Feasibility of Using Location-based SMS Notifications for Missing Persons Alerts on OneService App

Miss Rachel Ong asked the Minister for National Development (a) whether the Ministry has any update on the feasibility of using location-based short messaging service (SMS) notifications for missing persons alerts on the OneService app to broaden reach; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider directing SMS recipients to where photographs and details of the missing persons can be viewed, to overcome SMS limitations.

Mr Chee Hong Tat: The Municipal Services Office (MSO) supports Dementia Singapore by helping to broadcast its reports of missing persons with dementia via the OneService App (OS App). The broadcast is in the form of push notifications to OS App users residing in the town where the missing person was last seen. Clicking on these notifications leads to in-app photographs and details of the missing person.

As such information can be provided through the OS App but not short messaging service (SMS), we had previously assessed and decided not to proceed with location-based SMS notifications.