Safety timer
How the safety timer works, how to configure your check-in interval, and how overdue alerts are triggered.
The safety timer is a dead man's switch running on Trailkeep's servers. While your trip is active, the timer counts down in the background. If you do not check in within the configured window, Trailkeep automatically sends an overdue alert email to your emergency contacts and Trail Companions (people who scanned your Safety QR and asked to be alerted) — no action required from you at that point.
This is the moment the Safety QR privacy gate opens too. Your family may be in another country, but people who scanned your QR at the trailhead, or who you shared it with digitally on trail, are physically closer and can act sooner.
The safety timer works differently depending on your account tier. The key difference is covered below.
Free accounts — end-date alert
On a free account, the alert fires when your trip end date passes without the trip being marked as completed. This is a simple one-shot trigger:
- Set a realistic end date when creating your trip
- When that date passes, if the trip is still active, contacts are alerted
- There is no day-by-day resetting — the single trigger point is the trip end date
Pro / Pioneer accounts — resetting day-based timer
On a Pro or Pioneer account you get the full safety timer. Instead of a single end-date trigger, the timer resets every time you complete a day on trail:
- Set your timeout window in Account settings → Emergency → Safety Timer (options: 24h, 36h, 48h, or 72h)
- When your trip goes Active, the timer starts: deadline = now + your timeout window
- Each time you complete a day in the Trip Planner (mark it as done), the timer resets: new deadline = completion time + timeout window
- If you do not complete a day within the window, the alert fires
This means the timer continuously tracks your progress through the trip, not just whether you returned by a fixed date.
Completing a day is the check-in. There is no separate "check-in" button. To reset the timer, open your active trip in the Trip Planner and mark the current day as complete.
Setting up
Before your trip:
- Add emergency contacts in Account settings → Emergency tab
- Pro accounts: enable the timer and choose your timeout window in the Safety Timer tab
- Create your trip with an accurate end date
- Set the trip to Active when you set out
What happens when the timer fires
Within approximately 6 minutes of the deadline passing:
- Your Safety QR status changes to Overdue
- Emergency contacts receive an alert email with a link to your full trip page
- Trail Companions receive a single alert email
- You receive an email notifying you that your contacts were alerted
- The shared trip page becomes public with your full itinerary, emergency contacts, and personal details
Timer controls (Pro accounts)
The Timer Control Panel inside an active trip gives you four actions:
| Action | When available | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Extend (+2 hours) | Timer active, no alert fired | Pushes the deadline forward by 2 hours from now (or from the current deadline if not yet expired) |
| Cancel alert | Alert has fired | Pauses the timer and sends a cancellation email to contacts |
| Reset timer | After cancelling an alert | Restarts monitoring with a fresh deadline from now |
| Disable timer | Any time | Turns off monitoring globally; timer will not activate on future trips until re-enabled |
If you extend the trip or encounter delays, use the Extend button rather than updating the end date. Extend is available even with limited connectivity — it requires only a brief network connection to sync.
GPS location capture
GPS coordinates are captured automatically when you complete a day — they are not a separate manual action. Each day completion writes your coordinates to two places: the "last known location" field (the primary SAR reference) and a per-day breadcrumb trail.
GPS capture does not reset the timer. Only completing a day resets the timer. See Completing a day for the full GPS flow, including what happens when GPS is unavailable.
What the timer cannot do
- It cannot tell the difference between "running late" and a genuine emergency — it only knows whether you checked in
- It does not track your location continuously — only captures on day completion
- It cannot activate without an end date set on the trip
- It cannot send SMS — notifications are email only
- It requires at least some cell or data coverage along your route — if you are in zero-connectivity terrain for multiple days, bring a satellite communicator (Garmin inReach, PLB, SPOT) in addition to Trailkeep
The timer is a last resort, not a tracking system. Study your route before you go — you need at least intermittent coverage to complete days and keep it running.