Emergency SMS fallback: getting an alert out with no data connection
If your emergency alert cannot reach SafX within 8 seconds, your phone sends a text message straight to the contacts you chose. It uses your own mobile line, so it works where data does not, and your network charges you for it.
- What Emergency SMS fallback does — A text sent by your phone, over your mobile network, when the internet path fails.
- Turning it on — Read the terms, accept them, then choose who gets the message.
- Who receives the message — Up to 5 contacts per emergency, and only contacts in the same country as your SIM.
- What it costs, and who pays — Your mobile operator bills you at its standard SMS rate. SafX charges nothing and receives nothing.
- Android and iPhone behave differently, and the difference is critical — Android can send automatically. iPhone cannot, ever, because Apple does not permit it.
- Choosing which SIM sends — Only shown on a phone that actually reports more than one SIM.
- Checking whether a message actually went out — The delivery log records every fallback message attempted from this phone.
- When an SMS does not arrive — Work through these in order.
Frequently asked questions
Does SafX work without an internet connection?
Partly. If an emergency alert cannot reach SafX servers within 8 seconds, your phone sends a text message directly to up to 5 contacts you chose, containing your name, last known coordinates, the age of that position and a map link. It uses your own mobile line, so your carrier charges you for it and it needs airtime credit and some signal.
Does SafX charge for emergency SMS messages?
No. The message is sent from your phone over your own mobile network, so your carrier bills you at its standard SMS rate for up to 5 messages per emergency. SafX charges nothing and receives no share of it.
Why does my iPhone not send the emergency SMS automatically?
Apple does not allow any app to send a text message on your behalf. On iPhone, SafX prepares the message and alerts you, but you must pick up the phone and press send. If the iPhone stays locked in a pocket, no message goes out.