Frequently asked questions.

SafePing is for anyone who's on the road alone and wonders: "What if something happens to me and nobody notices?" — backpackers, solo trekkers, business travelers, expats, but also joggers, seniors or shift workers at home.

The app runs quietly in the background and only raises an alarm when you no longer respond — or when you press the SOS button in an acute situation. Safe, reliable, no constant check-ins.

Apple and AirTag each cover their own area — SafePing fills a crucial gap.

Apple's safety features (Crash Detection, Fall Detection, Check In) are impressive but only recognise very specific events: a serious car crash, a hard fall with an Apple Watch, or a missed check-in for a planned trip. If something slow happens to you — illness, unconsciousness, a fall without the Watch, a situation no sensor picks up — they don't trigger.

AirTag is not an emergency system, it's a tracking beacon. It continuously broadcasts its Bluetooth signal but doesn't know whether you're safe. And without a nearby foreign iPhone there's no positioning — in remote areas, on solo treks or in countries without the Find My network, that's no help at all.

SafePing works differently: the app runs permanently in the background and treats every prolonged inactivity as a possible emergency — regardless of the cause. It alerts your emergency contacts by SMS with location, map link and clear instructions on what to do. Platform-independent — works with any phone worldwide, not just Apple-to-Apple. Exactly when you can't do anything yourself.

No — and it's not technically intended to. Unlike family-tracking apps, SafePing has no live trace, no history, no "where are you right now?" You stay in full control: you decide whether SafePing runs at all, what alarm threshold applies and who your emergency contacts are. Your location is only visible to your emergency contacts in an alert — as a single point, not as a movement profile.

Your alarm threshold is what matters here: 12, 24, 48 or 72 hours. If our systems don't receive a life signal from your phone in that time, you'll be asked 30 minutes before the threshold expires — via push and, for safety, also by email: "Are you OK?". If you don't respond within these 30 minutes, your emergency contacts will be alerted by SMS with your last known location — and can organise help straight away.

No. As long as your phone is switched on and gets network every now and then, SafePing automatically sends life signals in the background — whether you're using your phone or it's sitting in your jacket pocket. You only need to actively tap when the pre-alarm comes — that is, in the rare case where the app couldn't send a life signal for a longer time. So you can focus on your adventure instead of thinking about your safety.

No problem — you can issue an "all clear" in the app at any time. Your emergency contacts immediately receive an SMS telling them the danger has passed and everything is fine.

No — and that's deliberate. Automatic emergency calls in foreign countries regularly lead to language barriers, jurisdiction chaos and expensive false-alarm fees. Instead, your emergency contacts are informed and can decide in context whether local rescue is needed.

The alert SMS contains a link to a protected page with all relevant information — location, time and circumstances. The page is protected by a PIN that's also sent in the SMS, so only your emergency contacts have access. The international emergency number 112 is also referenced, so your contacts can call it and coordinate rescue.

As long as your phone is switched on, SafePing can capture your GPS position — even when you have no mobile network. The last position is cached and automatically synced with our systems on the next network contact.

If your phone stays offline longer than your chosen alarm threshold (e.g. because it's off, the battery is empty or you're in flight mode), that's automatically counted as silence — and your emergency contacts will be alerted with your last known location.

That's exactly when SafePing kicks in hardest — the system reacts to silence. If your phone stops sending, your chosen time window runs out and your contacts are alerted with your last known location. That's exactly what the app exists for: the cases where you can't do anything yourself.

If you have to replace your phone, your stored email address serves as the recovery key. On the new device you can use it to transfer your SafePing account along with emergency contacts and settings — without setting everything up again.

As a nice side effect, the alert SMS can also help in theft or phone loss: your emergency contacts automatically receive the device's last known location. SafePing is no replacement for specialised device tracking (Apple's Find My, Google's Find My Device) — but an additional trace without you having to do anything for it.

SafePing doesn't send SMS from your phone but through our systems with global network coverage. That's significantly more reliable than an SMS you send yourself from abroad. And your emergency contacts don't need an app or any preparation for it — the SMS arrives on any phone worldwide.

SafePing sends the alert SMS to all stored emergency contacts at the same time — up to 5 people. That increases the chance that at least one person reacts in time. The SMS contains clear instructions on what to do, plus a link to a protected page with all relevant information.

Our tip: talk with your contacts beforehand about your choice — so they take the alert SMS seriously when it arrives. Remember: SafePing is a tool that connects people — not a substitute for people.

At home you don't need SafePing active — you can put the app in pause mode and save battery. In pause mode no life signals are sent to our systems anymore, and no inactivity alerts can be triggered.

