A staggering 100,000 iPhone users have downloaded an app which enables house hunters to check crime figures as they stand outside their dream property since it was launched last week.
Crime Finder uses augmented reality technology to deliver up-to-date statistics for crimes committed within a 500-metre radius of a location.
The new app means people who are trawling unfamiliar areas looking for properties to rent or buy are less likely to have a nasty shock when they move in.
It was launched in the wake of the Home Office setting up the police.uk website which contains street-level crime figures for every neighbourhood in England and Wales.
Yesterday Kevin Savage of Crime Finder’s developers Ventutec said: ”Whether you are at a railway station, visiting friends or looking to buy property you can download crime figures within a 500 metre radius.
”The app uses GPS to pinpoint your location and display street-level crime statistics from the official Home Office figures directly to your screen.
”It will make life much easier for people who are looking for homes in areas they are not particularly familiar with.
”Within seconds it will tell you how much car crime, violent crime or anti-social offences have taken place around your prospective new home.”
The new app is proving to be as popular and more robust than the Police.uk website, which crashed when five million people visited in within an hour of it being launched.
