Terms & Privacy

1. Acceptance of Terms

By using SOS Buddy you acknowledge that your safety depends on your own actions and on contacting emergency services directly; SOS Buddy assists you, but responding to an emergency remains your responsibility.

SOS Buddy is operated by RHOC Holdings Limited (“we”, “us”). By creating an account, installing the app, or otherwise using SOS Buddy you agree to these Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the app.

You must be at least 16 years old to hold an account. If you use SOS Buddy on behalf of a family or crew group, you confirm you have authority to share the pass and the group’s data as described below.

2. What SOS Buddy Is — and Is Not

SOS Buddy is an information, preparation and self-help travel safety tool. It surfaces emergency numbers, embassy details, local laws and customs, translated phrases, risk advisories, neighbourhood safety indicators and nearby help, and it can share your location or check-in status with contacts you choose.

SOS Buddy is not an emergency, monitoring, dispatch, alarm-receiving, medical, security, insurance or rescue service. We do not monitor your account, your location, your check-ins or your alerts, and we do not contact emergency services, embassies, insurers or your contacts on your behalf beyond the automated messages you configure in the app. No one is watching for your alert. In an emergency you must contact local emergency services directly.

3. Emergency Information Disclaimer

Emergency numbers, embassy contact details, roadside providers, phrase translations, laws and customs guides and nearby help results are provided for information only. They are compiled from public and third-party sources, may be re-verified automatically (including with the assistance of automated and AI-based tools), and may be incomplete, out of date, mistranslated or wrong.

Automated verification and nightly updates are a best-effort process and are not a guarantee of accuracy. Always verify critical information — particularly emergency numbers and embassy details — independently before relying on it.

4. Risk Advisories and Safety Scores

Risk levels, threat briefings, real-time alerts and neighbourhood or women’s safety indicators are derived from third-party and government sources such as the UK FCDO and the US Department of State, together with our own summarisation. They are indicative only, may lag real-world events, and are not travel, security, legal or insurance advice.

Official government advice always takes precedence over anything shown in SOS Buddy. Entry requirements, visa rules and health advisories must be confirmed with the relevant authority before you travel.

5. Location Sharing, Follow Me and Check-ins

Live location sharing, Follow Me trips, share links and check-in timers depend on your device’s location permissions, sensors, battery, operating-system power management and a working mobile or Wi-Fi data connection. Delivery of reminders, missed check-in notifications and alerts is not guaranteed and may be delayed or fail entirely.

You are responsible for the accuracy of the contacts you add and for telling them what to do if they receive an alert. Anyone with a share or Follow Me link can view the information it exposes for as long as it is active; you are responsible for who you send links to and for revoking them.

Location coordinates, including what3words references, are approximate and must not be relied on as the sole means of locating a person.

6. Safety Triggers (Shake, Fall Detection and Safe Word)

Shake-to-SOS, fall detection and safe-word voice triggers are convenience features that depend on device sensors, microphone access and browser capabilities. They may fail to detect a genuine event, may trigger falsely, and may not run when the app is closed, backgrounded or the device is locked, out of battery or offline.

Voice triggers process audio on your device where the platform supports it. Do not rely on any trigger as your only method of calling for help, and test them on your own device before you travel.

7. Medical ID and Emergency Profile

Medical summaries, allergies, medications, blood group, insurance details and next-of-kin information are supplied entirely by you. We do not verify them and they do not constitute medical records or medical advice.

Features that surface your Medical ID on a locked screen, in a notification or to a responder are conveniences, not guarantees; responders may not see or act on them. Keep a physical copy of critical medical information.

8. Offline Use and Availability

SOS Buddy caches country packs and embassy details so much of the app works offline, but cached data can be cleared by your browser or operating system and may be older than the online version. Some features — live risk, nearby help, translation, sharing and check-in delivery — require connectivity.

We provide the service on an “as is” and “as available” basis and do not promise uninterrupted or error-free operation.

9. Accounts and Acceptable Use

You are responsible for keeping your credentials confidential and for all activity under your account, and you agree to provide accurate information and keep it up to date.

You must not misuse SOS Buddy: no false emergency alerts or hoax calls to emergency services, no using the app to track or monitor a person without their knowledge and consent, no scraping, reverse engineering, resale or redistribution of our data, no attempts to bypass pass entitlements, and no unlawful use.

We may suspend or terminate an account that breaches these terms or that puts other users or emergency services at risk.

10. Passes, Payments and Refunds

Your home country is available on a free pass. Country, Trip and Family passes are paid and unlock the full SOS Buddy feature set, differing only in how many countries or people they cover. A Family pass may be shared with up to the stated number of group members.

