Safety Checkpoint is a dead man's switch for your phone. You set a deadline and check in with one tap. If the deadline passes in silence, the people you chose are alerted and open the message you wrote in advance, with everything they need to act. You never have to press anything during the emergency itself.
Free plan, no credit card. Works in any browser. Your contacts need no app.
Back from the hike by 18:00
Check-in
1h 36m
left
DeadlineToday, 18:00
SamEmergency contacts
Emergency packageMessage
If you don't confirmAlert at 18:02
Back from the hike by 18:00
Check-in
Checked in
at 16:24
Sam got a one-line email: you checked in.
StatusCompleted
SamEmergency contacts
Emergency packageNot opened
Back from the hike by 18:00
Check-in missed
18:02
alert sent on your silence, two minutes after the deadline
Sam got an email with a link. With his PIN, he opens the message you wrote.
ChannelsEmail · SMS on Survival
He can mark you safeFrom the emergency page, with his PIN
Late but fine? Confirm check-inHe's told, the link closes
What is a dead man’s switch app?
The original dead man’s switch sits in a train cab. The driver has to keep a handle pressed, and the moment the hand lets go the brakes come on. The safety logic is inverted on purpose. Doing nothing is the signal.
A dead man’s switch app applies that logic to a person. Instead of a handle, there is a deadline. Instead of brakes, there is a message. If you cannot check in, whether you are hurt, unconscious, detained or without your phone, the alert goes out for you and your contacts open that message.
The deadline
You decide when you must check in: a recurring time every day, or a single deadline such as tonight at 23:30 or Sunday at 18:00.
The check-in
One tap before the deadline confirms you are fine. No alert goes out. Your contacts get a one-line email saying you checked in, the emergency message stays sealed, and a daily or heartbeat switch starts over.
The trigger
Miss the deadline and the alert goes to your contacts on its own: within a few minutes for a daily switch, after a grace of up to 30 for a heartbeat, after the delay you chose for a one-off deadline. They open your pre-written message with their PIN.
How does the dead man’s switch work in Safety Checkpoint?
Four steps the first time, one tap every time after that.
1
Write the message once
Say where you are going, what you are doing and what you want done. Add your address, medical notes, a spare-key location, and the GPS position of the moment you write it if that helps. On the paid plans, add files, credentials or a recorded voice message.
2
Choose who gets it
Family, a neighbor, a friend. They need no app and no account: the alert reaches them by email, and by SMS on the plan that includes it.
3
Set the deadline, and the delay if it is a one-off
A one-off deadline for tonight works on every plan, the free one included. You can hold the alert up to 48 hours after it passes. A daily check-in, on the paid plans, alerts within a few minutes of the missed time, so put the margin in the time itself. A heartbeat, also on the paid plans, watches for a missed tap at each interval and alerts after a grace of at most 30 minutes. The interval is the real margin.
4
Activate and forget it
From then on your only job is the tap. Pause a daily switch when you do not need it, stop any switch any time. A running protocol cannot be edited: if plans change, stop it and create a new one.
What do your contacts receive?
The alert leads to what you prepared, not to a vague “something is wrong”, so whoever opens it can act without guessing.
In the alert
The alert itself is an email, or an SMS on Survival. It is short:
Your name, the protocol and the time of the missed check-in
A link to your emergency page
On that page, which each contact opens with their PIN:
Your message as you wrote it
The GPS position you recorded in the message when you wrote it, if you added one. It is not refreshed when the alert fires
On Safety 101 and above, encrypted files and credentials that only the same PIN unlocks, and a recorded voice message if you made one
A timeline of the alert (the deadline and whether someone has marked you safe) and suggested next steps
How it reaches them
By email on every plan, by SMS as well on the Survival plan. Every contact is alerted at the same time, so there is no single person who can miss it. Graduated escalation (one contact after another, with delays) is on the roadmap and not live yet.
Safety Checkpoint alerts the people you chose. It does not call emergency services for you. Your contacts decide whether to call, visit, or contact 911 or 112 with the information in hand.
Dead man’s switch vs panic button vs location sharing
They are not rivals. A panic button covers the moment you can still act. Location sharing covers people who already know you are in trouble. The switch covers the case neither can: nobody knows yet.
