Domestic Violence Victims App Downloaded 100 Times Every Week Since Launch

Daisy – the app developed by the Australian government and launched six months ago to help women in family violence situations to discreetly find help – has had a makeover.

An updated version of the app was launched on Thursday in a bid to help isolated users in rural and remote areas of Australia, or where English is not their first language.

The purpose of Daisy is to give women a discreet pathway to connect women to vital information and services. Victims can use Daisy to call 000, view telephone numbers for support services and browse the web without leaving a history in their browser. This is important in domestic violent situations, where mobile phone usage and internet browsing is often controlled and checked by the abusive partner.

Rosie Batty. Image: Getty

Rosie Batty praised the app for helping to raise awareness of women’s rights and options and connecting even more women to services.
“Family and friends can also use Daisy to gather information to support a loved-one’s decision making,” Ms Batty said.

“What Daisy gives you is options and choices – it will help connect you with options and make choices that suit you, not what people tell you to do. If a refuge is the help you want, you can access that information. If you want specialist support, that’s there too.”

Information will now be translated across 28 languages to help more women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. A text-to-voice functionality has also been added for women with a vision impairment (or low literacy), along with a SMS function.

If you know of anyone potentially in a violent situation, Daisy is free to download from the App Store for iPhones or Google Play for Android phones.

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