Guardian Pin

Mission

People come before the subscription. Alerts, test alerts, Medical ID sharing, and Emergency services stay available if the subscription lapses. One monthly subscription covers the whole service.

Steve Muzzeroll has 26+ years in emergency response and crisis management. In that world, being ready means three simple things: knowing who to call, having a sure way to reach them, and a quick path to emergency services. Guardian Pin puts that into your pocket. It alerts the people you’ve chosen, and gives you a one-press way to call emergency services yourself. It doesn’t call them for you.

A woman smiling on a rocky cliff above clear green water
Go further. Guardian Pin helps you get help fast.
Silhouette of a family of four and a dog on a beach at sunset.
Ordinary family days

Commitments

  1. Emergency services stay available

    Alerts, test alerts, Medical ID sharing, and Emergency services stay available if the subscription lapses. On Android, one press opens the dialer with the number filled in. On iPhone, one press opens the call and iOS asks you to confirm. You press call. Guardian Pin does not place the call. This is separate from the email to your circle.

    Emergency services screen. It shows 911 and says your phone will open the dialer with 911 ready. A button reads Open dialer (911).
    The Emergency services screen. Your phone opens the dialer. You press call.

  2. One price

    A subscription of CA$2.99 per month in Canada, starting on day one, covers the whole service: alerts to your circle with your location, recordings you keep for yourself, and sharing your Medical ID. There is no trial period and only one plan. Alerts, test alerts, Medical ID sharing, and Emergency services stay available if the subscription lapses. Google Play and the App Store show the price in your country before you subscribe.

  3. Privacy restraint

    There is no ad tracking. Sign-in is Apple on iPhone and Google on Android. The PIN stays on the phone and is not uploaded. If you allow it, the app reads the address book so you can import people. It does not change that book, and it does not upload the people you do not save.

  4. Email alerts, and a text you send yourself

    Add a contact with an email address, a phone number, or both. They don't need the app, and there's no invite. Contacts with an email get a private link to the alert page. During an alert, you can press “Text my circle” to open your phone’s Messages app with everyone’s numbers and your location already filled in, then just press Send. Automatic text alerts are coming in an update soon.

  5. Encryption has a limit

    On iPhone, recordings wait in the app under iOS Data Protection, available after the first unlock, including while the phone is locked during an alert. They are sent over HTTPS, and not encrypted by the app on the server. That is not end-to-end encryption.

Silhouette of an adult and a child riding bicycles along a path at sunset.
A ride at the end of the day

What Guardian Pin will and won't do

Will

  • Require sign-in with Apple on iPhone or Google on Android during first launch, one account per person, before the rest of the app.
  • Keep Emergency services reachable with no account. Alerts, test alerts, Medical ID sharing, and Emergency services stay available if the subscription lapses.
  • Add contacts by phone number or email, and import from the phone address book without changing it.
  • Let you add, rename, and delete circles, and keep the primary alert circle until you choose another.
  • Email the primary circle a private link to the alert page when an alert is sent. While the alert is active, that page follows the location as it updates. Sharing stops when you end the alert with your PIN.
  • Give you a “Text my circle” button during an alert. It opens your phone’s Messages app with your circle’s numbers and a map link to your location filled in. You press Send, and the text goes from your own phone.
  • Ask for the app PIN before an active alert ends. A test alert and Emergency services do not ask for the PIN.
  • On Android, open the dialer with the emergency number filled in. On iPhone, open the call and let iOS ask you to confirm. You press call. Guardian Pin does not place the call.
  • Store optional biological sex and gender identity as separate Medical ID fields, shared only with your circle through the alert link when you turn that on. Medical ID is never sent to paramedics or responders.
  • Charge one subscription of CA$2.99 per month in Canada from the first day for the whole service. The store shows your country's price before you subscribe.

Won't

  • Send an invite or a WhatsApp message, or send texts from our servers. The “Text my circle” button opens your own Messages app so you can send the text yourself.
  • Require a contact to install Guardian Pin or create an account.
  • Collect location when no alert is active.
  • Contact emergency services itself, or place that call inside the app.
  • Offer a trial period, or a second subscription plan.
  • Use ad tracking.
  • Encrypt recordings end to end, or encrypt the copy stored on the server.
  • Change or delete contacts in the phone's address book.
  • Cancel an App Store or Google Play subscription when the Guardian Pin account is deleted.
Silhouette of two older adults and a child sitting on a bench above a city at sunset.
Time with the grandparents