One tap, and your people know where you are.
BuddySOS is a group safety app we built and run ourselves. One tap sends an alert and your live location to everyone in your group, and texts your emergency contacts with your location even if they never installed the app. The safety features are free on every plan.
Want something like this built for your business? Talk to AJ.
The problem
We built BuddySOS after a man lost consciousness behind us at a show and nobody saw us calling for help. In a crowd, a phone call is slow, a text gets buried, and describing where you are is hard when you are busy dealing with what went wrong.
Most location apps also make money by keeping a history of where you go. We wanted something that does one job well: tell the people you chose that something is wrong and show them where you are, without selling that location to anyone.
The people who need this are not only festival crowds. Volunteers spread across a large service event, a stroke survivor and their care team, and someone who lives alone all have the same problem: getting help to find them fast, with no explaining required.
What we built
A single button alerts every member of the active group. Nobody types a message or picks a contact, and the alert opens straight to a live map centered on the person who sent it.
SOS also sends a text with your location to your emergency contacts. They do not need the app or an account.
Everyone in the group sees each other on a real-time map, so a group that gets split up can find each other again.
Draw a zone around home, a school, a venue or a campsite. The group gets an alert when someone enters or leaves it.
Set a start and end time for sharing so it turns off on its own. Pause any group, and invite people by phone number or by link.
No location history is kept, location is encrypted in transit and at rest, and it is never sold to advertisers or data brokers. Sign-up uses a phone number, not an email.
With Animals and Humans in Disaster, an Arizona nonprofit and Medical Reserve Corps unit, we made free flyers and cards that introduce the app to volunteers, survivors and caregivers. They are designed to survive a black and white photocopy.
How it works
Download BuddySOS free from the App Store or Google Play.
These are the people who get a text with your location when you send an SOS. They do not need the app.
Invite people by phone number or link. Mixed iPhone and Android groups work the same.
Tell the group you are testing and send one SOS, so nobody sees the screen for the first time in a real emergency.
Live and free on iOS and Android in the US, Canada, the UK and the EU, with an optional $1.99 a month ad-free plan.
Get BuddySOS → · How to set it up → · Free flyers and cards → · Designing for the copier →
Questions
Is BuddySOS free?
Yes. The live map, one-tap SOS, text alerts to emergency contacts and safe zone alerts are free on every plan. The free plan covers one group and one safe zone, with ads. Ad-free is $1.99 a month and adds up to 10 groups and up to 5 safe zones per group.
Does it call 911?
No. BuddySOS is not a medical alert device, it does not detect strokes or falls, and it does not contact 911 for you. In an emergency, call 911 first. BuddySOS makes sure the people you chose know something is wrong and where you are.
Do my emergency contacts need the app?
No. They get a text with your location whether or not they have ever installed it. Group members need the app to see the live map.
Who can see my location?
Only the people in the group you are actively sharing with. You can pause a group, set a tracking window so sharing stops on its own, or leave the group to end access. Your location is never sold.
Why did a software studio build a safety app?
Because we needed it, and because we run our own products on the same bench we build client work on. BuddySOS keeps us shipping, supporting and maintaining a real app in the stores, not just talking about it.
Want something like this built?
Tell AJ what you want built and he will tell you what it takes.
Rated ★ 5.0 on Clutch and Google, 4.0 on Trustpilot.