Using the SOS button

Raise an alert, what your people see, how to take charge, and what to set up before you need it.

Before you need it

The SOS alerts the members of your family circles. Without a family circle the button has nobody to warn, and the screen says so. Three settings make the difference on the day it matters:

On the receiving phones: notifications allowed, and on Android the battery-optimisation exemption, otherwise a sleeping phone may not ring. The guide First launch and permissions goes through them.
A verified phone number on every profile: that is where the fallback SMS lands if nobody has seen the alert.
Which circles to alert: all your family circles by default. In a circle, Sharing tab → “Include this circle in my SOS alerts” lets you leave one out, a friends’ circle for instance. A child member cannot exclude a circle.

Raising an alert

On the map, tap the round red SOS button.
The red screen shows a ten-second countdown. To cancel, swipe the slider: nothing is sent. To skip the wait, hold “Hold to send now”.
At zero the alert goes out with your position. The alert screen stays open and shows, for each member: sent, seen, taken charge of.

While the alert is active, your position is visible to the alerted members, even if your sharing was off.

During the alert

As soon as a guardian or an adult has taken charge, their name shows and the ringing stops for everyone.
If nobody has seen it after two minutes, every member with a verified number receives an SMS: “Fenzly SOS from …, their position is in the Fenzly app.” Your screen then offers to call someone close or the emergency services. The position never travels by SMS.
False alarm: tap Cancel the alert and confirm. Members are told it was a mistake.

With no network

If the alert cannot go out, the app does not pretend: it shows “No connection” and puts calling first, your country’s emergency number and the members reachable by phone. You can also queue the alert: it leaves by itself as soon as the network is back, and the screen shows “waiting for network” until then.

Receiving an alert

Your phone rings, loudly, and again every thirty seconds as long as nobody has looked at the alert, including in silent or Do Not Disturb mode depending on your phone. The SOS screen shows who needs help and a See on the map button.

If you are a guardian or an adult of the circle, tap I’m taking charge: you stop the ringing for everyone and the person knows you are looking after them. A child member receives the alert as a normal notification, without being able to take charge.

What Fenzly knows about an alert

That it happened, at what time, who was alerted, who saw it and who took charge: that is what makes the phones ring and sends the SMS. Never your position or the content of the alert, which stay end-to-end encrypted between you and your people.