Frequently asked questions

The alarm is built so that only your PIN, pattern, knock code or fingerprint stops it. Once it rings, the volume keys can lower the siren only to 60% of maximum, and a wrong code on the alarm screen takes a photo of whoever typed it.

Yes. Alert24 runs a small always-on service, shown as the "Your Phone is Protected" notification, so the motion, pocket, charger and earphone alarms work while the screen is off and the phone is locked.

No. A phone that is powered off runs nothing, so no alarm can fire and no remote command can reach it. That is true for every app. A screen lock on the phone and a quick response are your protection there.

Yes. All four alarms and the intruder selfie work offline. Only Remote Access (ring, locate, take picture, lost mode) needs the phone to be online, and uploading photos to your account needs a connection too.

The siren plays at full media volume, with optional flash and vibration, and keeps going until your PIN is entered, up to five minutes per trigger. If someone moves the phone again, it starts again.

A short warning beep, 5 seconds by default, that plays before the siren. It gives a friend time to put the phone back. Change it per alarm in Settings under Pre Alarm Beep Settings.

The most common reasons: the 10-second countdown had not finished, the sensitivity is set low, or the phone was in a call (alarms pause during calls). Also, the Don't Touch My Phone alarm disarms itself after it fires, so arm it again each time.

No. The earphone removal alarm works with wired and USB earphones only, because the trigger is the cable being physically unplugged.

The protection service runs all the time, so there is some cost, and the app asks to be excluded from battery optimisation so Android does not stop it. How much depends on your phone and which alarms are armed. See the battery and background guide.

Yes. Settings › Alarm Tone offers five built-in sirens, any system ringtone, or an audio file of your own. See alarm tones and the pre-alarm beep.

When an alarm starts, after wrong attempts to stop an alarm, after wrong unlock attempts on the phone (device intruder alert), when a new app is installed, and in lost mode whenever the screen comes on. Phone Access Snap can also photograph every unlock. All photos are taken silently with the front camera.

On your phone, in the app's private storage, with the time and location. If you are signed in with Google, they are also uploaded to your own account so you can see them from another device. Phone Access Snap photos are never uploaded. Details on the intruder selfie page.

Yes. Open it in Intruders Pictures and tap the bin icon. It is removed from the phone and, if it was uploaded, from your account in the cloud as well.

Free accounts see the first five photos in a list in full; the rest are blurred until you upgrade to Premium.

Android only tells an app about wrong unlock attempts if the app is a device administrator. The sign-in is needed so the photos are uploaded to your account, where you can see them even if the phone is gone. Read permissions explained.

Sign in at alert24.in with the Google account you used in the app, or open Alert24 on another phone. You can ring it, see its last location, take a picture and mark it lost. The stolen phone guide walks through it in order.

Sign in with Google, slide the remote control switch on the dashboard, and allow camera and background location. Without that switch the phone ignores remote commands. Remote Access is part of Premium.

Yes. Find My Device raises the alarm at full media volume regardless of the ring setting, as long as the phone is on and online.

No. Alert24 does not lock or wipe. For that, use Google's Find My Device. The two work side by side; see Alert24 vs Google Find My Device.

It marks the phone as lost in your account. The phone then takes a photo whenever the screen comes on or it is unlocked, and uploads it. Mark it found from the same place when you get it back. See lost mode.

It uses the phone's location services, so it is usually accurate to a few metres outdoors and less precise indoors. The app shows the precision with each fix. Never go to a location to confront someone; give it to the police.

Only you, signed in to the Google account you used in the app. Alert24 does not share them with anyone else. The details are in the privacy policy.

Each one does a specific job: camera for intruder photos, location for finding the phone and trusted places, display over other apps for the alarm screen, battery optimisation so Android keeps the service alive, phone state to pause alarms during calls, and device admin for wrong-unlock alerts. Every one is explained in permissions explained.

No. It has no accessibility service and no notification access. It reacts to motion, the proximity sensor, the charger, the headphone jack and unlock events, and nothing else.

Delete photos from the app to remove them from the cloud. For everything tied to your account, e-mail us from the contact page and we will remove it.

Free: all four alarms, drop detection, intruder selfie, app lock, trusted places and automation, Phone Access Snap and alarm tones. Premium adds Remote Access, the suspicious-apps results, full photo galleries and no ads. See Premium.

Premium is a monthly or yearly subscription through Google Play. Subscribe from Upgrade in the app. To cancel, open the Play Store, go to Payments and subscriptions › Subscriptions, and cancel Alert24 there.

No. Sign in with the same Google account you bought it with and Premium is restored once the app connects to Google Play.

No. Alert24 is an Android app for Android 7.0 and later, available on Google Play.

English and 31 other languages, including Arabic, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, Indonesian, Japanese and Chinese. Change it in Settings › App Language. See the full list.

Disarm any alarm first. If Android says the app cannot be uninstalled, go to the phone's Settings › Security › Device admin apps, switch off Alert24, then uninstall as normal. Device admin is what the intruder alert uses; it has to be off before Android allows removal.

Some phones stop background services aggressively. Exclude Alert24 from battery optimisation and, on phones that have it, turn on auto-start for the app. Then open the app once after a restart. The troubleshooting guide lists the settings by manufacturer.

Tap the menu on the lock screen and choose Forgot password. You can recover with the security question, the recovery e-mail (via Google sign-in), or your fingerprint, whichever you set up in Settings › Security.

The charger alarm arms only while the phone is plugged in, and the earphone alarm only while wired or USB earphones are connected. Plug in first, then tap Activate.

Check that the phone is signed in with the same Google account, that the remote control switch on its dashboard is on, and that it has been online since. The device list shows phones signed in with your account.

You probably have automation on. Save home as a trusted place or your home Wi-Fi as a safe network, and automatic charger and earphone alerts pause there.