Snowsafe Blog

Could there be an app on your phone that is an Avalanche Transceiver?📱

 Should you use an Avalanche Transceiver App?

Over the years smartphones have advanced massively, you can buy apps for pretty much anything these days, from using your phone as a TomTom to controlling your lighting or central heating ! would you use your smartphone as an Avalanche Transceiver app?

Like Avalanche Transceivers, everyone will need to be carrying a smartphone device, in this case, they will need the same app to make any rescue possible.

When searching with Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, smartphone rescue apps work in pretty much the same way as older style analogue transceivers, very similar to the old BCA DTS Tracker. 

You should always ski with the 3 main essentials, Transceiver, Shovel & Probe, otherwise known as a Avalanche Safety Package.

3 Main Transceiver Smartphone Apps

There are currently 3 main smartphone apps on the market, iSis Rescue System, Snog and SnoWhere,  All of these apps make use of the smartphone network with wifi, Bluetooth and GPS frequencies to communicate and pinpoint the buried victims.

iSis

iSis has a creative approach to an avalanche transceiver app, it uses text alerts to your pre-installed friends or to a rescue group (e.g. ski patrol or mountain rescue teams).

The search is done using a combination of GPS, Wi-Fi (up to 1000 meters), and Bluetooth (up to 45 meters).

iSis mention on their website, “Attention, iSis is not a magic cape of invincibility. The application neither replaces thorough preparation for your mountain excursions nor the adherence to “best practice” and safety rules of the mountain.”

Snøg

Snøg is a free app that uses Wi-Fi signals to transmit and search.  transmit mode simply configures your phone to serve as a Wi-Fi Hotspot and then when searching it uses the Wi-Fi transmitters. this is exactly the same as you trying to connect to wifi. 

You register your ski companions and group before heading out to the mountains. 

Snøg displays a bar graph for signal strength. Each bar is topped by a number, but this is not the intuitive distance estimate of a real avalanche beacon.

SnoWhere

SnoWhere avalanche transceiver app for iPhones costs £9.99 and uses Bluetooth to transmit and receive GPS information.

SnoWhere have had huge problems with the reliance on Bluetooth transmissions and the following factors :  

• GPS signal acquisition underneath the snow
• Bluetooth transmission underneath the snow and over long distances
• The useful aerial extent might be minimal
• Wi-Fi interference
• Phone call interference

Snowsafe breakdown the 10 limitations to why smartphones can’t be used as a fully functional Avalanche Transceiver

1. Smartphones can interfere with Avalanche Transceivers.
2. Phones do not work on the 457 kHz avalanche transceiver frequency.
3. Smartphone range is very limited due to WiFi/Bluetooth, this can be interfered by trees, rocks and large amounts of snow, (maximum range is between 12 to 15m, transceivers offer between 50 to 70 metres).
4. Most smartphones only have one antenna so pinpointing and accuracy is very weak.
5. Apps zap the battery life out of your phone, you need a minimum of 200 hours transmitting followed by one hour of searching which is required for all transceivers as standard.
6. Mobile batteries cannot withstand freezing cold temperatures like avalanche transceivers do.
7. It’s almost impossible using a touch screen application with the combination of numb fingers in freezing cold, wet, snowy, windy weather.
8. Since smartphones can’t transmit or receive on the existing avalanche transceiver frequency, any app that attempts to replace an Avalanche Transceiver will work only if everyone in your party has the same app.
9. Apps can’t tell you whether you should go left or right, only whether the victim’s signal is getting stronger or weaker.
10. even if you are willing to accept the limitations, understand that neither of the current apps provides any directional or distance information, only signal strength.

Avalanche Safety Apps 

Snowsafe recommends 6 Avalanche safety apps to help you gain knowledge of avalanches and what to do in the case of an emergency situation.

1. Avalanche Lab

2. White Risk – SLF Avalanche App

3. Utah Avalanche Center

4. Clinometer + Bubble Level

5. FATMAP – 3D Map

6. Avalanche Forecasts

Snowsafe Blogs:

It’s important to stay safe and have the correct training when skiing or snowboarding off-piste please check out further blogs below : 

• Avalanche transceiver Warranty, Are you covered?
• Avalanche transceiver firmware, how to update your beacon?
• New Ortovox Transceiver for season 21-22, follow the voice.
• History of Avalanche Transceivers and How they have Evolved
• Dont venture into the unknown without testing your transceiver!

If you would like to feature a blog about your organisation or experience in the snow please feel free to contact us on info@snowsafe.co.uk or 01273 003925. We are happy to take guest blogs linking back to your website.