This app will tell you when a pregnant woman needs a subway seat

LONDON -- It's rush hour, the train carriage is packed, you're pregnant and everything aches -- can you endure the awkwardness of asking someone to give up their seat?

The "Babee on Board"app -- developed by London-based tech firm 10x -- wants to solve this problem. When a pregnant person presses a button in the app, it sends a notification to smartphones within a 15-foot radius, alerting passengers to the request without them having to look up from their phones. The app uses Bluetooth technology, so it works underground without signal or Wi-Fi.

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The Babee on Board system requires two apps to work. The "Request Seat" app is designed for pregnant women who want to request a seat, and the "Offer Seat" app is for commuters wishing to opt-in and offer up their seat.

Useful in the early stages of pregnancy

The app will likely prove useful to women in the early stages of pregnancy whose bumps are less visible to fellow commuters.

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"It’s much easier to get a seat when you have a big, obvious bump, but it’s actually in the early stages of pregnancy that a seat is needed the most," Sally Davies -- a London commuter six months into her pregnancy -- said in a statement.

"It’s when you are feeling most nauseous and everything aches but you feel self conscious asking for a seat because you don’t have a visible bump. Being able to send a discreet notification to people that are happy to give up their seat would change everything," Davies said.

Credit: babee on board

"A year ago an 80-year-old woman, who was sat next to me on a busy Tube, got up and offered her seat to a heavily pregnant woman. I was mortified. I was too engrossed on my smartphone to notice anything," Hew Leith -- CEO of 10x -- said in a statement emailed to Mashable. "So as soon as I let the older woman have my seat, I began racking my brains for a solution. By the time the Tube train pulled into the platform at Moorgate, I had the idea to use beacon Bluetooth notifications so pregnant people could let commuters know they’d like a seat," Leith continued.Leith says he designed Babee on Board to be a simple way to help pregnant women get a seat on public transport and to remove any awkwardness for commuters.

Credit: babee on board

The app is being piloted in London before it is rolled out worldwide. 10x says it is also speaking to other tech brands about integrating the technology into their apps and operating systems. Unfortunately, the app for expectant women isn't free. Babee on Board: Request Seat appcosts £3.99 ($4.97), but 100 percent of the profits will be donated to Project Healthy, a children's charity. The Babee on Board: Offer Seat app-- for commuters wishing to opt in -- is free to download, however.

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