As a new academic year begins, the CU Boulder Safe app continues to connect students, faculty and staff directly to campus safety services. Whether reporting a concern, contacting a dispatcher, requesting police assistance or receiving CU Boulder emergency alerts, the free mobile app helps Buffs take immediate action when they need help.

Since launching in October 2025, more than 4,000 students, faculty and staff have downloaded the CU Boulder Safe app. As Buffs settle into campus this academic year, CU Boulder’s Division of Public Safety (DPS) is encouraging all students, faculty and staff to download the app and explore features that help keep the campus community safe, including: 

• Text to Chat: Allows users to communicate directly with a dispatcher during non-emergency situations.
• Send Police Now: Dispatches officers to a user's location at the push of a button.
• Friend Walk: Helps Buffs look out for each other by sharing locations and destinations, even across iPhone and Android devices.
• Virtual Walkhome: Lets dispatch accept a tracking request from your device. If you don’t reach your destination by the estimated time of arrival, dispatch will be notified and contact you.

The app also provides video trainings for active harmer and other emergency situations, mental health resources and access to transportation services like CU NightRide for late-night lifts in Boulder.

Together, these tools and others help Buffs stay informed, connected and empowered to fully experience campus life with safeguards in place.

“The CU Boulder Safe app is your best personal tool for safety,” Jack Briggs, associate vice chancellor of DPS, noted. “It provides convenient, immediate access to notifications, information and support on campus. Take advantage of it to help yourself, your colleagues and friends stay connected and safe.”

Since its launch, the app has been improved and made more accessible through student engagement and feedback.

“Since the app is intended for our campus community, it was important that we involve students to provide feedback on the app's features," Michelle Smits, senior director of organizational strategy in DPS, said. "We also engaged with the Office of Information Technology's user experience team to make the app as user friendly as possible.” 

Smits and other app administrators are currently streamlining the process for reviewing user feedback submitted through the app and exploring the platform's expanded language capabilities. 

As the academic year kicks off, campus community members are encouraged to download CU Boulder Safe, enable notifications and location services, and familiarize themselves with the app's features. Knowing how to navigate the app before an emergency can help keep Buffs safe.