Keepwatch records from both cameras and transmits every second of footage to secure storage while the recording is still in progress. If the device is destroyed, seized or lost, the record already exists beyond it — and the people you have designated are notified with your location and the footage.
Conventional camera applications write to the device and synchronise afterwards. In an assault, a collision or a robbery there is no afterwards: the device is damaged, taken or discarded, and with it the only record of what happened. Keepwatch inverts the model. Transmission is not a step after recording; it is part of recording.
Recordings are divided into one-second segments and transmitted the moment each is sealed. A device destroyed at 21:16:00 has already delivered every second up to 21:15:59.
Transmitted footage belongs to the account, not the handset. Deleting the application, resetting the device or holding it does not affect what has already been secured.
The service monitors every active recording. If the device falls silent, designated contacts are notified according to the schedule the user has set — without any further action from the user.
The rear and front cameras record simultaneously. Date, time, coordinates and device identity are rendered into the image itself, so the footage carries its own provenance.
Each segment is sealed, hashed with SHA-256 and transmitted. Bit rate adapts to the available connection every four seconds; without a connection, segments queue on the device and transmit in order the moment connectivity returns.
Throughout a recording the service expects a continuous signal from the device. An interrupted recording, a stalled encoder or a silent device is detected within seconds and the notification schedule begins.
A preliminary notice after an interval the user has chosen; a full alert — footage, live location and the user's own message — if the user has still not responded. A manual alert or a shake of the device sends the full alert at once.
Recording can be started from the lock screen with a Siri command, and the application detects severe impacts, so a collision triggers notification without a hand on the phone.
Users designate the people to be notified. Each is asked once, by email, to accept the role, and hears nothing further until it matters. When it does, the alert contains everything required to act: the footage, a map with live position, and the user's own instructions.
He started a recording at 21:14 and has not responded for 7 minutes. He asked that you receive this message if that happened:
“If you get this, call me first. Then call the police and give them the location in this email.”
Open the recording and live locationThe link opens in any browser, without an application or an account. It presents the complete recording, the route the device has travelled, its current position updated continuously for 24 hours after an alert, and an account of every second that was and was not received. Should the alert prove unnecessary, the user cancels it in one step and every recipient is informed.
Recording and transmission function from first launch. An account is required only to designate contacts; guided setup takes approximately three minutes.
Five quality tiers, re-evaluated every four seconds against measured throughput, keep the transmitted record within seconds of real time on cellular connections.
Every segment carries a SHA-256 digest computed on the device and verified on receipt. A segment whose content does not match its digest is recorded as such, never silently accepted.
A complete recording is assembled on the device within a second of stopping, for immediate use when the device survives.
Seconds lost to loss of coverage appear as marked intervals in the assembled recording and are itemised alongside it. The record is never made to appear continuous when it was not.
The cameras are held ready from launch. Recording begins on the tap.
Recordings; the location trail during a recording or an active alert; the account email address; and the names and addresses of designated contacts. No address book, photo library or browsing data is accessed.
The account holder, and recipients of a link issued in an alert. Links expire after 90 days. Recordings are not reviewed, analysed for advertising or disclosed to third parties, and no member of staff views footage.
Recordings are retained until the account holder deletes them or the account. Recordings made without an account are removed after seven days. Account deletion is completed after a seven-day hold, in case the footage is required.
Keepwatch does not record without the user's action, does not contact police or emergency services, carries no advertising and sells no data. It does not claim a user is safe when it cannot know.
The privacy policy sets this out in full.
No. Keepwatch does not contact police, ambulance or any authority and is not a substitute for calling your local emergency number. It preserves the record and notifies the people you have designated. In danger, call for help first.
Recording continues and segments are stored on the device. When any connection returns, the backlog transmits in order. Everything transmitted before coverage was lost is already secured; only the segments recorded during the outage remain on the device until it reconnects.
During a recording, and for 24 hours after any alert, the device reports its position to the service in the background, including after the screen is locked. Designated contacts follow it on the alert page. A "Share my location for one hour" control is available for situations that do not warrant a recording. Sharing ends automatically.
Confirm once, by email, that they are willing to be contacted; every message they ever receive carries a one-step block. They need no application to receive an alert. If they choose to install Keepwatch, the confirmation email carries an invitation code that makes you their first contact in one step.
Press the alert button on the recording screen, or shake the device firmly. Either sends the full alert to every designated contact at once, with footage and live location, and the application confirms that it has been sent. There is no confirmation step and no undo: a person in danger should not have to answer a question.
Recording from both cameras with transmission consumes approximately 19 % of battery per hour on a current iPhone. Location reporting after an alert is adaptive and considerably lighter. Nothing runs when neither is active.
Yes. Recording and transmission work from first launch. An account is required only so that alerts have recipients; guided setup takes approximately three minutes.
For an alert the service raised on its own — a device that went silent — cancel from the application or from the notice sent to your own email; the schedule stops and every recipient of a preliminary notice is informed that no action is required. An alert you sent by hand has already reached your contacts: tell them directly, and end location sharing from the application when it is no longer needed.
Laws governing recording vary by jurisdiction and circumstance. Keepwatch displays the standard system camera indicator and does not conceal that it is recording. Users are responsible for recording lawfully where they are.
Keepwatch is free.
Setup takes three minutes. Afterwards it requires nothing until it is needed.