Protector, an app that debuted today in the Apple App Store, bills itself as allowing users to hire on-demand personal armed security along with a lift.
Protector’s profile in the App Store reads: “With the click of a button, Protector users can schedule veteran and former law enforcement private security personnel to serve as personal protection when needed.” The service is currently only available in New York City and Los Angeles.
According to Protector, the personnel are either credentialed active duty or retired law enforcement officers. As a part of the service, potential users can choose the number of Escalades or similar vehicles that are a part of the personalized motorcade (the number currently tops out at 3), as well as the type of uniform that the guards wear. Uniform options include business formal, business casual and tactical casual.
The cost for one guard and one car for a five-hour duration (the minimum amount of time users can book) in Los Angeles is listed as $1,000 plus an annual member fee of $129. There is a cost-splitting function that is meant to “make private security accessible” that allows users to split with up to five people.
A promotional video posted in January on the app’s X account opens with footage from the murder of Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO who was shot and killed outside of a hotel in Manhattan. “Now, we are going to run through a scenario where if a Protector had been present, crisis could have been averted,” the video’s voiceover says. Several reenactments are then staged where a Protector guard is present and prevents the murder attempt.
Former Meta product manager Nikita Bier (creator of the social network app Gas that sold to Discord) said he has worked as an advisor to Protector and described it on his X account as “Uber with guns.”
“The demand for elite, experienced, security has never been higher, but the industry has been slow to modernize,” Bier, who also is an investor in Protector, added in a press statement. Other investors in the app were listed as Balaji Srinivasan, Rocco Basilico and Charles Songhurst.
Protector, whose founder and CEO is Nick Sarath, has a sister app Patrol that is billed as a neighborhood security solution where neighbors are meant to crowdfund security services like patrol cars. Sarath previously co-founded a photo sharing app titled Poparazzi and earlier worked at Meta as a product designer, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Protector, as of the time of publishing, is the 14th most popular app in Travel, sitting behind the app for Frontier Airlines but ahead of Spirit Airlines app.