Happy New Year 2021!

Happy New Year - 2021! Collectively, 2020 was a year that we all want to put behind us. For many of us, a shot was had a midnight and a vow to never talk of 2020 again was made. Unfortunately, in less than a week, 2021 said "hold my beer" and provded that with a new year, challenges often follow; they are not simply reset at midnight.

Virtual Halo and Safeone were developed to help enpower people all over the globe - to have confidence, remain safe, and live life without boundries. Undoubtedly, we have helped many people with that very mission. As of December 2020, we have active users in over 30 countries around the world - quite honestly, an amazing fete when looking at the background of our humble apps - one born in Peoria, IL USA and the other in Brussels, Belgium.

In 2019, Safone began courting Virtual Halo and after a brief courtship, Virtual Halo asked Safone to marry him; Safone said yes. As with many relationships, the first year is the hardest - living together can be a challenge! But they're starting to find each others grooves. This year, despite all of the craziness happening around the glove, virtual Halo and Safone will be having a baby. Both of the partents have gotten smarter during their marriage and have taken the time to communicate, research and invest in their relationship. In fact, it's been a pretty exciting time around these parts!

Our mission remains the same - "To enpower people all over the globe - to have confidence, remain safe, and live life without boundries". We're looking forward to what this year has in store. Stay tuned!

Josh Swank - Founder + President - Virtual Halo, LLC

Virtual Halo, LLC Acquires Safone of Begium

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Virtual Halo, LLC Acquires Brussels Belgium-Based Safone Personal Safety App

Brussels Belgium, March 16, 2019 – Safone, the personal safety app, today announced the acquisition of its connected safety suite of technologies designed to protect people by Virtual Halo, LLC, an Illinois USA based personal safety company.

“Our mission from the creation of Safone has been to provide loved ones the knowledge of when their contact has arrived safely at their destination,” said Olivier Beaujean, Co-Founder of Safone. “Stéphane de Biolley (Safone Co-Founder) and I built this application because we believe in personal safety; it’s a necessary component of our extremely mobile and transient world and a good option did not exist in the French-speaking world. Because of our strong belief in the value Safone provides, we feel that the best way to achieve widespread adoption is to merge Safone with an established company within the safety space. After an exhaustive search, we feel that Virtual Halo, LLC is the right partner to align our technology with.”

 “Virtual Halo has the digital infrastructure and team in place to build upon the great work that Olivier Beaujean and Stéphane de Biolley have crafted Safone into,” said Josh Swank, CEO of Virtual Halo, LLC. “We aim to provide a lasting legacy to their project while integrating Safone into Virtual Halo’s patented personal safety technology ecosystem, which will provide additional safety features to Safone’s users along with adding unique features to Virtual Halo’s community. Safone’s existing user-base is particularly strong throughout Belgium and the EU and we are excited to be able to provide additional solutions to both French and English-speaking audiences.”

Virtual Halo streamlines real-time communications in emergency and potential-emergency situations, providing emergency contacts (or guardians) the knowledge of where a person is and that they are either: safe, in trouble or may need assistance. Alerts are communicated through a combination of push-notifications, in-app messaging, SMS messaging and social media postings, depending on user preference. “Virtual Halo is pioneering modern-day personal safety technology around the world for mobile and wearable devices. The acquisition of Safone to the Virtual Halo family of personal safety apps is a natural fit,” said Swank.

 Safone will remain available as a free download with basic SOS / Panic Mode functionality in both French and English for the iOS and Android mobile operating systems and is available in all 139 countries the Google Play Store provides service and the 155 countries that the Apple App Store conducts business. Additional features will be available via an in-app subscription (a seven-day free trial remains standard).

 Virtual Halo Features to be integrated into the Safone Application within 2019 will result in the following modules available to users of both apps:

• SOS / Panic Button

• Mobile-Based Siren (when button is pressed, or headphones removed from phone)

• Journey Travel Time (walking, bicycling, driving and bus-transit)

• Follow My Journey

• Destination Arrival Notification

• Going Out

• Check-In

• Live-Location

About Virtual Halo

Virtual Halo is an advanced technology company based out of Peoria, IL USA focusing on technologies to keep people safe without anyone being able to actively track the user without their knowledge and consent. Privacy is paramount and their entire technology platform is designed to put the user in complete control over who has access to their specific location, path, journey or health related information. The company focusses on building personal safety solutions on mobile and wearable devices for active participants in the journey of life including: individuals, families and business, students and global travelers. From audible alarms on mobile devices, geo-fencing that provides both proactive and reactive alerts and integration with advanced Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Halo’s patented and patent pending technologies weave a halo of safety surrounding the users of their personal safety technology.

