Apprising! The 10 Best Apps for Social Justice and Movement Building
What are the best mobile apps for social justice and movement building work right now? We put that question out to a wide variety of people and crowdsourced these responses! Take a look: (Note: All links are to the iTunes App Store)
1
Signal - Perhaps the most important tool in social justice and movement building work is quick, secure communication. Signal is the only encrypted app that allows disappearing messages and isn't run by a company that will sell us all out. [Note: WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) is not safe.]
2
Zoom - The best tool right now for videoconferencing for meetings, hosting webinars, and even livestreaming those conference calls and webinars to Facebook and other social platforms.
3
Slack - How do you collaborate with teams of people who are spread out all over the country? The best project management platform right now appears to be Slack.
4
Box - Better and more secure for file-sharing than Google Drive, because it was founded by and for the privacy and needs of non-profit organizations.
5
ProtonMail - This is an encrypted email platform that is not based on U.S. soil. (AquaMail is another one that was recommended.)
6
Hustle - You want to mass text supporters and volunteers to mobilize them for your campaign? Hustle is the app to do just that.
8
Vote With Me - Get ready for the next election by downloading this app that shows you the voting history of the contacts on your phone and reminding people (via text message) to vote!
9
5 Calls - The concept is simple: Pick an issue you care about, and the app will guide you through making phone calls to your elected representatives.
10
ACLU Blue - Produced by the ACLU of Texas, this app allows you to quickly record audio or video of interactions with police and upload them immediately to the ACLU. Always be ready for a possible negative interaction with a police office (or a police officer harassing someone else).
See also, “Siri, I’m getting pulled over” for iPhones.
Bonus Recommendations for Faith-Rooted Organizers:
Our Bible - The brainchild of Crystal Cheatham, the Our Bible app is a progressive alternative to the Bible app produced by the right-wing Life.Church. Our Bible offers the nine translations (including NRSV and CEB) for free, as well as The Message and other translations for a fee. You’ll also find great podcasts and original devotionals written by amazing progressive Christian thinkers. There’s also a chat function where you can connect with other people on the app.
Glocal+ - Our friends in Chicago who are developing the Glocal+ app tell us that they are testing out the app in London and Cape Town, South Africa, and then a new revamped version of the app should be available in the U.S. in Summer 2019.
It is worth noting that Facebook is still the world’s largest social media platform with 1.32 BILLION active DAILY users. It’s hard to imagine doing any kind of organizing in this day and age without Facebook pages, groups, events, etc.
Instagram (owned by Facebook) is the second most popular social platform. YouTube is still the king of online video. Twitter is still a major driving force, as well, with the power of hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter and #MoralMovement. But more and more, social platforms such as Snapchat are commanding the attention of the youth audience.
So what did we miss? What else is out there that you’re using on a regular basis? What would you recommend? Please share YOUR app suggestions in the comments!
Is there an app idea that doesn’t exist yet but you think needs to be developed? Message us with your idea, and we would love to see if we can help bring it to fruition!