Safe walk - How to use Safe walk – Omnilert

Omnilert Safe Walk allows your Omnilert Mobile App to help track your location and status while moving about campus, optionally, off-campus.

This can help provide an added layer of safety and assurance that someone knows that you're in transit and that you are expected to arrive at your destination within a specified timeframe. (If you do not indicate safe arrival within your timeframe, an alarm is sent.)

Starting a new Safe walk

To initiate a Safe walk, tap the Start a Safe walk in the Omnilert Mobile App on your mobile phone. Please note that using Safe walk will require access to the location services of your mobile device.

Your name, device's location, and status will be sent to your organization as well as any designated contacts during your Safe walks.

Setting up your Safe walk will include the following steps:

Are you on campus? You will be asked if you're on or off the local campus.
Entering/updating contacts to notify. You will have the option to enter up to three (3) phone numbers to be sent SMS (texts) about your Safe walk.
Setting a Safe walk check-in timer. Finally, set the timer for your walk. This is the amount of time that you estimate your walk should take. If the timer expires before you end your Safe walk, an alarm will be triggered and sent to your organization and/or contacts.

Are you on campus? (Optional)

Your organization may or may not permit "off-campus" Safe walks.

"Off-campus" walks are not on the local premises and your organization may not be monitoring such walks; you must input contacts to be notified of off-campus walks.

The Omnilert Mobile app will ask you a simple question; "Are you on campus?"

"Yes" = You are "On-Campus": An "on-campus" Safe walk is a walk on the premises of your organization. This type of walk will notify your organization of the walk timer and location info. You may also choose to enter up to three (3) phone numbers for others you'd like to be notified about this Safe walk.
"No" = You are "Off-Campus": An off-campus walk will require you to input at least one contact (mobile number) to be notified of your Safe walk timer and location. Your contact(s) will be sent text messages with information about your Safe walk progress. (You can opt to input up to three mobile numbers.)

Note: If your organization does not allow off-campus Safe walks, your app will not display this question at all.

Setting the Check-in Timer

Set a "check-in timer" to let your organization and/or contacts know if your walk exceeds the expected time of arrival.

Simply tap the Set Safe walk check-in timer button and choose an appropriate amount of time for your walk to be completed. Omnilert will present a list of common time intervals or you can set your own custom interval.

You can select your timer duration from a list of common timers or choose "Other" to set a custom timer. Be sure to give yourself enough time to reach your destination. If your timer ends before you end your Safe walk, an alarm will be sent out.

Add contacts to notify

You may opt to enter up to three (3) mobile numbers to be notified via text message about your Safe walk. Your contacts will be sent a text with your name and the expected duration of the walk. (They will not be sent your phone number or location.)

Tap the Add contacts to notify button to add or remove phone numbers from your notification list.

On-campus walks (if you selected "Yes") do not require you to enter any contacts to notify. The app will notify your organization.

If you selected "No" (you are off-campus), you will be required to enter at least one mobile number. These numbers will be sent a text message to notify them about your Safe walk.

Begin Safe walk

Once your timer is set, you can tap Begin Safe walk to start the timer and send out notifications that you've begun a Safe walk.

Your organization/contacts will receive a notice that the walk has started with your initial location included.

During your Safe walk

After tapping Begin Safe walk, you should begin the journey to your destination knowing that others are aware that your walk is in progress.

There are two options available once your timer has started:

End - Tap "End" to end the Safe walk. This indicates that the journey has concluded and you are safely at your destination.
Alarm - Tap "Alarm" if you are in danger at any point in your journey. This will send immediate notice of your alarm and current location.

Please note: You can close/minimize the Omnilert app and your timer will still be running. You will be notified if your timer expires and you have not ended your Safe walk as this will send out an automatic alarm.

If your timer expires before you end the Safe walk...

If your timer expires and you have not ended your Safe walk, an alarm is sent out to notify your organization and/or contacts. This alarm will include your name, current location, and alarm status.

Location Services are required

Please note that using the Safe walk feature of the Omnilert Mobile App requires access to location services on your mobile device. This function will require you to allow Omnilert to monitor your location at all times during your safe walks. (This is needed to allow your organization to access your device's location should you activate an alarm.)

We've provided the links below to the most common device manufacturer's help centers on this topic below.

Apple iOS: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207092
Google (Android): https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3467281?hl=en
Samsung (Android): https://www.samsung.com/latin_en/support/mobile-devices/how-to-activate-my-location-and-change-settings-for-location-permissions/

Of course, please check with your device manufacturer for additional assistance with enabling location services on your phone if needed.