The Campus Safety Illusion: Why It’s Time to Rethink Blue Lights and Outdated Safety Apps

College campuses across the country are spending tens—sometimes hundreds—of thousands of dollars every year on outdated safety infrastructure that students rarely use. Blue light emergency phones and white-labeled campus safety apps are the two biggest culprits—well-intentioned investments that often sit idle, unnoticed, or worse, completely unused.

Let’s Talk About Blue Lights

The blue light emergency system was introduced decades ago to give students a quick way to call for help. The problem? The average college student today has a smartphone in their hand 24/7. When asked, most students don’t even know where their nearest blue light is. Many schools have over 100 of them, with each unit costing between $5,000–$15,000 to install and hundreds to maintain annually.

Most college campuses have between 100 to 700+ blue light emergency phones. That adds up quickly.

At even a conservative estimate, the bigger schools may spend more than $1 million in initial installation costs—and tens of thousands per year just in maintenance.

Meanwhile, students have phones! Blue lights are static, outdated, and in many cases—irrelevant.

Then There’s the Campus Safety App Nobody Opens

Many universities also spend significant amounts to license white-labeled safety apps that are rebranded versions of generic tech. These apps are often clunky, unintuitive, have designs that look like they’re from the 90s, and lack real-time features like video or audio sharing. They’re downloaded once (if at all), and forgotten.

If students don’t trust, understand or use the tech provided to them, what’s the point?

Where Students Are Turning Instead

In real life, when students feel unsafe walking home from the library, going on a late-night rideshare, or walking across a poorly lit area—they aren’t running to a blue light. They’re calling a friend. They’re saying, “Stay on the phone with me.”

But here’s the problem: Phone calls don’t record. FaceTimes don’t save. And location sharing doesn’t show what’s really happening. And they all feel TOO FORMAL.

That’s where 3rd-i changes everything. We worked closely with over 50 College Students from top schools to build the Ultimate Social Safety App, and also families who lost a loved one in college.

3rd-i lets users stream and record live video, audio, and location to friends, family, or trusted contacts through our Squads system which is like group chats. This puts the power back into the uses hands and lets them choose what Squad(s) they want to Go Live with—with the tap of a button. And if they ever feel unsafe, at the touch of the in-app SOS button, dispatchers receive the users livestream and live location. It’s a safety tool built for how students actually behave. No extra hardware. No clunky interfaces. Just real-time, real-world safety. We are making safety fun, by making safety social. We are currently working on additional state-of-the-art social features as well to drive engagement like never before.

Let’s Put That Budget to Better Use

Instead of spending tens of thousands on a network of buttons no one presses or apps no one opens, what if universities partnered with tools students actually want to use? What if they offered them technology that makes them feel connected, seen, and safe—on their terms?

It’s time to evolve past outdated systems and move toward safety solutions that meet students where they are: on their phones, in real time, in moments that matter.