Question 1

What is ProTechMe?

Accepted Answer

ProTechMe is the international brand of Linucare (Aalborg, Denmark). It is a free-to-download alarm app paired with two safety button options — a Bluetooth (BLE) button that pairs with your phone, and a standalone GPS button with its own SIM that is sold to workplaces. When you press the alarm, your network — family, friends, colleagues — receives a loud notification with your live location, even if their phones are on silent. If nobody in your network can help, the alarm transfers to the five nearest ProTechMe users in the community.

Question 2

What is a "group" in the app?

Accepted Answer

A group is a circle of people you want to send alarms to (and receive alarms from). Family, friends, neighbours, classmates — you decide. When you’re in a group together, you can send and receive alarms with each other. Unlimited groups are included for free for private users.

Question 3

How does group prioritisation work?

Accepted Answer

You can prioritise which group is alerted first. Each group has 30 seconds to respond before the alarm escalates to the next prioritised group, and finally to the community fallback.

Question 4

Does the alarm work on silent / do-not-disturb?

Accepted Answer

Yes. ProTechMe uses critical notifications, which break through silent and do-not-disturb on both iOS and Android.

Question 5

Which emergency number does ProTechMe escalate to?

Accepted Answer

In India and the EU, the unified emergency number is 112. When an alarm has run through your contacts and the community without a response, ProTechMe surfaces a one-tap call to that number — you or a responder places it; the app does not dial on its own. Legacy Indian numbers like 100 (police) and 102 (ambulance) still work, but 112 is the recommended single point of contact.

Question 6

Is there a free plan?

Accepted Answer

The ProTechMe app is free for private users — alarm, trusted contacts, community fallback, two-way voice and the Apple Watch shortcut. The safety button is a one-time hardware purchase. For business and NGO deployments, we tailor pricing to the team — talk to our team.

Question 7

What if I have no signal or no internet?

Accepted Answer

An alarm has to travel over a mobile or internet connection, so in a genuine dead zone it cannot leave your phone. Nothing changes that — not us, not any other app, and we would rather say so than let you find out at the wrong moment. What we can tell you is that the GPS button carries its own 4G SIM, so it does not depend on your phone having signal, battery, or even being with you; where your phone has no coverage but a network is reachable, the button may still get through. If you regularly move through places with no coverage at all, tell someone your route before you set off — that is still the oldest and best safety net there is.

Question 8

What if nobody answers my alarm?

Accepted Answer

That is exactly what the escalation is for. Each of your groups gets 30 seconds to respond before the alarm moves on to the next one, then to the five nearest ProTechMe users in the community, and finally surfaces a one-tap call to your local emergency number. Be aware of two limits, though. First, the community tier is only as strong as the number of ProTechMe users near you at that moment — it is denser in cities where the app has been around longer, and thinner in new areas. Second, ProTechMe is not a manned monitoring centre: nobody at our company is watching a screen on your behalf, and we do not dispatch ambulances or police ourselves. Where minutes matter and you can call, call your local emergency number — 112 across the EU and India.

Question 9

Will it drain my battery?

Accepted Answer

The usual battery cost of a safety app comes from tracking you all day. ProTechMe does not do that — your location is only streamed while an alarm is active, and stays dormant the rest of the time. It does need permission to run in the background so the alarm still works on a day you have not opened the app, and that background presence is not free. We do not publish a percentage figure, because it would depend on your phone, your OS version, and how much of the day you spend on the move. The BLE button is separate: it runs on its own CR2032 cell for up to three years and does not meaningfully draw on your phone.

Question 10

What happens if I set off an alarm by accident?

Accepted Answer

It happens, and it is not a problem. Because escalation is sequential, an accidental press reaches the people you chose first — not emergency services. Stop the alarm in the app as soon as you notice, then tell the group it was a false alarm using the built-in chat. If you are ever unsure whether an alarm actually went out, turn on the setting that plays a sound on your own phone when you send one, so you always know. Nobody is penalised for a false alarm — an app people are afraid to press is far worse than one that occasionally goes off in a pocket.

Question 11

Who are the community helpers?

Accepted Answer

They are other people using the ProTechMe app who happen to be near you when you press. Nothing more, and we are careful not to describe them as more: they are not our employees, not security guards, and not vetted or trained responders. That is precisely why they are the second tier — your own chosen contacts are alerted first, and a one-tap call to your local emergency number is the final step. Helpers only see your location while your alarm is active — nothing before it, nothing after it, and nothing about you when you are not in an alarm.

Question 12

Can I report or block a community helper?

Accepted Answer

If someone behaves inappropriately during or after an alarm, email contact@protechme.com with the date and roughly the time of the alarm, and we will look into it. We can remove an account from the network. What we will not claim is a polished in-app report-and-block flow for community helpers — we would rather tell you to email us and have it handled by a person than point you at a button that does less than you expect. Inside your own groups you are always in control: you choose who is in them and you can leave a group at any time.

Question 13

Is ProTechMe a monitoring centre or an alarm service?

Accepted Answer

No. There is no control room and no operator. ProTechMe connects you to people — the contacts you picked, then nearby app users, then the public emergency number for your country. We build and run the system that carries the alarm; we do not answer it ourselves and we cannot send an ambulance or the police on your behalf.

Question 14

Can I choose who in my group receives the alarm first?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Create multiple groups and prioritise them. The first prioritised group has 30 seconds to respond before the alarm goes to the next.

Question 15

How do we communicate during an alarm?

Accepted Answer

The app includes a built-in chat function and supports two-way voice (works like a normal phone call). You can also send a preset message automatically with the alarm — for example, "My medication is in the cabinet above the sink."

Question 16

What can I customise about my alarm?

Accepted Answer

You can choose between four alarm sounds, enable a sound on your own phone when you send an alarm (so you know it went out), and set a preset message that’s sent automatically with the alarm.

Question 17

Which safety button is right for me — BLE or GPS?

Accepted Answer

Choose the BLE button if you always carry your smartphone — it’s small, runs up to 3 years on a CR2032 cell, and pairs over Bluetooth at a range of up to 50 m to your phone. The GPS button is a workplace device rather than a personal one: standalone, with its own SIM, GPS and two-way voice, and no phone required. It is in production for staff safety at Rudersdal Kommune, with a pilot at Grundfos India.

Question 18

How do I pair the BLE safety button?

Accepted Answer

Open the ProTechMe app, go to the safety button section, and follow the on-screen pairing flow. The button connects over Bluetooth and stays paired with your phone.

Question 19

How long does the BLE button battery last?

Accepted Answer

Up to 3 years on the standard CR2032 cell, depending on usage. The cell is replaceable, and the app warns you when the battery is running low.

Question 20

Is the BLE button water resistant?

Accepted Answer

The BLE button is water-repellent: rain, splashes and a wet pocket are fine, indoors or out. It is not rated for immersion, so do not swim or dive with it. The GPS button is the IP67-rated one.

Question 21

How is the GPS button different?

Accepted Answer

The GPS button has its own 4G SIM, GPS, and two-way voice, and is rated IP67. It works on its own without a paired phone — but it is a workplace device, sold to organisations per deployment rather than to individuals. For personal use, the BLE button is the one.

How can we help?

Getting started with the app

Initial screen

Your details

Email and password

Permissions

Android: extra steps

Battery optimisation

Setting up your groups

Create a group

Join a group

Leave a group

Prioritise groups

Search the help centre

ProTechMe — general

The hard questions

Community helpers

App features

The safety button

Still need help?