The Panic Button triggers an alarm and notifies your team that you are in distress. You can trigger it in three ways.
Overview
You can shake your device to activate the Panic Button (if your admin enabled the shake function), trigger it manually from the Guard Tour home screen, or pair an external Bluetooth button (currently functions with Pryme’s BT-PTT-Z products) to trigger it without reaching for your phone.
Before you start
Here are some things you must do before you start:
- Your admin must activate the Panic Button and Panic Button Shake Detection (if needed) Features.
- Your admin will need to ensure there is an Emergency Number configured in General Settings.
Use the Panic Button in Guard Tour
To trigger the Panic Button:
- From the Guard Tour home screen, tap PANIC BUTTON.
- This triggers a five-second countdown before an alarm sounds and a notification is sent. You can cancel if it was triggered in error by tapping Click to Cancel.
- At the end of five seconds, an alarm will sound. You can deactivate it by tapping Siren.
- The Call button will quickly open your device’s dialer populated with your company’s preset Emergency Number.
- You will see a pop-up reminder to contact the authorities.
- Finally, you’ll receive confirmation that your panic notification was sent to your team.
Notifications and Monitoring
When a Panic Alert is triggered from a mobile device, it is sent to the TrackTik Web Portal for review and action.
Audible Alerts for Dispatchers
It is important to note where and how your dispatch team will hear the panic alarm:
Live Dashboard: The audible siren/alarm will only sound when a user is actively on the Live Dashboard tab.
Mobile Dispatch Window: If your dispatchers primarily work from the Mobile Dispatch window (used for logging calls), they will see the alert notification, but no audible alarm will sound.
Best Practice for Dispatch Centers: To ensure emergency alerts are heard immediately, dispatchers should keep the Live Dashboard open in a separate browser tab or on a secondary monitor while working in the Mobile Dispatch window.
- Web vs. Mobile: Web browser tabs may be muted or blocked by autoplay policies; mobile devices use OS notification channels that can be set to silent.
Pair an external device to trigger the Panic Button
You can pair a dedicated Bluetooth button to your device to trigger the Panic Button. Currently, PTT-Z devices from Pryme are supported. To pair an external device:
- Ensure Bluetooth is activated on your device.
- Open the Guard Tour mobile app.
- Select Settings
- Tap Connect external panic button
- Tap Scan for button.
- Select the device you want to connect.
- You’ll receive an External button connected confirmation.
- To disconnect a device, tap Disconnect.
Use an external device to trigger the Panic Button
Once you have connected an external button, you can use it to trigger and cancel the Panic Button.
- Press the external button for longer than one second to trigger the Panic Button.
- Press the external button again for less than one second to cancel it.
- An alert must be canceled within five seconds , or your device will second a Panic notification to your team.