Safety and limitations

Official emergency numbers in South Africa

112 works from any mobile phone, even with no airtime and no SIM card.

What the app can do

• Send your identity, emergency type and precise location to responders registered near you.
• Notify the trusted contacts you chose, so someone who knows you knows immediately.
• Keep updating your location while the alert is active, so help can follow you if you move.
• Let you cancel within a 3-second countdown if you pressed the button by accident.

What the app cannot do

• It cannot guarantee anyone responds. There may be no responder near you. A responder who is notified may not be able to come.
• It cannot work without signal. No mobile data means the alert does not leave your phone.
• It cannot work without battery. Continuous GPS drains a battery quickly.
• It cannot always find you precisely. GPS drifts indoors, underground, in basements and between tall buildings. Your reported position may be off by tens of metres.
• It cannot call the police for you. Only you can do that.

Before you need it

• Add at least two trusted contacts, and tell them you have added them.
• Grant location permission. Without it, the panic button cannot summon help.
• Check that your name and phone number in the app are correct and current.
• Keep your phone charged. Consider carrying a power bank if you travel late.
• Practise finding the panic button without looking at the screen.

Raising an alert

1. Long-press the panic button.
2. Pick the category — crime, medical, fire, gender-based violence, accident or other.
3. A 3-second countdown runs. Cancel here if it was a mistake. Do not let a false alert go through if you can stop it.
4. The alert goes out. Your location keeps updating.
5. When you are out of danger, tap I'm safe to resolve the alert and stop location sharing.

False alerts

A false alert sends people running toward an emergency that does not exist, and away from one that does. Deliberately raising one may be a criminal offence and will get your account suspended. If you trigger an alert by accident, cancel it during the countdown, or resolve it immediately and tell your trusted contacts you are fine.

Gender-based violence

If you are experiencing abuse, the GBV Command Centre is staffed 24 hours a day on 0800 428 428. You can also dial *120*7867# from any mobile. If it is unsafe for you to speak, an alert raised quietly from your phone may be safer than a call — but a call reaches a trained counsellor, and the app does not.

Your privacy during an alert

While an alert is active, your live location is visible to nearby responders, your trusted contacts and Sisonke Alert administrators. It stops the moment the alert resolves. We never track you between emergencies. See the Privacy policy.