Edward Snowden, former National Security Agency contractor, known for his explosive disclosure of the US government's citizen surveillance, has come up with an intuitive smartphone app dubbed as Haven that promises to offer ultimate surveillance security from physical espionage.
Haven is created by Snowden in collaboration with open-source global security app developers, Freedom of Press Foundation and the Guardian Project with prime focus of protecting human rights activists, investigative journalists and people at risk of forced disappearance to create a new kind of herd immunity, the project team said.
Haven is a simple, but an intelligent app, which makes use of the critical sensors found on all basic Android phones such as accelerometers (detect motion), camera (capture intruder image), microphone (listens change in noise), light (change in light ambience) and power (detect device being unplugged or power loss) and turn it in to an all-in-one surveillance device and if any untoward things get detected, it will register the details and keep it in the phone's secured folder. There is also an option to pass the information to the owner's primary device via encrypted messages.
"By combining the array of sensors found in any smartphone, with the world's most secure communications technologies, like Signal and Tor, Haven prevents the worst kind of people from silencing citizens without getting caught in the act," Project Team states on Google Play store.
Here's how Haven will guard you against espionage:
Once the Haven is installed on your secondary device, be sure to activate it, if you intend to leave the room or go to sleep. Once that is done, the Haven will keep all aforementioned sensors of the phone active and monitors the surroundings for any changes in light, sound, vibrations and movements.
If triggered, it sends an alert to the owners primary device over a secured connection on Telegram or Tor. If anybody touches the phone, it will snap the picture of the intruder and pass on the image to the owner.
Users can also use it as a baby monitor.
Snowden in the Haven video announcement has promised to improve the application over time and he urges more open source security developers to join his team and also users can help fund the project via donation HERE.
As of now, Haven app is available only for Android phones. Interested users can download Haven Beta on Google Play store.
System requirements for Haven app:
| App | Developers | OS compatibility | Price | Download |
| Haven | Freedom of Press Foundation (Edward Snow is also a member) and the Guardian Project | Android 4.1 or later | Free | HERE |
As far as the iOS version is concerned, Snowden or the project team haven't specified anything about it, but in the announcement video, Snowden is shown to be working on Nexus phone and also on an iPhone is seen in the background, hinting that they are working on it and will be releasing an app for it also soon.
