Fossil Q Explorist HR and Q Venture HR get personal safety upgrade

Noonlight brings 'connected safety' to fashion watches
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Personal safety is a problem that's yet to be cracked by standalone wearables which is why Fossil has teamed up with Noonlight to bring its platform to the latest 'Gen 4' Fossil Wear OS smartwatches, the Fossil Q Explorist HR and Fossil Q Venture HR.

Noonlight, previously known as SafeTrek, will be rolling out for new Fossil watches this week in the US. It's also available as a mobile app and an Alexa skill and the startup was a finalist for the Women's Safety X Prize.

Read this: What's next for smartwatches: Design, tech & feature predictions

Here's how it works. There's a one-tap alarm that acts as a panic mode - this alerts Noonlight's 'dispatchers' and 'responders' who will contact you to check you're OK. You can also text them if you can't talk. If there's a situation, they contact local police, fire or medical services to attend to the emergency.

Noonlight's FAQs say: "We originally designed Noonlight for times when you feel scared but aren’t ready to call 911 and to solve the problem of poor location data from cell phone calls to 911. Noonlight does not replace 911."

When you set up the smartwatch app, you can set a four digit PIN code as well as entering information that might be relevant in an emergency e.g. on medications or allergies. So the second feature is a timer mode - perhaps if you're walking home alone - whereby if you don't enter your PIN in a set period, help will be sent to your location. In each case, the Fossil smartwatch will vibrate discreetly to let you know someone's coming.

It's an interesting set of personal safety features and another smart move from Fossil Group when it comes to useful, everyday smartwatch functions. Now, let's see it for the rest of Fossil Group's designer smartwatch collections.

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Sophie was Wareable's associate editor. She joined the team from Stuff magazine where she was an in-house reviewer. For three and a half years, she tested every smartphone, tablet, and robot vacuum that mattered. 

A fan of thoughtful design, innovative apps, and that Spike Jonze film, she is currently wondering how many fitness tracker reviews it will take to get her fit. Current bet: 19.

Sophie has also written for a host of sites, including Metro, the Evening Standard, the Times, the Telegraph, Little White Lies, the Press Association and the Debrief.

She now works for Wired.


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