Dear friends,

I’m pleased and honored to share that United for Iran is successfully concluding the first round of IranCubator, our app incubation project to promote civil liberties in Iran.

In the last 18 months, we developed about one dozen mobile applications—some of which were released without any public connection to U4I to reduce potential security risk. To date, IranCubator apps have been downloaded over 550,000 times; and users in Iran have spent more than 111,000 hours learning, connecting and receiving support from these apps.

Our apps offer solutions on a range of issues including challenges to women’s rights, women’s sexual and reproductive health and informed political participation. They also offer support and protection for victims of domestic abuse, recovering addicts, human right defenders, and children at risk of sexual abuse.

While we have been humbled to see the sheer number of individuals these apps have served, the personal story of users have constantly reminded us why we began this effort in the first place:

• We received many letters from parents who had experienced sexual abuse when they were children and decided to share the Michka app with their children to better protect them.
• We received testimonies from people who were anxious they might have contracted an STD but feared to see a doctor. They were grateful for the Hamdam app for offering clear, and unbiased information about symptoms, risks, and prevention methods.
• We were contacted by recovering addicts, some of which had struggled with sobriety for many years, sharing how the Haami app had helped them stay sober and made them feel cared for.
• A domestic violence survivor wrote us a detailed and heartfelt account of her abusive marriage and the strength she had to gather to get a divorce when the law was not on her side. She shared how she now tells everyone about the Toranj app in case they can benefit from it as well.

We feel privileged to have joined the global movement to expand human rights through technological advances, and these testimonies further prove how necessary that intersection is. We are convinced that the marriage of technology and human rights will take us to the future we want.

We will make share to keep you in the loop on the future progress of these apps, and our other efforts to improve human rights and expand freedoms in Iran.

In solidarity,

Firuzeh Mahmoudi
Executive Director, United for Iran

P.S. These are apps that we publicly released through IranCubator:

RadiTo targets Iran’s repressive internet restrictions in order to boost freedom of expression. The app serves users in 5 different languages including, Kurdish, Balouchi, Azari, Persian, and English.

Hamdam enables Iranian women to track their menstrual cycles through the Persian Jalali calendar while learning about women’s legal rights and sexual health.

Toranj protects Iranian women from domestic abuse and offers domestic violence survivors the tools to ask and receive immediate help.

Haami supports Iranians struggling with addiction recovery and offers them resources to maintain their sobriety.

Michka helps Iranian parents better protect their children from sexual abuse.

Hafez aids and protects human rights defenders by enabling them to securely record and report incidents of human rights violations.

Sandogh96 provided Iranian voters with accurate, unbiased and up-to-date candidate and election information ahead of the May 2017 elections.