Purchases and subscriptions made through the Apple App Store or Google Play are processed by those stores under their own terms; billing, renewal, cancellation and refunds are handled by the relevant store, and you should manage or cancel a subscription in your store account. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled.

Where a purchase is made directly from us, statutory consumer cancellation rights apply; because passes give immediate access to digital content, you acknowledge that the right to withdraw may be lost once access begins. Prices may change with notice for future billing periods.

11. Family and Crew Groups

Group admins can invite and remove members, share an eligible pass and set check-in timers. Joining a group means your check-in status, alerts and shared location may be visible to the group admin and other members as described in the app.

Group admins must have each member’s consent before adding them or enabling monitoring features, and must not use group features to track anyone covertly. Leaving a group or losing pass sharing ends premium access for that member.

12. Notifications and Messaging

The app may send push notifications, and where enabled may send SMS or email to your contacts. Delivery depends on carriers, platform services and your device settings and cannot be guaranteed. Standard carrier charges may apply to recipients.

13. Third-Party Services and Content

SOS Buddy relies on third-party providers for maps, geocoding, what3words references, place and facility data, government advisories, translation and speech services, payments and infrastructure. We do not control those services and are not responsible for their content, accuracy or availability. Links to external sites are provided for convenience only.

14. Your Data

Our handling of personal data, including emergency profile and location data, is described in the Privacy Policy section below. You can export or delete your account and associated data from the app’s settings; deletion is permanent and will end active passes, group memberships and share links.

Data is stored on your device and synced to your account when online. We recommend keeping offline copies of critical information; we do not guarantee uninterrupted access to synced data.

15. Intellectual Property

SOS Buddy, its name, branding, interface, compiled datasets and content are owned by us or our licensors and are protected by intellectual property laws. You receive a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the app for your own travel safety purposes. Content you enter remains yours; you grant us the licence needed to store, sync and display it to deliver the service.

16. Limitation of Liability

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

Subject to that, and to the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all implied warranties and are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, nor for loss of profit, data, or opportunity, nor for any loss arising from: inaccurate, outdated or unavailable emergency, embassy, risk, translation or safety information; failed, delayed or undelivered alerts, check-in reminders or notifications; failure of a safety trigger to activate; loss of connectivity, GPS accuracy, battery or device function; the acts or omissions of emergency services, embassies, insurers, responders, your contacts or any third-party provider; or your reliance on the app instead of contacting emergency services directly.

Where liability cannot be excluded, our total aggregate liability is limited to the greater of the amount you paid us for passes in the twelve months before the claim, or GBP 50.

17. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify us against claims, losses and costs arising from your misuse of the app, false or hoax alerts, use of tracking or group features without consent, or breach of these terms.

18. Force Majeure

We are not liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including network, carrier, platform or hosting outages, government action, conflict, natural disaster or public health emergency.

19. Changes to the Service and Terms

We may add, change or withdraw features, countries or data sources, and we may update these Terms & Conditions. Where changes are material we will give reasonable notice in the app. Continued use after changes take effect constitutes acceptance.

20. Termination

You may stop using SOS Buddy and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or end your access for breach of these terms, for legal or security reasons, or if we discontinue the service; where you have paid for an unused period we will handle it in line with your statutory rights and, for store purchases, the relevant store’s policies.

21. Governing Law and Severability

These Terms & Conditions are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales; if you are a consumer resident elsewhere, you keep any mandatory rights and forums available under your local law. If any provision is found unenforceable, the remainder continues in force.

22. Contact

For questions about these Terms & Conditions, or to request account deletion or data export, contact RHOC Holdings Limited through the support details in the app.

1. Who We Are

RHOC Holdings Limited (registered in England and Wales, company number 17188672) is the data controller for personal data processed through SOS Buddy. This policy explains what we collect, who we share it with, where it goes and what rights you have under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

2. Information We Collect

Account data: your name, email address and authentication data. Profile data: nationality, home country, emergency contacts and next-of-kin details. Health data: blood group, allergies, medical conditions and medications, if you choose to enter them. Location data: approximate or precise coordinates, country, and what3words references when you use detection, nearby help, live location sharing, Follow Me trips or check-ins. Usage data: pass and group membership, check-in and alert records, and text you type into the translation field.

Everything beyond your account credentials is optional. You can use the app without entering health data, contacts or enabling location.

3. How We Use Your Information and Our Legal Bases

Contract: creating and running your account, syncing your profile across devices, delivering passes, groups, check-ins, share links and alerts. Legitimate interests: keeping the service secure, preventing misuse and fixing faults. Legal obligation: responding to lawful requests and keeping records we are required to keep.

