Guides · Privacy & setup
Phone permissions for safety apps
Safety apps ask for more permissions than a simple messaging app because emergencies do not wait for you to unlock every setting. That does not mean you should approve everything blindly. The goal is to match each permission to a feature you actually want.
Notifications
Notifications are the minimum requirement for SOS and check-in reminders. Without them, family members may miss a critical alert while the phone is locked. Keep Zone Tick notifications enabled for emergency and family categories even if you silence marketing-style messages elsewhere.
Location
Location powers live sharing, geofences (arrive/leave alerts), map context during SOS, and nearest help landmarks. “While using the app” is enough for some map views, but background location is needed for continuous sharing and place alerts when the screen is off. If you only want SOS without sharing, you can keep location limited and still use messaging and check-ins.
Motion / sensors
Accelerometer and gyroscope data support crash and fall style detection. Processing happens to decide whether an impact looks serious enough to alert your circle. If you do not want automatic crash alerts, leave that feature off—Zone Tick does not require crash detection to use SOS or check-ins.
Microphone
Microphone access is for optional features: keyword listening, scream detection, and emergency recording. These tools can help when someone cannot tap the screen, but they also deserve a higher bar of trust. Enable them only after you understand when listening is active and how to pause it. Our Privacy Policy explains that we do not sell personal information.
Battery optimisation (Android)
Some Android phones aggressively sleep apps. For monitoring features to remain reliable, Zone Tick may ask you to exempt the app from battery optimisation and to keep a lightweight foreground service running when crash or inactivity monitoring is enabled. This uses more battery than a chat-only app, which is the honest trade-off for always-ready safety tools.
A practical rule
Turn on permissions for the features you will use this month. Revisit settings after two weeks. Many families start with notifications + location + SOS, then add crash detection or voice tools later.