Privacy policy

The short version

• We only collect your location while a check-in is running (and once during setup, kept only as the town you signed up in), while you choose to share your location with friends (including friends you let see you “Always” in their Panic app), or while you have place alerts turned on. You can stop any of these at any time. The one exception is a missing-person investigation (see “Missing persons” below).
• Your plan, the people you’re with, your updates, location, photos, video and voice notes are sealed. Your friends see them only if an alarm goes off.
• When you check in safe, those sealed details are deleted by default (unless you choose to keep them that time). Only a bare record stays in your History: when it was, its name and your stops.
• We never sell your data, and we don’t use it for advertising.
• Our website and the app use Google Analytics so we can see how people find Panic and which features they use. It never sees your check-ins, alarms, location, friends or anything you type, and it’s switched off during check-ins and alarms (see “Website statistics” below).
• You can download your data or delete your account at any time in Settings → Your data.

What we collect

Your account

Email address, password (stored only as a one-way scrambled hash), name, phone number, your PIN and second PIN (also only as hashes), your settings and time zone.

Your friends (safety contacts)

The names, phone numbers and email addresses you enter for the people Panic should alert. You must have their permission to add them (see “Text messages” below).

Check-ins

What you plan (labels, stops and times), details about who you’re meeting, updates you write, voice notes, photos and video you record, your phone’s location while a check-in is running or while you share your location or use place alerts, the places you save (such as Home) and your location history if you keep it on (only your newest 50 spots; older ones are deleted as new ones come in, and you can turn it off or delete it), battery level, and the times things happen. With your account we keep the town, state and ZIP code where you last started a check-in (from its “Left from” address, never the street), so our support team can find your account when you contact us.

If you allow location during setup, we also keep the town, state and ZIP code you signed up in (never the street or exact spot), to see where Panic is spreading; if you don’t, we use the town of your first check-in instead.

Getting a ride

The driver, car and plate details you enter. If you connect your Uber account, Panic keeps a sign-in token from Uber (encrypted) and, only when you tap “Fill from my Uber trip”, reads the trip you’re on (driver’s name and rating, car, plate, pickup and destination, arrival time) to fill in that form. It doesn’t read your past trips or anything else, and nothing from Uber is kept except what lands in your check-in. You can disconnect Uber on that screen at any time.

Payments

Payments are handled by Stripe. We never see or store your full card number. We keep the subscription status, renewal dates and amounts paid.

Technical information

The network address your requests come from (used briefly to stop abuse such as password guessing), when you last used the app, and a sign-in cookie. We don’t use advertising trackers.

Website statistics (Google Analytics)

Our website (the home page, pricing, sign-up and these legal pages) and the app use Google Analytics, a service from Google. It counts visits and shows us how people found Panic (for example a social post, an email link or an ad).

Inside the app it records which screen is open (for example “settings” or “friends”), which features are used (for example “added a friend” or “turned on place alerts”), your plan, whether you’re on the free trial, and your kind of account (for example a member or a department). That’s all. It never gets page titles, your name, email or phone, your friends, check-in or alarm details, locations, messages or anything you type. Addresses are cleaned first, so it never sees codes or private links.

It’s switched off while a check-in or alarm is running. It’s never on alarm pages, location sharing, the private links sent to friends, or police, campus and venue security screens.

It uses cookies and sees your network address, browser and device type. We see only totals and rough location (city or region), never your exact spot. Google signals and ad personalization are off: we don’t use it for advertising or ad targeting. You can block it with Google’s opt-out browser add-on or your browser’s privacy settings, and Panic works the same either way.

How it’s used and who sees it

• Your friends, only when an alarm goes off (a missed check-in, the panic button, letting go of the hold button, the phone going silent, or the second PIN). They get a text, email or automated call with a private link to your plan, location and what you recorded. If you send an update with “send now”, the friends you pick receive it straight away. If you share your location, the friends you pick see your latest location (never your history) until you stop; if you turn on place alerts, the friends you pick get a message (by email, or by text if you turn on everyday texts) when you arrive at or leave that place, while Panic is open on your phone. If you turn on the low-battery heads-up, your friends get one message when your phone is about to die during a check-in. Friends’ locations: for each friend you choose whether they can see you on the map in their own Panic app “Always” or “Only when I push” (during an alarm, or while you share your location with them). They see only your latest location, never your history, and only after they open an invite sent to their own phone or email. With “Always”, your phone sends your location about once an hour while Panic is open, and when a connected friend opens their map; you or they can disconnect at any time.
• Police, campus or venue security, only if you turn on “Send my alarms to police and security near me” (off by default), or if you join an organization that shares members’ alarms (you’re told when you join). Only alarms inside their area are shared, never safe check-ins. Sealed details are shared with them only if you also turn that on.
• Places you choose to post to: if you connect a Discord channel, your X account or your Mastodon account, your alarms (and all-clears) are posted there as you set up in Settings. With Discord you can also choose to post the alarm’s photos, voice notes and videos. Everyone who can see that channel or your posts can see them, and they stay there under that service’s own rules even after Panic deletes its copy.
• Companies that run parts of Panic for us, only to do that job: DigitalOcean (servers and database, in the United States), Cloudflare (storing recordings, photos and encrypted backups), Twilio (texts and calls) and Telnyx (a backup that sends texts if Twilio is down), Resend (email), Stripe (payments), Google (Google Analytics, on our website and in the app, never during check-ins or alarms; see “Website statistics” above), OpenStreetMap-based map tile servers (map pictures; they see the area being viewed) and an address service (turning a spot into a street address, and finding an address you type). When you use an AI feature, what it needs goes to the AI provider that runs it, under that provider’s business (API) terms: Anthropic for “plan from one sentence”, the short alarm summary, the practice fake call, translations for friends who speak another language, and “Scan the plate” (the photo you take); OpenAI for turning voice notes into text if you have that add-on. They aren’t allowed to use your data for anything else.
• Us, to run and support the app. Our support tools show times, statuses and counts, not what you wrote or recorded. Sealed details can be opened by staff only for a check-in that alarmed (or during an investigation hold), with a written reason, and every opening is recorded permanently.
• The law: we share information when we must by law (for example a valid court order), or when we believe in good faith it’s needed to prevent death or serious harm, such as helping find a missing person.