Compare with
What it does
Panic button
Location sharing
Dead man's switch
When it acts
Fires when you press it
Shows where you are, not whether you are fine
Fires when you do nothing
Works if you are unconscious or without your phone
Carries a message you wrote in advance
Works with no signal at the moment of the incident
Short answers first. Each one links to where the detail lives.
Is there a free dead man's switch app?
Yes. Safety Base, the free plan, is a one-off dead man's switch: one protocol a month, one contact, unlimited email alerts, a message encrypted for each contact, no credit card. Daily and heartbeat switches, more contacts and encrypted storage are on the paid plans. SMS is on Survival.
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Safety Base (free): 1 one-off protocol a month, 1 contact, unlimited email alerts, encryption included, no file storage
Safety 101 ($4.99/mo): recurring and heartbeat switches, 10 protocols a month, 10 contacts, unlimited email alerts, 50MB encrypted storage
Survival ($9.99/mo): 25 protocols a month, 20 contacts, 10 SMS alerts a month, 100MB storage
Your contacts never pay and never install anything
Start free, test the switch with one person, upgrade if you need more
As short as tonight's walk home or as long as a multi-day trek. You set the deadline to a date and time. A running protocol cannot be edited. If plans change, stop it and create a new one, or set a delay after the deadline in advance.
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Daily protocols (Safety 101 and above) repeat at the time you choose, every day or on selected days
One-off deadlines suit a hike, a date, a road trip, a shift
On a one-off deadline you can hold the alert up to 48 hours, but daily switches alert within a few minutes, heartbeats after a grace of at most 30
Pause a daily protocol from the app
Common mistake: a deadline set for the planned arrival with no margin for delays
The switch still fires. The deadline is enforced on our servers, not on your phone, so a dead battery, a broken screen or a canyon with no coverage does not stop the alert. It only stops you from checking in, which is the case the switch exists for.
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The alert is sent from the server a few minutes after the deadline passes without a check-in, or after the delay you set
Your phone does not need to be on, charged or connected at that moment
Attach your planned route or the position you record while writing the message, before you leave
In areas without coverage, set the deadline for when you expect to be back in range
A satellite messenger remains the right tool for calling rescue yourself
Yes, on the paid plans. Safety 101 allows 10 protocols a month and Survival 25, each with its own contacts, message and timing: a daily check-in for home, a one-off deadline for tonight's hike, a heartbeat while you recover from surgery. The free plan is one protocol a month.
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Different messages for different situations, so the alert is always relevant
Different contacts too: a neighbor for home, a partner for travel
Pause the daily ones you do not need without deleting them
Each contact sees only the protocols they are part of
1 protocol a month on the free plan, 10 on Safety 101, 25 on Survival
It depends on the switch. A tap up to 2 minutes after the deadline still counts as on time. On a one-off deadline with a delay, a late check-in inside that delay cancels the alert as if nothing happened. On a daily switch the alert goes out within a few minutes of the missed time, and on a heartbeat after a grace of at most 30 minutes. After that, a late tap on I'm OK needs no PIN. Your contacts are told by email and the link in the alert closes. A daily occurrence completes and the next one is still scheduled, while a heartbeat re-arms for the next interval. The alert has already been sent.
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One-off deadline: choose a delay of up to 48 hours, and one tap inside it cancels everything
Daily: a late tap completes that day's occurrence and the protocol keeps running
Heartbeat: a late tap re-arms the next interval. Stop the protocol when you no longer need it
Once the alert is sent, it cannot be recalled: contacts already have it
Your contacts also get a one-line email each time you confirm, late or not
Is a dead man's switch app the same as a check-in app?
Same mechanism, different name. Check-in apps, safety timers and dead man's switches all fire on the absence of a confirmation. What varies is the message they carry and who receives it: a text saying you are late, or a full package with instructions, a position if you recorded one while writing and, on paid plans, files.
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Daily check-in apps are dead man's switches with a fixed daily deadline
Safety timers are dead man's switches for a single activity
Safety Checkpoint does both, with a pre-written encrypted message
Contacts are alerted by email, or by SMS on Survival, and open the message with their PIN, without an app
The name does not matter, but the message content does
