A new app which could help pregnant women get seats on public transport has been released in the UK today.
Babee on Board consists of two companion apps – only currently available on Apple devices – which communicate using Bluetooth technology.
The first, which costs £3.99 and the pregnant lady would download, is used to trigger an alert.
The second free-to-download app receives the alerts and notifies people of the presence of the pregnant lady.
The £3.99 is donated to a children’s charity.
“We would rather give it away for free but we need to ensure there’s a barrier so people don’t download it for free and troll those around them,” said Hew Leith, chief executive of British innovation consultancy 10X, which is behind the app.
“We are donating 100 per cent of the profits to charity.
“We should be using our eyes but if you look around you, everyone whips out their phone as soon as they sit down.
“When we did user testing quite a few women said that early on in pregnancy, when they are not showing, is when they feel most ill and need a seat the most.
“But visibly you can’t see the bump and you can’t always see the badge because the trains get so busy.”