Women Safety: Flashlight SOS
Women safety app and flashlight for Android
Shake your phone. Get help.
A women safety app and a bright torch in one. Shake your phone three times: Kelvin flashes SOS, sounds a loud siren and opens a help message with your location for up to three people you trust. You press Send.
What Kelvin does
A women safety app and a bright torch in one. Shake your phone three times: Kelvin flashes SOS, sounds a loud siren and opens a help message with your location for up to three people you trust. You press Send.
Shake for SOS
Three hard shakes while Kelvin is open start an SOS, with three seconds to cancel an accident. Or tap the red SOS button, or SOS on the home screen widget.
Light and a loud siren
The torch flashes SOS, the screen pulses red so you can be seen even from a phone with no LED, and a siren plays at alarm volume even on silent. Switch the siren off if you need to stay quiet.
Your location to people you trust
Your SMS app opens with a help message to up to three contacts, with a Google Maps link and its accuracy. One tap to WhatsApp or call each of them, or your country's emergency number.
A bright torch, too
The LED through Android's torch API, with no camera permission. Brightness levels where the phone supports them, strobe from 1 to 9 flashes a second, Morse, and a screen light in seven colours.
A closer look
Nothing is sent without you
Kelvin never sends a message by itself. It opens your own SMS app or WhatsApp with the message written, and you press Send.
- The torch needs no permissions at all, and never the camera
- Location is asked for only if you switch on Send my location, and read only during an SOS
- No SMS, call, contacts, camera, microphone or storage permission
- Emergency contacts stay on your phone, picked from your contact list one at a time
- No account, no sign-up, and we run no servers
- Light and SOS work offline: an SOS text needs mobile signal, not data
- One banner ad in the free version; Pro stops the ad code from ever starting
When people reach for Kelvin
Women going home late
A late cab or auto ride, a dark street, the walk from the bus stop to a hostel or PG. Shake the phone and the people you chose get a message with your location.
Anyone who goes out alone
Night shifts, college, treks. Set up three contacts once, and send them a test so they know what an SOS from you looks like.
A family that wants a plan
Add each other as contacts. Kelvin offers to tell a contact they were added, with a link to the app, so the whole family can set it up.
Anyone in a power cut
The phone has no data and no Wi-Fi, and you need light now. Every light works offline.
Nothing is sent without you
Kelvin never sends a message by itself. It opens your own SMS app or WhatsApp with the message written, and you press Send.
- The torch needs no permissions at all, and never the camera
- Location is asked for only if you switch on Send my location, and read only during an SOS
- No SMS, call, contacts, camera, microphone or storage permission
- Emergency contacts stay on your phone, picked from your contact list one at a time
How this differs from many safety and torch apps
| Most apps | Kelvin |
|---|---|
| Asks for SMS and call permissions so it can send alerts by itself | Opens your own SMS app with the message ready, and you press Send |
| Reads your location in the background | Reads it only during an SOS, and only if you switched it on |
| Needs an account and uploads your contacts | No account, and your contacts stay on your phone |
| Asks for camera permission to reach the LED | Uses Android's torch API, which needs no permission |
| Strobes as fast as it can | Stops at 9 flashes a second, and warns about photosensitive epilepsy |
Useful within a minute
Step 1: Add your people
Open Settings, then Safety SOS, and pick up to three emergency contacts from your phone's contact list. Send a test message so they know what an SOS from you looks like.
Step 2: Choose what happens
Shake to SOS, the siren and Send my location each have a switch. Location is asked for only when you turn it on.
Step 3: In trouble, shake
Three hard shakes while Kelvin is open, or tap SOS. The light flashes, the siren sounds and your SMS app opens with the message. Press Send.
And it also does
- SOS from the home screen widget
- One tap to your country's emergency number: 112, 911, 999 and more
- The screen pulses red during an SOS, for phones with no LED
- Brightness levels on Android 13 and later, where the flash supports them
- Strobe from 1 to 9 flashes a second, and Morse from typed text
- Quick Settings tile, and auto-off after 1, 5, 15 or 30 minutes
- Dark, AMOLED black and red Night vision themes
Free, with Pro
Everything you need is free. Pro is there if you want more.
Free
Forever
- Safety SOS: shake, siren, location and three contacts
- LED torch with brightness levels where supported
- Strobe, SOS and Morse
- Screen light in seven colours
- Quick Settings tile and widget
- One banner ad on the light screen
Pro
No adsOne-time purchase. See the price for your country in the app
- No ads
- The ad code never starts
- Bought once, kept for good
- Everything in Free, Safety SOS included
Questions
Can't find the answer you're looking for?
How does the SOS work?
Shake the phone three hard times while Kelvin is open, or tap the red SOS button, or SOS on the home screen widget. The torch flashes SOS, the screen pulses red, a siren sounds, and your SMS app opens with a help message to up to three contacts, with your location if you switched that on. A shake gives you three seconds to cancel first.
Does Kelvin send the message by itself?
No. It has no SMS permission. It opens your own SMS app, or WhatsApp if you tap it, with the message written and addressed, and you press Send. An SMS needs mobile signal, not data.
Does Kelvin track my location?
No. Location is asked for only if you switch on Send my location. It is read only while an SOS is active, goes only into the message you send, and is never stored by the app or sent to us. SOS still works without it, just with no map link.
Does shake to SOS work with the app closed?
Not yet. Shake works while Kelvin is open. From the home screen, tap SOS on the widget.
Does the siren play on silent?
Yes. It plays at alarm volume, even with the phone on silent. Switch it off in Safety SOS setup if you may need to stay quiet.
Is the SOS free?
Yes. Safety SOS and every light are free. The free version shows one banner ad at the top of the light screen. Pro, a one-time purchase, stops Google's ad code from starting at all.
Why do other torch apps want camera permission?
Old Android torch apps had to open the camera to reach the LED, and that needs camera permission. Since Android 6, CameraManager.setTorchMode turns the LED on directly with no permission at all. Kelvin uses that route, so it never opens the camera.
Is it on iPhone?
Not yet. Kelvin and its Safety SOS are on Google Play for Android.
Kelvin is not an emergency service and does not contact the police, an ambulance or any monitoring centre. An SOS message is sent only if you send it, and arrives only if you have signal. Location may be missing or inaccurate, especially indoors. In an emergency, call your local emergency number first. Strobe and SOS flash rapidly and can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy.
Guides worth a look
- Flashlight
How to change your phone torch brightness on Android
Android 13 added torch brightness levels, but only some phones support them. How to tell if yours does, how to dim the flash, and what to use if it cannot.
Read - Flashlight
Why does a flashlight app want camera permission? It does not need it
Android has had a direct torch API since version 6 that needs no camera permission. Why some torch apps still ask, and how to check one before you install it.
Read - Flashlight
How to send SOS with your phone flashlight, and how long each flash should be
SOS in light is three short flashes, three long, three short. The right timing, how to send it by hand or with an app, and what a flashing phone cannot do.
Read
