There is no alarm to raise from a phone. A phone beacon shares where you are; it cannot call for help. That difference is the whole reason to read this page before you rely on one.

🆓 Free for everyone - Beacon Safety is free on every plan.

⌚ A watch is better - If you ride with a watch, use the watch. A phone in a pouch cannot be reached mid-session, so you cannot raise an alarm with it.

While you record, your emergency contacts can see that you are out and where you are. They are notified when your session starts, and they can check on you whenever they want.

Nothing happens automatically. Surfr will not check on you and will not alert anyone if something goes wrong. Your contacts have to look. On a watch you can raise an alarm yourself; from a phone you cannot.

So tell the people who ride with you, in as many words: open my beacon and look. That is what turns it into safety.

My contacts could not see me. The beacon only runs while a session is recording. If the recording stopped, so did the beacon.

How do I know my beacon is even on? The beacon only runs when it is switched on and you have completed the training for your phone. Check both in Profile → Beacon Safety.

My position was wrong, or stuck at the beach. The phone shares its own position, so if it was in a bag on the beach, that is what your contacts saw. It has to be on your body.

Everything stopped partway through the session. Almost always the battery, or the phone losing signal. One phone is doing the recording and the sharing, so it needs charge and a connection for both.

I cannot find someone when I try to add them. The list only shows Surfr friends, and the follow has to go both ways. Follow each other and they appear.

Nobody came when I got into trouble. This is the hard one, and it is why this page exists. A phone beacon cannot raise an alarm and Surfr will not raise one for you. If you want that, ride with a watch.

For what Beacon Safety is, who sees your session, and what it does not do, read Beacon Safety.