An Actually Useful Version of Yo Is Warning Israelis of Rocket Strikes

The Red Alert app (left) and the original Yo! app. Red Alert/Yo

Ridiculed for being gimmicky and useless, the app that was released on April Fool’s Day is now being used to save lives in one of the planet’s most complex conflict zones. Israeli citizens have begun relying on Yo for warnings of impending rocket strikes by Palestinian militants.

The messaging app has partnered with Red Alert, a real-time missile notification service and self-described “propaganda tool” used in Israel. Following the implementation of the Red Color emergency siren system in 2012, there were concerns that people might not hear—or even sleep through—the sirens. Red Alert acts as a complement to the sirens. Yo users can now follow “RedAlertIsrael” to get a “Yo” at the same time that the sirens go off. The user typically receives a warning via smartphone 15 to 90 seconds before a rocket hits.

Without Yo, the Red Alert app simply sends an alert (audio optional) with a potential city-wide location, like Jerusalem or Ashkelon. Working in conjunction with Yo’s push notification service, Red Alert is able to reach a larger pool of citizens who might be vulnerable to rocket fire near Gaza. It’s quickly becoming one of the most popular apps in Israel.

Created in just eight hours by an Israeli-born San Francisco resident, the standalone Yo app sends you push notifications from your friends saying “Yo.” That’s it. Oddly enough, this “one-bit communication” platform took the tech community by storm this Spring, attracting $1.5 million from early investors. Since its debut, it has been downloaded almost 2 million times. The silly app takes on importance when that “Yo” message means a rocket is coming your way.

Ideally, the Red Alerts should pinpoint the location of a potential attack, but early reports suggest the service has been buggy, or doesn’t provide Yo users with a location at all. Red Alert gets its classified data from the Israeli Defense Force and Homefront Command, co-founder Ari Sprung tells The Times of Israel , then breaks down the potential threats.

More than a week into the current hostilities, Israel suffered its first fatality. Approximately 185 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 1,200 have been injured.

Amidst the chaos, it’s hard to determine if the app has saved lives in the region, or if it’s functioning more as an Israeli public relations tool to reveal the violence in the region to the outside world. Anand Varghese, a program officer with the U.S. Institute of Peace’s PeaceTech Initiative, says it’s probably a little bit of both.

“The fact that Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. encouraged developers to create an English-language version of the app certainly tells me that he sees it as a way to reach people outside the country. As with every technology-based early warning we see in the field, the need to establish mechanisms for early response is the real key. In the larger scheme of their extensive military capabilities, I doubt that Israel is hinging its citizens’ lives on an app that provides 15 seconds of response time before a rocket hits.”

The Red Alert/Yo service is not available for Palestinians concerned about Israeli air strikes. Networks in the Occupied Territories can only provide 2G connectivity as Israel restricts bandwidth. Twitter hashtags remain a popular way for Palestinians to receive alerts and avoid danger.