Ask any woman in America and she can probably tell you about at least one instance where she was in danger and would have loved to issue a distress signal to a friend.

Now there's a product that's aiming to let us do just that. The Aluma Connect is launching today and is designed to help anyone who finds themselves in a situation they're worried could end in sexual assault.

The device is the first personal safety alarm that sticks directly on to the back of a phone (or phone case) and notifies a group of five contacts when activated, making it easier to extricate yourself from a situation you're worried about.

Image: Aluma innovations

The device was created by Aluma Innovations, which was cofounded by Todd Baldree and his partner Ben Holbrook. Baldree, a long-time entrepreneur, told us in an interview that he was looking around for his next project when he saw The Hunting Ground, the documentary about campus sexual assault.

After learning that one in four college girls are sexually assaulted while on campus, he was moved to try to create something that women could use to protect themselves.

But, as he and Holbrook quickly discovered, that’s not easy. Eighty percent of sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows. So for a device to be effective, you always need to have it with you, even in intimate situations or when you might not be expecting to feel vulnerable.

That makes key fob alarms and mace (which is also illegal in some places) less than ideal, since they’re not going to help if they’re in your bag and you’re on a couch ten feet away. Phones are the one thing you’re most likely to have with you in any situation.

There are existing safety apps, of course, but most of them need to be open to be used. And that’s not going to help in a fast-moving attack or if you can’t unlock your phone without your potential attacker seeing you.

That’s why Baldree and Holbrook settled on something that mounts on the phone. At only eight millimeters thick, the Aluma Connect is thin enough not to be bulky, and it offers two different alarms. One is a deafeningly loud siren, which is activated by pulling a wristband (great for when you're out running or walking home alone). The other is a silent alarm that you set off simply by sliding a little button on the back of the device.

Both options notify your “social safety network,” a group of five people you pre-select, via the app (which is available for iOS and Android). You can customize your list of people at any time, depending on where you’re going and who you’re with. Users will be cautioned during onboarding that adding their romantic partners, trusted as they may be, is not always smart, since they may be the one you’re trying to get away from.

The ingenious thing that the people in your network do not need to have the app to help you. When you hit the alarm, they are notified, either by phone or email, and as long as they have access to a browser, they can see where you are on a map.

They’re then given the option to either say “I can help" or "I cannot help." Everyone on the list can also join a conference call with the other people in your network to coordinate assisting you — whether that’s calling 911 or simply finding you at the bar and getting you out of a tricky situation.

The conference call feature is especially helpful since your friends and family may not otherwise have each other’s contact information. So this is a way for your roommate and your dad to coordinate, even if they’ve never met or aren’t in the same state.

The device, which connects to your phone via bluetooth, also bypasses your lock screen. That is key, since it means you don’t need to fumble around unlocking the phone or make it obvious call for help.

Tracy Carson is the Director of Education and Outreach at Aluma Innovations and a counselor who specializes in treating young women who’ve been assaulted. She told us she is especially excited about the silent alarm feature, explaining,

"So much of the discussion around sexual assault centers on the shame and fear that victims may experience when they don't know how to get out of a compromising situation, like a date, especially if they know the person that is making them feel uncomfortable. With one push of a button, Aluma Connect gives them a discreet way to let others know they may need help without sounding an audible alarm."

Image: aluma innovations

There's also a record function which is automatically triggered by the silent alarm and will capture 15 minutes of audio, useful if you later need to proof of what went down for any reason. That information is saved locally, but all other info is in the cloud. So even if your phone is destroyed in an attack, everyone on the list can still act on the alert and see your last known location.

You might worry rightly that late at night your friends might sleep through your alerts, but you can also set the device to call your network, in case people are not awake and checking their screens. It will even call twice in succession, so that it will pierce through a phone's do not disturb mode or stand a better chance of waking someone up.

And, never fear, if you set off the alarm by accident you'll always have a few seconds to hit the "I'm okay" button and stop the alert.

SEE ALSO: App warns you when you enter an area where sex crimes have been committed

With campus sexual assault being such a plague, the obvious market for this kind of device is high school and college girls, and especially their worried parents who'd love to have a low key way for them to call for help if they find themselves in an uncomfortable position.

But Baldree told us he really thinks this device is for anyone, male or female, who might find themselves in a potentially risky spot — real estate agents doing showings alone, runners, cab drivers. Even seniors who might be more likely to ping their families in a minor emergency than activate a life alert type device.

The Aluma Connect, which is available for pre-order beginning today and will ship later in the spring. The device itself costs $119, and there's a $1.99 monthly subscription fee. The company will donate 25 percent of the profits from sales to to causes that fight to end sexual and aggravated assault.