Explicit consent (UK GDPR Article 9(2)(a)): health data in your Medical ID. We only store and display it because you have specifically consented when entering it, and you can withdraw that consent at any time by clearing those fields or deleting your account. Consent (Article 6(1)(a)): device location access and push notifications, which you can withdraw in your device settings at any time.

We do not use your data for advertising, profiling or automated decision-making, and we never sell it.

4. Health Data (Special Category Data)

Blood group, allergies, conditions and medications are special category data. We ask for a separate, explicit opt-in before storing them, we use them only to display your Medical ID to you and to whoever you show or share it with, and we never share them with third parties for any other purpose.

You can delete your health data at any time from your profile without affecting the rest of your account. Withdrawing consent stops future processing and removes the stored values from your synced profile.

5. Who We Share Data With (Recipients)

Supabase (hosted infrastructure used by our platform provider Lovable): authentication, database and storage for your account, profile, health data, contacts, groups, trips, check-ins and share links.

Lovable (our platform and gateway provider): hosting of the application and routing of the gateway requests described below.

Google Maps Platform / Places (via the Lovable connector gateway): receives your approximate coordinates each time you use nearby help lookups (hospital, pharmacy, police, airport/helipad) so results can be returned. Requests are not linked to your account or name.

Google (Gemini models, via the Lovable AI gateway): receives the phrase text you type or dictate into the translation field, plus the source and target language, in order to return a translation. Do not enter health or other sensitive details into the translation field.

what3words: receives coordinates to return a three-word reference when you share a location.

Government and public advisory sources (UK FCDO, US Department of State and similar): we read from these; no personal data is sent to them.

Recipients you choose: contacts you send a location share, Follow Me link or check-in alert to, and members and admins of any family or crew group you join.

Apple and Google: if you buy a pass through the App Store or Google Play, those stores process your payment under their own privacy policies. We do not receive your card details.

We may also disclose data to professional advisers, or to authorities where legally required.

6. International Transfers

Our infrastructure and gateway providers, and Google's mapping and AI services, operate globally, so your data may be processed outside the UK and EEA, including in the United States.

Where that happens we rely on the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the EU Standard Contractual Clauses with the UK Addendum, together with the UK/EU adequacy regulations where they apply to the receiving country, and on additional safeguards such as encryption in transit and data minimisation. You can request details of the safeguards used for a specific transfer by contacting us.

7. Data Storage & Security

Your data is stored locally on your device and synced to our hosted database when you are signed in. Access is restricted by row-level security so your records are only readable by you and, where you have opted in, by your group. We use encryption in transit and at rest and industry-standard access controls. No method of electronic storage is completely secure and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

8. How Long We Keep Data (Retention)

Account, profile and health data: kept while your account is active, and deleted within 30 days of you deleting your account or clearing the fields. Backups are overwritten within 90 days.

Location share links and Follow Me trips: location points are kept only for the life of the share or trip and deleted within 30 days of it ending or being revoked. Check-in and alert records: 12 months, so groups can see recent history. Nearby help and translation requests: processed in real time and not stored by us beyond transient logs held for up to 30 days.

Technical and security logs: up to 90 days. Purchase and tax records: retained for as long as required by law, typically six years. Anything we are legally required to keep is retained for the required period even after account deletion.

9. Location Data

SOS Buddy requests device location to detect your country and provide relevant emergency information. Detection is processed on your device where possible; nearby help lookups and what3words references require sending coordinates to the providers named above. Shared locations are transmitted only to the recipients or groups you explicitly choose, and you can revoke a share at any time.

10. Your Rights

You have the right to be informed, and to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to our processing of your personal data, to data portability, and to withdraw consent for health data, location or notifications at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing already carried out.

You can export or delete your account and all associated data from the app's settings. To exercise any other right, contact us through the support details in the app; we will respond within one month.

11. Complaints and the ICO

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, please contact us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office: ICO, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, telephone 0303 123 1113, ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

If you live outside the UK you may instead complain to your local data protection authority.

12. Cookies & Analytics

We do not use tracking cookies, advertising cookies or third-party analytics. Local and session storage are used solely for app functionality, such as your preferences, terms acceptance and offline data.

13. Children’s Privacy

SOS Buddy is not intended for anyone under 16. You are asked to confirm you are 16 or over when you create an account. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children; if you believe we have, contact us and we will delete it.

14. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Where changes are material we will give notice in the app and, where required, ask you to accept the updated version.

15. Contact Us

For any privacy question, data request or complaint, contact RHOC Holdings Limited through the support details in the app.