Missing persons

If police or another public safety agency tells us a person who uses Panic is missing, we may place that account on an investigation hold and share the person’s location with that agency for a limited time (at most 30 days at a time) that we set. While it runs, the Panic app on their phone sends its location even if they weren’t sharing it, about every 30 seconds while Panic is open. The agency sees it on its Panic dashboard. It ends on the date we set, when we end it, or when the hold ends. Every start, end and view is recorded. We may also ask the person’s phone to update its location more often while there is an investigation hold or a legal request.

We don’t sell or rent personal information, and we don’t “share” it for cross-context advertising.

Organizations

If your employer, school or another organization pays for your plan, it does not get access to your check-ins, location, friends or recordings through Panic. We may tell it how many of its seats are in use. Separately, if you choose to share your alarms with a security team (see above), that team sees the alarms you share.

Sensitive information

Your precise location, recordings and the details of your plans are sensitive. We use them only to run Panic as described here (to alert the people you choose, to show you your own history, to support you, to keep the service safe, and when the law requires), never to profile you or for advertising. We don’t use facial or voice recognition to identify anyone. Recordings of other people are handled the same way (see “Recordings of other people”).

How long we keep it

• Check-in details are deleted when you check in safe, unless you choose to keep them that time.
• Check-in history is deleted after 90 days. Check-ins where an alarm went off are kept for 365 days, so you and your friends can refer back to them.
• When you delete your account, everything in it is deleted, including files. We keep a small record of your email, name and sign-up and trial dates so the free trial can’t be claimed again; your phone number is removed from it.
• Investigation hold: if we receive a legal request or there is a missing-person investigation, we may keep an account’s records (including things the person deleted) until it ends. This is the only time deleting is paused.
• Backups are kept for up to 14 days, then overwritten.

Recordings of other people

Sound and video you record can include other people’s voices and faces. They are sealed like everything else: deleted when you check in safe (by default), shown to your friends only if an alarm goes off. Some states require everyone in a conversation to agree before it is recorded; you are responsible for following the law where you are (see Terms). Someone who was recorded can write to [email protected].

Text messages

Panic sends text messages and automated calls to the friends you add, only to warn them about you: a heads-up that they were added, alarms, updates you choose to send, and an all-clear. By adding a friend you confirm they agreed to receive these messages. Message frequency varies (most people receive none). Message and data rates may apply.

Anyone can reply STOP to stop texts from Panic, or HELP for help. We don’t share phone numbers or text-message consent with anyone for marketing.

Your choices and rights

• See and download your data: Settings → Your data → Download my data.
• Correct it: change your profile, friends and settings in the app.
• Delete it: delete single check-ins in History, or your whole account in Settings → Your data.
• Location, camera and microphone are only used when you allow them on your phone. Camera and microphone only during a check-in; location during a check-in, while you share it, while place alerts are on, and once during setup (kept only as the town).
• Reminder emails have a one-click unsubscribe link. Account emails (password resets, receipts, and the warning when your everyday texts or emails are nearly used up) can’t be turned off while you have an account. Alarm messages to your friends can’t be turned off by us, because that’s what the app is for.

Depending on where you live (for example California, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Texas, Oregon and other US states, or the EU/UK), you may have further rights, such as to ask what we hold about you or to object to how it’s used. Email us and we’ll answer within 30 days. We won’t treat you differently for using your rights.

Security

Everything travels over HTTPS, and backups are encrypted. Panic’s servers are in the United States. Passwords, PINs and sign-in tokens are stored only as hashes. Payment and partner keys are stored encrypted. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects you, we’ll tell you as the law requires.

Children

Panic is for people 13 and older. If you’re under 18, use it with a parent or guardian’s permission. We don’t knowingly collect data from children under 13; if you believe a child has an account, email us and we’ll delete it.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we’ll tell you in the app or by email before it takes effect.

Contact

Panic · [company address not set] · [email protected]