A new app which works in a similar way to Uber aims to make it easier and safer for sex workers to meet their clients.

Key points: Sex work is legal in some Australian states, but number of risks remain

Sex work is legal in some Australian states, but number of risks remain Workers can list availability, price and type of appointment on app

Workers can list availability, price and type of appointment on app Clients can see who is working, how long they have to wait and reviews from other users

While sex work is legal in some Australian states, there are a number of risks for both parties. Rendevu hopes to solve that problem.

Developer Reuben Coppa said sex workers could list themselves on the application list, show when they were working, what type of appointments they were taking and their price points.

"[And] for clients they can load the application, they can see which sex workers are working and then how many minutes it would be to an appointment with them," he said.

Both clients and escorts can write and read reviews about their experience.

The app also tracks location and requires credit card details.

"Because we pre-authorise clients' credit cards, which is basically we guarantee the amount of the booking," Mr Coppa said.

"And then require as part of the appointment process the escort to sight the clients ID — we don't keep those details — [which] provides far more security than they would currently have.

"And also because we are sort of pseudonymously tracking these appointments and we do keep that data for a number of weeks, if there is an issue that the escort wants to take to the police or to raise any other kind of further issue, we do have that detail available."

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While those steps provide extra security for escorts, Mr Coppa said there were competing concerns on the client side.

"Probably the biggest ongoing kind of consideration is the balance between client privacy and escort safety and security," Mr Coppa said.

The app launched in August, but its developers have made changes since then to address those problems.

"Initially we actually required the clients to take a picture of the front and back of their ID and of their face, which is extremely invasive," he said.

"That was definitely a barrier and one we have worked around now by only requiring the escorts to sight the ID."

So far, traffic on the app has been high but the number of bookings has been fewer than expected — there have been about 100 since the launch.

"The thing that's reassuring is that there is still such a massive problem… the feedback is extremely positive," he said.

'Fear of the unknown' could deter users

Cam Cox, the CEO of the Sex Workers Outreach Project in Sydney, said that like many other professions where people worked alone, sex work had its dangers.

"Sex work is like any other work and a lot of sex workers work as escorts, so they go out and they work alone in other peoples premises," he said.

"So they face the same sort of problems as maybe taxi drivers, plumbers, security guards who work alone, truck drivers — all those sort of people."

But Mr Cox was sceptical that the app would do much to improve their conditions.

"Sex workers themselves are able to do that if they want to do that," he said.

"If [escorts] want to insist on a number of steps, I know some people who are very 'you have to do this, this and tick five boxes before you get a booking'."

Mila Jovi, a name she uses for work, runs an escort agency in Sydney and said she thought stigma would stop people from taking advantage of the technology.

"I just think it all boils down to fear of the unknown," she said.

"Something so easy is probably a bit off-putting for some people… I just think there's nothing like it.

"I think the stigma itself is gradually dissipating, little bit by little bit. It is slow, but it's getting less and less."