See it working

Three phones on a table, one group. The phone in the middle belongs to the person who needs help; the two either side belong to the people in their group. It is the real app and the real server — only the group is made up, created for these videos. The app was in English when they were filmed; on your phone it speaks your language. The maps are blurred on purpose.

① The button, the voice and the live location

• The button. On the phone in the middle, EMERGENCY. Five seconds count down with CANCEL underneath, and the phone is already recording.
• The alert. When the five seconds are over, both phones of the group light up with the emergency, saying who sent it and how — here, Manual SOS.
• The confirmations. Each person taps Confirm reading and says where they are: seen it, on my way, arrived. The sender watches the ring fill and each name change as they answer.
• The voice. Up to twenty seconds of voice follow the alert by themselves; a ▶ Play message button appears on the emergency in the group’s phones.
• The place. View location / Navigate opens a map with the sender’s position, which keeps updating while the emergency is open; Navigate gives the way there, and Share live location sends a link to anyone outside the group.

② The night monitor hears your word

• Switching it on. On the phone in the middle, Start voice monitor, confirmed once. It listens only for the words you chose yourself, and for a shout.
• The word. The word is said aloud. The same five seconds open as with the button, with the same CANCEL — and the twenty seconds of voice start there.
• The alert. The group receives the emergency marked Via Voice Keyword, so they know nobody pressed anything. They confirm, and the voice message arrives.
• Where the sound goes. Nowhere: the phone turns what it hears into words by itself, and nothing is recorded until the emergency starts. How the night monitor works.

③ A shake, without opening the app

• The gesture. The phone in the middle is locked, its screen dark. It is picked up and shaken hard — the gesture you can make with the phone still in your pocket. Nobody touches the screen.
• The five seconds. The phone recognises the shake and opens the same countdown, with CANCEL — a shake by accident is cancelled here and nothing is sent.
• The alert. Nobody cancels, so the group is told: the emergency says Via Shake Detection, the confirmations climb, the voice follows.
• It is your choice. Shake detection, like every sensor, is off when you install the app; you switch it on in the settings. What the phone can notice.