New app launched to help deaf people contact Swiss emergency services

From June 1, the new DeafVoice app will allow people in Switzerland to contact the emergency services easily by pressing on images on their mobile phones. The app, which is mainly intended to support deaf people, allows for quick phone connections to police, fire brigade, ambulance and air rescue (Rega) services.

Emergency app available in German, French and Italian

Users can call for help by pressing on the app's symbols, which are designed to indicate what kind of emergency they are in and who they need to help them. The app is available in three of Switzerland’s official languages - French, German and Italian. 

The software was launched by a German company on behalf of the Deaf Centre in Switzerland. According to Blick, the emergency call centre “receives the emergency call from the deaf caller like a normal voice call over the phone". The app then sends the user’s name, GPS location and reason for the emergency automatically to the emergency call centre.

App available for free

Thanks to donations and charitable contributions, the app is now available on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store to download for free. While initially launched only in German, the app now has full functionality in two other languages, to help assist more people in Switzerland.

For more information, check out the official website (in German).