About 2 weeks ago I wrote a blog (Technomania… has it gone too far? – 14 June 2009) that questioned technology and it’s reliability for survival. However, technology CAN be a tremendous asset… I just like to know how to survive without it. But let it be known that I DO carry a lighter… why not use the easiest method when it’s available.
Recently I had access to an iPod Touch and was delighted to discover some of the apps available for survival scenarios. Some apps are super simple, and some are very sophisticated. The following list is just a sampling of what’s available. You can use your favorite search engine to find these and many more online.
SOS Light – is a FREE tiny application that uses iPhone/iPod Touch as a SOS light. It allows you to blink SOS morse code light, alpine distress help, and alpine distress reply light while choosing different colors of light – white, red, green, blue, cyan, pink, and yellow.
Morse Code – Translates text into morse code and sends the message with a blinking iPhone. You can use the characters A..Z, numbers 0..9 and the special chars .,:;?
Celestial Compass v. 2.0 – Turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a compass with the aid of the Sun, Moon, or Big Dipper.
LocationGPS v. 1.0 – Is a compass utility that calculates your bearing based on GPS coordinates.
Compass Flashlight v. 1.1 – Is a GPS compass AND a flashlight! It shows the major cardinal directions without the need for internet or cell reception when you are outdoors.
If you have used any of these apps or different ones, please share your comments.
Hey Ken, haven’t been on the site in a while and thought I would drop in.
While I have no experience using any of these apps, I did here last week about a guy who got lost because he was using the compass application on his iphone and the battery died. Guess he never thought about bringing a backup compass….
I’ll see if I can find the story.
– Zak
Just downloaded (and used) a morse code flasher and a sextant app for direction finding. Thanks for the tip!
*That would be solar direction finding, to be clear.