Ever felt like you might have missed out on a great time with that cute guy at the bar simply because you didn’t want to do anything risky? If only you had a way of knowing for sure that he checked out in every way, especially his STD status. Well, look no more: There’s an app for that.
Best apps for safe bumping
MedXSafe app
Due to the high rates of STDs, New Jersey-based Dr. Michael Nusbaum developed MedXSafe, an app that tells others that you are STD-free. This app can encourage 20-somethings (and younger) to be more aware of their STD risk and the status of the people they become sexually involved with. It does not share medical information about you, such as whether you have an STD; it simply lets others know you don’t have an STD as of the date you are cleared by your doctor. Users can bump phones to learn each other’s STD-free status.
Bump phones before you bump anything else
Safe bumping comes from going to a health clinic or doctor and getting checked for STDs. When you are cleared, a licensed physician can put the information into the system. There is a secure token on the system that can’t be duplicated or removed.
When someone else who has the MedXCom app bumps you that means they are requesting to see your picture, number, email or STD status; you can accept or reject it.
“STDs are silent and they damage women more than men. Infertility is a huge problem and any woman who is having sex with a man she doesn’t know is risking her fertility. Hopefully, infertility risks will be decreased,” says Dr. Nusbaum.
Qpid.me app
Similar to MedXCom, the Qpid.me app is a free, simple way to share your STD status. CEO and founder Ramin Bastini created the app after an unpleasant experience of his own. “A girl slapped me in the face after I asked if she’d been ‘tested.’ I figured there had to be a better way to have that conversation, so I created one.”
Here’s how Qpid works:
- Get tested. If you’ve already been tested, go to the next step.
- Sign up on Qpid.me in three minutes; a fax requesting your results gets sent to your doctor.
- Verify. The doctor faxes back your results into your secure Qpid.me account, where the company verifies.
- Share via text messaging or online.
Your privacy matters
With both MedXCom and Qpid, it’s completely up to you who you share your results with. Your results are not searchable by Google or anyone else. The privacy factor seems to be a winning feature for college-age people.
“The fact that they are so private really makes you want to use them and make sure that your friends know about it, too,” says Alicia, a 19-year-old student at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. “No one wants to be known as the girl with herpes or HIV, so it’s good to know that there is a level of confidentiality there.”
Qpid’s tagline —“Spread the love, nothing else!”—is surely something that both of these app creators have set out to accomplish with their technological tools. It appears that so far they are making progress.
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