Daisy App

Daisy is a multipurpose app providing survivors with educational information, local Australian support services, and a way to contact police or other trusted contacts if unsafe. Parts of the app are available in 28 languages other than English.

• The app enables users to add three trusted contacts who are not required to be listed in the phone’s contact list. 
• The app is easy to navigate.
• The user can set a default location (state) within settings, and not have to select again each time a service search is performed.
• Successful marketing has ensured the Daisy app is highly likely to be recommended by domestic violence frontline workers while being easily identifiable by survivors seeking help.
• The app allows users to look at websites within the app so that the information is not visible on a survivor’s web browser.
• The app provides links to many excellent and wide-ranging services.
• The ‘QUICK EXIT’ and ‘GET HELP’ buttons are visible even when visiting other support organisations’ web pages within the app.
• The Daisy Development Team are passionate about providing a valuable and safe service to the end user, and are currently in the process of addressing issues while periodically assessing the service links and executing fixes.

• The app is not password protected so we ask that users be mindful of their safety when using the app.
• The Daisy app, with its flower logo, looks and sounds like a feminine app, and may be identified as a domestic violence app also.  As this could pose a safety risk to survivors, we urge discretion in its use.
• If an abusive person has access to a survivor’s email, Google Play, Apple ID, or iCloud account(s), they may be able to see that the app has been purchased and downloaded, even without spyware.
• Daisy retrieves the list of resources from the network every time the user opens the app, meaning the IP address of the user will be captured by the app operators, and is trackable if somebody is monitoring the network that the device is connected to. Additionally, if an abusive person is monitoring this network they would potentially be able to monitor the traffic. Hence turning off WiFi, or connecting to a known and safe WiFi, while browsing Daisy is recommended. 
• At the time of testing some of the details were outdated, or had broken links, and the app lacked common and important services such as Link2Home and Legal Aid.
• The information and referral sources for limited-English speakers are limited to 1800RESPECT. Although the app has a button for interpreters through the Translation and Interpreters Service (TIS National), all the interpreter information in the app is in English. 
• Although 1800RESPECT provides clear links to the National Relay Service (NRS), the user is not alerted to this service within the app in either the language selection section or when choosing to call ‘000’.
• Users who do not speak English, or have English as a second language, and users with limited digital literacies and/or intellectual disabilities may feel excluded from using the app.
• The ‘QUICK EXIT’ and ‘GET HELP’ tools are not available during the language support section. 
• It’s unclear to the user whether the ‘Terms and Conditions’ and ‘Privacy Policy’ pages refer to the 1800RESPECT website or the Daisy app. 
• Personally identifying information such as contact’s phone numbers are collected by this app and the policy fails to state how long this data, or any of the communications gathered from using the app, are stored for. 

The red ‘GET HELP’ button offers two choices. Users can either alert trusted contacts in the network, or call ‘000’. The ‘GET HELP’ button does not offer the option to call ‘000’ and ‘ALERT CONTACT’ at the same time. Trusted contacts must be added to the network before they are able to be contacted. It is important that users discuss these alerts with trusted contacts as part of their safety plan so the contacts can anticipate texts, know what to do, and know what actions will help keep both the user and themselves safe.

• When a user presses the ‘GET HELP’ button then the ‘ALERT CONTACT’ button they can opt to send customisable pre-written messages to the contact(s) the user selects. By pressing the ‘SEND ALERT’ button, the app redirects to the phone’s texting app and requires one more click to send the ‘ALERT CONTACT’ message. This would show in the text message history on the phone. Caution! If an abuser has access to the phone, the trusted contacts’ numbers within the app could be easily modified by the abuser so your contacts do not receive the texts.

• To call ‘000’ within the app, a user needs to open the app and press the ‘GET HELP’ button and then the ‘000’ Emergency button. Once the ‘000’ button is pressed, it diverts to the app’s home page and requires the user to press another ‘Call 000’ button. If pressed this call will show in the phone’s call history. 
• The process of contacting or alerting a trusted person via the app can take longer than actually contacting the person or dialling ‘000’ directly.
• Sometimes having a contact call ‘000’ on behalf of a victim may be less effective than the user dialling ‘000’ themselves. For example, if your trusted contact has limited information and does not know the user’s location or what abuse is happening, it may be harder for police to respond appropriately.