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Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has updated its official festival app with new safety and community features, including tools for sharing live location updates with trusted contacts and improving visibility in crowded venues.
The update adds Safety Circles, Mardi Moments Fan Wall and Strobe, with a focus on community wellbeing, access to help and staying connected during events.
Festival CEO Jesse Matheson said the changes are part of a broader approach to the festival experience.
"Safety and inclusion sit at the core of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras," said Jesse Matheson, Festival CEO, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Safety Circles is a contact and messaging tool that lets users save up to five trusted contacts and send quick SMS updates with a single tap.
It includes pre-configured messages such as "Heading there now," "I'm here," and "Heading home," designed to help parents, guardians and friends stay informed about a person's whereabouts during an event.
Connection tools
Mardi Moments Fan Wall adds a social feed for photos and posts tied to festival events. Users can share images and moments from across the program, and others can like and comment.
The Fan Wall includes moderation tools intended to keep the environment positive while users contribute to an interactive visual record of the festival experience.
The update reflects a broader trend among large events that combine logistics and community engagement in a single app. Festival apps have moved beyond programs and maps, increasingly adding features that sit between social media and safety services, particularly for night-time events across multiple venues.
Visibility feature
Strobe turns a phone into a flashing beacon for busy or low-light settings. It offers customisable colours, torch light and scrolling text to help users find friends or signal for help without speaking.
Tools like Strobe are increasingly common in event and personal safety apps, offering options that do not rely on voice calls. In dense crowds, network congestion and ambient noise can limit conventional communication, making visual signals useful for group coordination.
The update is also designed for use beyond the main festival period, supporting festivalgoers across events and venues throughout the year as part of Mardi Gras's wider schedule of activities.
Festival context
Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is an LGBTQIA+ not-for-profit, member-based organisation. It runs the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade and Festival and produces other events and initiatives throughout the year. The organisation traces its origins to early community activists who campaigned for LGBTQIA+ rights during periods of institutionalised discrimination and oppression.
It also develops programs that celebrate LGBTQIA+ identity, champion creative expression and challenge injustice, and provides a platform for SOGIESC communities to share their stories.
Matheson said the new functions support a safer festival experience.
"The Festival app builds on this commitment, now enhanced with new features to deliver a safe and positive Festival experience, including Safety Circles, Mardi Moments Fan Wall and Strobe designed for large-scale events," said Jesse Matheson, Festival CEO, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
The new features are scheduled to go live in the official Mardi Gras app on Friday 13 February. The festival program runs from 13 February to 1 March 2026, with the theme ECSTATICA.