Online safety

How we keep Safety App UK safe

Safety App UK lets people share a few things with each other: community reports on the safety map, messages between people in the same Trusted Circle, and SOS alerts, locations and video sent to chosen contacts. This page explains our rules, how we moderate, and how anyone – with or without the app – can report a problem or appeal a decision.

Last updated 29 September 2026. This page is part of our Terms and Conditions and follows the UK Online Safety Act 2023.

In danger right now? Call 999. If you can’t speak on a 999 call from a mobile, stay on the line and press 55 when asked. The app does not contact the emergency services for you.

Community guidelines

Community reports are about places and situations, not people. They help others decide how to get home safely. Everything you post must be true to the best of your knowledge.

You can

Report something you saw or experienced at a place, such as a theft, harassment, drug dealing or a large group.
Add a short description of what happened and when.
Delete your own SOS video clips at any time (Settings › Delete my SOS videos, or long-press a clip in a chat). Clips are deleted automatically after 5 days; live streams are never recorded.

You must not

Name, describe or photograph a person in a way that identifies them, or post private details: phone numbers, addresses, emails, number plates, social media accounts.
Describe people by race, nationality, immigration status, religion, disability, sexuality, gender identity or any other personal characteristic.
Post anything false, exaggerated or meant to mislead, or report a place to harm a business or a person.
Threaten, harass, bully, stalk or abuse anyone, or use the app to monitor someone without their knowledge or consent.
Share intimate or sexual images, or any sexual content involving someone under 18. We report child sexual abuse material to the National Crime Agency.
Post anything else that is illegal, such as offers to sell drugs or weapons, fraud or scams, terrorist content, or content encouraging suicide or self-harm.
Use the app if you are under 16.

If you break these rules we may remove the content, restrict your account from posting reports or messages, or close your account. We never block SOS: even a restricted account can still alert its Trusted Circle in an emergency.

How we moderate

Fixed report types. Reports use a short list of categories. The description is optional and limited to 200 characters. We automatically reject descriptions that contain phone numbers, email addresses, links or number plates.
No photos. Community reports can’t include photos, so nobody can post pictures of people, children, number plates, violence or intimate content on the map.
Reports fade out. Community reports leave the map automatically within 7 days of the last report at that spot.
Serious reports are hidden at once. If someone reports that a map report identifies a person, is threatening, hateful, intimate, illegal or puts a child at risk, we hide it immediately while a moderator reviews it.
False reports. A map report that two different people flag as false from within 200 m of the place is hidden automatically. A flag from further away still reaches a moderator.
No longer dangerous. You can remove your own report at any time. Someone else’s report leaves the map when two different people confirm, from within 200 m of the place, that it is no longer dangerous. One person alone can’t remove it.
Private by design. There are no public profiles and no way to search for strangers. Messages, locations, SOS alerts and video only go to people who accepted each other into their Trusted Circle. You can remove anyone from your Trusted Circle at any time; they can invite you again later, but only you decide whether to accept. You can also block an invitation so the same person can’t invite you again. They are not told.
Limits. Each account can post a limited number of reports per hour and per day.
People, not algorithms. We don’t use automated tools to judge content, apart from the text checks above. Decisions are made by a moderator, who keeps a record of each decision.

Report a problem

In the app: tap a report on the map and choose “Report this”, or go to Settings › Online safety › Report a problem. The app has no button to report a person or a message. To stop someone contacting you, remove them from your Trusted Circle (they can invite you again, but only you decide whether to accept) or block their invitation. Your report is not shown to the person you report.

Without the app: use this form, for example if a report on the map is about you, your family or your business. You don’t need an account. If you give an email address we will tell you what we did.

By email: ggshop@safety-app.uk with the subject “Online safety report”.

What happens next

You get a reference number straight away.
Urgent reports (a person identified, threats, hate, intimate images, children, illegal content) are reviewed as a priority, normally within 24 hours. The content is hidden while we check it.
Intimate images shared without consent are removed within 48 hours of the report, as the law requires.
Other reports are reviewed within 7 days.
If we can contact you, we tell you what we decided. We may not act on reports that are clearly abusive or repeat the same complaint without new information; we record these decisions too.

Appeals and complaints

If we removed your content or restricted your account and you think we got it wrong, appeal in the app (Settings › Online safety › Appeal a decision, also on the home screen of the free plan) or email us with the subject “Appeal”. A moderator looks at the decision again and replies within 14 days. If the appeal succeeds we restore the content or lift the restriction.

If you think we are not following the Online Safety Act – for example we did not deal with a report properly – email ggshop@safety-app.uk with the subject “Online safety complaint”, or choose “Something else” in the form above. Our online safety lead handles these complaints. You can also tell Ofcom, the UK regulator, although Ofcom does not handle individual complaints.

Young people

You must be 16 or older to use Safety App UK. Under the law, 16 and 17 year olds are still children, so we design the app with them in mind: there is no way to be found by strangers, and your location only goes to people you accepted into your Trusted Circle.

If you are under 18 and something online is worrying you, talk to Childline (0800 1111, free and confidential). If someone is asking you for sexual images or trying to meet you, report it to CEOP. To get a nude image of yourself removed from the internet, use Childline and the IWF’s Report Remove tool.

Getting help

999 – emergency: danger to life, a crime happening now. 112 also works.
101 – police, not an emergency.
0800 555 111 – Crimestoppers, to report a crime anonymously.
61016 – text British Transport Police on trains and at stations.
0300 123 2040 – Report Fraud (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).
116 123 – Samaritans, any time, free.

Law enforcement and the regulator

We report child sexual exploitation and abuse content to the National Crime Agency. Police forces, Ofcom and other authorities can contact us at ggshop@safety-app.uk with the subject “Authority request”. Safety App UK is provided by GG Straps Limited, a company incorporated in Hong Kong.