo. Pebblebee is a US-based tech company that creates item tracking and health tracking products such as the Pebble Halo Ring. Pebblebee has launched their Safe Haven initiative, along with the Halo, which is a keychain device and their first personal safety product. It is rechargeable, and serves to immediately send alerts to known contacts, emits sound and light deterrents in the form of a 130dB alarm and strobe lights to confuse the attacker, as well as a silent alert option for discreet escalation if needed. The company claims that the device can last up to one year per charge.
This is not the first of its kind in India. In 2024, the BoomBird was introduced in the market, which claims to be the first Indian personal safety device of its kind that is rechargeable. It was launched by Sindhuja Sharma in 2024, and has sold thousands of units since then. According to the makers, the BoomBird combines a 130 dB alarm (a gunshot sounds at around 135 dB) with a strobe light and is designed for the moment before an incident escalates. It activates with a single, instinctive pull-eliminating the need for training or physical strength.
Beyond Sound
More recently, further innovations focus on women’s safety with features beyond sound and light deterrents and location sharing. The Shakti Band launched on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan in 2025 is a sleek watch-like wrist band that also delivers a shock to the potential attacker once activated.
The Shakti Band can deliver a non-lethal electric shock, while also sending GPS location and emergency SMS and Whatsapp messages to contacts. This device also includes a high decibel siren, and can last up to 70 hours on standby if charged for 30 minutes.
The company Whale Wearables also has similar products in the form of the Whale Click and the Whale Thunder. The first is a wristband device which offers instant emergency alerts and GPS tracking, while the Whale Thunder Women’s Safety Wearable Glove is a shock delivering glove. Both of these products can be prebooked on the Whale Wearables website. The Thunder Glove has an electrical shock feature which delivers a sharp pulse to the attacker, besides a loud siren. It is enabled with GPS tracking, so as to send exact locations to emergency contacts. The company had also been featured on Shark Tank with their glove.
Where earlier women would carry a pepper spray or pocket knives in their bags in case of probable danger, these tech devices which require less action and preemption to be activated can serve to be a significant relief.
A Barcelona based entrepreneur in 2023 introduced her safety alarm, the FlamAid, which was shaped like a grenade. Founder and CEO Julieta Rueffe said at the launch event that she would prefer that the product hanging from a bag or purse keychain be immediately identified as a safety device by anyone who spots it. It operates like a grenade too, where a forceful pull on the pin activates the ‘auditory bomb’. A monthly subscription in addition is required for the product to avail emergency SMS and police call services.
Among the first prototypes of personal safety alarms was the ‘sound grenade’ device ROBORanger manufactured by American company ROBOCOPP in 2016. This too was a siren blaring GPS tracking device with 911 alerting technology.
These products are priced in the range of Rs 299-399 up to Rs 5,000, depending on the technological capabilities they offer. Other smaller brands include Devil Will Cry emergency alarm, the DWC strobe light alarm, the DWC electric pen, among others. As more women begin to live independently, move away from home and take up solo travelling, these devices are becoming necessities.