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Contact
Josh Swank, CEO
Virtual Halo, LLC
safone@virtualhalo.com

 Resources

• Web                https://www.virtualhalo.com/safone

• Facebook        https://www.facebook.com/getsafone

• Twitter            https://twitter.com/getsafone

• Instagram        https://www.instagram.com/getsafone/

• LinkedIn          https://www.linkedin.com/company/safone

Safone featured in Brussels Metro Publication

Safone, l’application qui rassure vos proches

Vous aussi, vous avez déjà oublié d’envoyer le fameux SMS pour dire à vos proches que vous êtes bien rentré chez vous? Safone règle ça en deux temps trois mouvements. Prononcez «safe phone», et lorsque vous atteignez votre destination, l’app envoie automatiquement un message aux personnes que vous avez désignées au préalable.

Safone, c’est une nouvelle application belge, gratuite, qui fonctionne partout dans le monde. Cette application, la seule «safety app» en Europe, est disponible depuis ce matin. Une «belge» histoire qui a d’abord vu le jour dans un souci de sécurité, comme l’explique Stéphane de Biolley, un des cofondateurs: «Safone permet avant tout de vous tranquilliser vous et vos proches. Lorsque vous vous baladez dans des endroits où vous ne vous sentez pas en sécurité, vous pouvez, simplement, en débranchant le câble de l’oreillette de votre téléphone, déclencher une alarme émise par celui-ci. En même temps, l’application va envoyer une alerte à la personne de contact que vous aurez renseigné». Un seul geste à faire car, en cas d’agression par exemple, on a souvent du mal à réfléchir et réagir. Et l’alarme émise par le smartphone peut déjà être dissuasive.

À plus dans le bus

Concrètement, on encode dans l’application son lieu de départ et d’arrivée ainsi que le numéro de nos «gardiens», qui seront informés de notre temps de trajet estimé et de l’heure de notre arrivée. Cette application est idéale par exemple pour des ados qui prennent les transports en commun ou encore pour les personnes âgées. Mais aussi lorsque vous rentrez chez vous après une soirée entre amis, par exemple. Vous encodez les données, comme pour un GPS, et une fois passé le pas de la porte, sans que vous ne deviez faire quoi que ce soit, Safone envoie un message aux personnes concernées, grâce à la géolocalisation.

Pas de “flicage”

L’application ne trace pas le trajet en temps réel, comme l’explique Stéphane de Biolley: «le but n’est pas de fliquer les gens mais de rassurer tant les proches que la personne en vadrouille. À aucun moment, il n’est possible à un tiers d’accéder à vos données personnelles. C’est vous qui décidez quand et à qui vous transmettez les informations liées à chacun de vos déplacements».

La petite équipe de Safone a découvert une application similaire lancée récemment aux États-Unis. Cette dernière jouit d’un succès que Stéphane de Biolley trouve encourageant: «il y a déjà plus d’un million d’utilisateurs en un an, c’est très encourageant pour notre Safone belge», soutient-il.

L’application est téléchargeable dès aujourd’hui sur Iphone et sur Androïd.

Safety Knows Fewer Boundries

Today, Virtual Halo is excited to announce that we've expanded our service into two additional countries - residents of the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic are now able to download the Virtual Halo app from their respective App Store's and utilize Virtual Halo's award winning services.

Residents of these island nations often feel isolated and haven't had a tool that could notify their trusted group of family and friends in the event of an emergency; now they do.

The outbound number that sends the text based notifications will remain the same at (309) 213-2823, which is the authenticated number that broadcasts all Virtual Halo based notifications.

Pricing for the app will remain the same - FREE for the download and to utilize the SOS feature; to unlock the enhanced features, including the Check In and Going Out modules, residents of the Bahamas and Dominican Republic will be charged the equivalent of $1.99 per month in their respective currencies.