Emergency Alerting Through Smartphone Apps: Functions, Usage and Usability Issues From the First Responder's Point of View

In Germany alone, there are more than one million active members of fire departments, relief organizations and disaster control [1]. In case of an emergency, alerting apps are being used more and more in both professional and lay contexts. Fire departments, in particular, supplement alerts of their firefighters with alerting apps. These apps send the same alarm cue to the smartphones simultaneously with the (digital) radio message receivers of the first responders. To date, an overview of the functions of such apps and their respective importance is missing. Our research fills this research gap by summarizing functions of alerting apps in an overview manner. In addition, first responders (N = 287) as users of alerting apps rated and ranked the functions in terms of their importance, the app usability and were openly asked about advantages and disadvantages of such apps. The resulting ranking enables the selection of suitable alerting apps. However, both quantitative data and responses to open questions show clear deficits mentioned by the users in the area of usability and technical requirements. This is particularly critical, since every second counts in the alerting of first responders.