FamilyTracking
Free plan feature

Help, in one press

The SOS button sends every member of your Circle an unmissable alert with your live location — from the lock screen, in under two seconds, with an optional silent mode for situations where discretion matters.

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What happens when SOS is pressed

Hold the SOS button for two seconds (a deliberate hold, so pockets can't trigger it). Instantly, every Circle member receives a maximum-priority alert that punches through silent mode and Do Not Disturb on their phones: who sent it, where they are, and a live-updating location that keeps streaming until the sender stands down.

The sender's phone also begins recording a high-frequency location trail, so even if they're moving — in a car, on foot — the Circle sees the path in real time, not a single stale point.

Hold 2 seconds Circle alerted, max priority Live trail streams
From pocket to every family phone in under two seconds — and the location keeps updating.

Silent SOS, for when loud is wrong

Some situations call for help without an audible alarm: an uncomfortable ride, a date gone wrong, a stranger at the door. Silent SOS triggers the identical Circle alert with zero sound, vibration or screen change on the sender's phone — to anyone watching, nothing happened.

It can be triggered from the lock screen via a configurable gesture (such as five rapid power-button presses on Android), so the phone never has to leave a pocket.

Standing down and false alarms

False alarms are inevitable in a family — and they should be cheap. Canceling an SOS requires the sender's PIN and immediately notifies the Circle with an 'all clear, false alarm' message, so a resolved scare doesn't leave anyone dialing in panic.

A canceled SOS that wasn't PIN-confirmed within 30 seconds re-alerts the Circle. Help that can be silently switched off by someone else isn't help.

Drill it like a fire alarm

An emergency button nobody has practiced is theater. We recommend a five-minute family drill when you set up: everyone triggers a test SOS (the app has a clearly-labeled drill mode that sends a practice alert), sees what the Circle receives, and practices the PIN stand-down. Kids especially need to feel the button work once — it converts SOS from an abstraction into a reflex.

Pair it with a conversation about when to use it: real fear, real danger, real 'come now'. Families who drill report the button gets used correctly — rarely, and rightly.

What SOS is not

SOS alerts your family — it does not call emergency services, and we say so plainly because ambiguity here is dangerous. In a life-threatening emergency, call your local emergency number first. SOS is the layer for everything around that: the situations where what you need is your people, your location known, right now.

The moments it's built for

  • The walk that feels wrong. A silent SOS turns 'probably nothing' into 'family watching my dot' without escalating anything.
  • The fall at home. One press from grandma's phone — or her watch — brings the whole family's attention with her exact position.
  • The stranded teen. Dead car, dark parking lot, ride fell through. The trail shows exactly where to come.
  • The medical scare. When speech is hard, two seconds of pressure says everything that matters.
  • The lost child in a crowd. A practiced eight-year-old at a fair presses the button and stands still — drill pays off.

Stronger together: pairings worth enabling

No FamilyTracking feature lives alone — this one gets noticeably better next to the right neighbors:

  • Crash detection. SOS is the button you press; crash detection is the SOS that presses itself when you can't. They share the same unmissable alert pipeline.
  • Elderly care mode. Care Mode gives SOS a quarter of the home screen and pairs it with watch buttons — the configuration where the feature saves the most.
  • Family chat. Every SOS opens a live thread automatically, so the Circle coordinates the response in one place while the location trail streams.

The bottom line

Treat SOS the way you treat the smoke alarm: install it properly once, test it once, and let it sit. The features that matter are the ones you choose in advance — the stand-down PIN, the lock-screen gesture, the family drill that converts the button from an idea into a reflex. Be equally clear about what it isn't: a connection to emergency services. SOS is the layer between 'something's wrong' and 'my people know exactly where I am,' delivered in two seconds, free on every plan. Set it up tonight; the drill takes five minutes and is the best five minutes in this entire app.

How to get the SOS button on your phone

  1. Install FamilyTracking free from Google Play (Android 8.0+) or the App Store (iOS 14+).
  2. Create a Circle and invite your family with the code the app gives you.
  3. Open Settings → SOS to set your stand-down PIN, enable the lock-screen gesture, and run the family drill in test mode.

Full walkthrough with screenshots: download & setup guide.

Google Play App Store

FAQ

SOS — your questions answered

Does the SOS button call 911 or emergency services?

No — and this is important. SOS alerts your Circle with your live location. In a life-threatening emergency, call your local emergency number first; SOS is how your family finds you fast alongside that.

How fast do family members get the alert?

Typically under two seconds from the end of the two-second hold. The alert uses maximum-priority delivery and overrides silent mode and Do Not Disturb on recipients' phones.

Can SOS be triggered from a locked phone?

Yes. The lock-screen widget and the hardware gesture (for example, five rapid power-button presses on supported Android devices) both work without unlocking.

What is silent SOS?

An SOS that triggers with no sound, vibration or visible change on the sender's phone — the Circle alert is identical. It's designed for situations where drawing attention could make things worse.

What if my child presses it by accident?

The two-second hold prevents pocket triggers, and a false alarm is canceled with the sender's PIN, which immediately sends the Circle an 'all clear'. Accidents cost the family thirty seconds, by design.

Can someone else cancel my SOS?

No. Stand-down requires the sender's own PIN. A cancellation without the PIN re-alerts the Circle within 30 seconds.

Does SOS work if I'm moving?

Yes — it streams a high-frequency live trail, so a sender in a vehicle or on foot is tracked as a moving path, not a single stale point.

Does SOS need mobile data?

Yes, like any alert it needs a connection to deliver. With no signal, the phone queues the SOS and fires it the instant coverage returns, marked with the original trigger time.

Is SOS on the free plan?

Yes — SOS, silent SOS, the live trail and drill mode are free for every member of every Circle. Safety features are never paywalled.

Should we practice using it?

Absolutely — use the built-in drill mode for a five-minute family run-through. A practiced button becomes a reflex; an unpracticed one is furniture. The app labels drills clearly so nobody mistakes practice for the real thing.

Can SOS work from a smartwatch?

Yes — supported watches' SOS buttons fire the identical Circle-wide alert with the watch's location, which matters for kids and for falls when the phone is out of reach.

What does the SOS alert look like for my family?

A full-screen, maximum-priority alert with the sender's name, live map position and one-tap actions: open map, call them, message the thread. It's deliberately impossible to miss or misread.

Two seconds between 'something's wrong' and 'family knows'

SOS is free on every plan. Set the PIN, run the drill, hope you never need it.

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