So you don't accidentally go travelling unprotected, pause mode is tied to your home country: you define your home country once in your profile, and as soon as you leave it (detected via GPS) SafePing switches back on automatically. Pausing while travelling is deliberately not possible — because that's exactly where SafePing is supposed to protect you.

Important: the SOS button and local emergency numbers remain available at all times, even in pause mode. Only automatic life-signal monitoring is paused — you can always trigger the alarm yourself or call local emergency services.

Your emergency contacts receive your last GPS location with place/city label and a Google Maps link — tappable directly. The accuracy matches your smartphone's normal GPS precision (around 5–20 metres outdoors). For rescue services' coordinates, that's enough in the vast majority of cases.

Your emergency contacts never see your location in everyday life — it's only transmitted to them in an alert. SafePing only stores the last 3 positions for emergencies — no movement profile, no history, no sharing with third parties for ad or analytics purposes.

Yes, actively. As soon as you add someone as an emergency contact, this person receives a confirmation request with a personal confirmation link. If the contact is themselves a SafePing user with push notifications enabled, the request arrives as an in-app notification with push — otherwise as an SMS from the service number +41 75 573 22 66 or sender ID «SAFEPING».

The link takes the person to a protected web page showing your name, what a confirmation means, and the option to decline. Only after active confirmation on this web page is the contact unlocked as a valid emergency contact in your profile. If the person doesn't confirm, declines, or lets the link expire after seven days, the contact stays inactive and won't receive notifications in an alarm. This way it's ensured that no one can be added as an emergency contact without their knowledge and consent.

Important: the service number +41 75 573 22 66 is used exclusively for confirmation, alert and stand-down SMS — it's not a reply or support number. If your contact later doesn't want to keep the role, they can contact you and you remove them at any time directly in the app.

This active confirmation procedure (double opt-in) complies with GDPR and Swiss data protection law (revDSG) — international standards we see as a minimum and implement transparently.

SafePing is operated by a Swiss company (FrontByte GmbH). Our servers are located in Germany at Hetzner Online GmbH — a certified EU data centre by GDPR standard.

We store only what's technically necessary to enable a rescue by your emergency contacts: your account (name, email, phone number, device token), your SafePing settings, your emergency contacts and a maximum of the last 3 GPS positions for an alert. No movement profile and no location history are created.

All data transmission is encrypted. No ad IDs, no profile tracking, no sharing with third parties for ad or analytics purposes. If you delete your account in the app, all data is permanently removed — no soft delete, no archive.

For operations we work with specialised processors: Hetzner (hosting in Germany), seven.io (international SMS dispatch, Germany), Apple and Google (push notifications, USA), as well as RevenueCat and the app stores for subscription management. Each of these services only receives the minimum data needed for its purpose. With all processors there are contracts in place pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR.

All details are in our privacy policy.

SafePing is designed to be battery-friendly — life signals instead of per-second GPS updates. In our tests significantly below a navigation app or music streaming. Anyone who wants to save even more can activate home mode and pause SafePing at home.

SafePing is available as a monthly or annual subscription. Both start with a free 7-day trial — enough time to try SafePing in peace before your next trip. The reason for the subscription model is simple: international SMS dispatch and reliable server infrastructure cause ongoing costs.

Both subscriptions can be cancelled at any time, no hidden fees, no further obligations. Subscription management is handled by Apple or Google — you cancel directly in the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android). This separation is required by the platforms and we have no influence over it.

You can additionally delete your SafePing account at any time directly in the app — all your data will be permanently removed. Important: deleting the account does not automatically end your subscription — you have to do that separately in the app stores.

During the free 7-day trial you can cancel SafePing at any time — no costs are incurred. Important: the cancellation must happen before the trial ends in the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android), otherwise the subscription automatically rolls into the chosen monthly or annual plan.

After the trial ends and the paid subscription begins, refunds are generally not possible. You can, however, cancel your subscription at any time for the next billing period — your protection remains active until the end of the already-paid period.

Since SafePing subscriptions are handled exclusively via Apple or Google, refund processing also lies with these platforms — we ourselves cannot issue refunds. If you have a hardship case (e.g. unwanted purchase by a child, technical problems), you can apply for a refund directly with Apple or Google. The platforms decide according to their own policies.

If you're unsure, get in touch via our support form — we're happy to help.

Setting up SafePing is deliberately simple and typically takes 2 minutes — a guided setup assistant walks you through it step by step. If you still have questions or feel technically unsure: you can request help via our support form at any time — we're happy to support you personally with the setup.