The Perfect Panic App

Screenshot from "Panic Button Emergency Locator," an iPhone application.

The inspiring (especially for techies) story about a man who saved his own life under the rubble in Haiti with the aid of an iPhone application got me thinking about how we might use our phones during a similar emergency in the U.S.

There are plenty of applications that can broadcast a distress signal on an iPhone, Android phone or BlackBerry. But I'm wondering if that shouldn't be a standard feature on all phones.

In my mind, the perfect panic button application would have the following features:

• One-click or one-icon-press access to go into emergency mode.
  
• Would change the phone's settings automatically to conserve the device's power for as long as possible.
  
• Would continue to try sending an SMS, e-mail or voice distress message at regular intervals in the event of a network disruption or weak phone signal.
  
• Could be voice-activated in the event that you're unable to physically navigate your phone's menus.
  
• Would broadcast GPS coordinates to a Web site or service that family members or emergency workers could easily access.
  
• Could provide medical information to EMS workers who might arrive on the scene after you've lost consciousness.

I know there are plenty of applications that do one or more of these functions, but I can't find any that do them all or even come close. Does anyone out there know of something like this?

Of course, the thinking might go that if you can fire up a panic button app, you probably have the ability to text or call your way out of a jam yourself, but I'm thinking of an app that was so easy to use that even someone who doesn't regularly text or uses applications on their phone could figure it out.

And what about non-smartphones (or, so-called "Dumbphones")?

Whether you've seen anything like this idea or think it's ridiculous, let us know in the comments.