Your safety depends on our ability to reach you immediately. Modern smartphones on Android and iOS have features designed to block or screen unwanted calls. Unfortunately, these features can mistakenly flag or block Peoplesafe's crucial safety calls.

Understanding Phone Call Screening and Blocking

Call Screening and Blocking are automatic features on your smartphone designed to filter out calls identified as spam, scams, or unknown numbers.

• How it works: Your phone's operating system (Android or iOS), your mobile network provider, or a third-party app uses databases and algorithms to identify and then:
  • Block: The call doesn't ring and may go straight to voicemail or be rejected.
  • Screen (Android): A virtual assistant (like Google Assistant) answers the call, asks the caller for their name and reason, and then displays the transcript for you to decide whether to answer.
  • Silence (iOS): The call is sent directly to voicemail without ringing, and you may see a missed call notification later.

⚠️ The Risk: If one of our vital Peoplesafe numbers isn't saved in your contacts, your phone might classify it as an "unknown" or even "scam likely" number and automatically block, silence, or screen it, leading to a critical delay in getting you help during an emergency or welfare check. 

This is your phone's feature acting on its own rules, not a setting imposed by Peoplesafe. 

How to Ensure Peoplesafe Calls Always Get Through

The best and most reliable way to guarantee that Peoplesafe can always reach you is by saving the numbers in your phone's contact list. This action typically adds the numbers to a system-wide "safe list" or "known contact" list, which overrides most automatic screening and blocking rules.

Step 1: Add Peoplesafe to Your Contacts

Android (General Steps)

Steps may vary depending on phone make and model.

1. Open your Contacts app.
2. Tap the + (plus) icon to create a new contact.
3. Enter a clear name, e.g., "Peoplesafe - CRITICAL".
4. Add all the Peoplesafe numbers to the contact entry.
5. Save the contact

iOS (iPhone)

1. Open the Phone app, then tap Contacts.
2. Tap the + (plus) icon in the top right.
3. Enter a clear name, e.g., "Peoplesafe - CRITICAL".
4. Tap add phone and enter the first number. Repeat for all the numbers. 
5. Tap Done to save.

Peoplesafe Phone Lines

Please save the numbers below in your phone's contact list, ideally under one contact name like "Peoplesafe - CRITICAL", to ensure you can contact us and that you recognise when Peoplesafe is calling:

Contact Card Download

Simply download this Contact Card, or scan this QR code to automatically create the contact in your phone with the essential Peoplesafe numbers already setup.

Download Contact Card

Step 2: Ensure Calls Override Silent/Do Not Disturb (DND)

This is a critical step to ensure your phone rings loudly even when you have Do Not Disturb, Focus, Silent, or Sleep Mode activated.

On iOS (iPhone): Use Emergency Bypass

For an iPhone, you must apply the Emergency Bypass setting to the Peoplesafe contact.

1. Open the Contacts app and find the "Peoplesafe - CRITICAL" contact you just created.
2. Tap Edit in the top right corner.
3. Scroll down and tap on Ringtone.
4. At the top of the screen, enable the switch for Emergency Bypass (it should turn green).
5. Tap Done to save your changes.

Result: Calls from this contact will now ring and vibrate loudly, overriding the silent switch or any active Focus/DND mode.

On Android (General Steps): Use Priority/Starred Contacts

Android uses the Do Not Disturb (DND) settings to allow exceptions, which typically rely on a "Starred" or "Favourite" contacts list.

1. Open the Contacts app and find the "Peoplesafe - CRITICAL" contact.
2. Tap the Star icon (usually near the name or in the top right menu) to mark it as a Favourite contact.
3. Go to your phone's Settings > Sound & Vibration > Do Not Disturb (or just Notifications > Do Not Disturb).
4. Look for the "Exceptions" or "Allow during Do Not Disturb" section.
5. Under Calls, ensure the setting is set to "Starred/Favourite Contacts Only" (or in some versions, you may select the individual Peoplesafe contact).

Result: When DND is active, only calls from your Starred/Favourite contacts (including Peoplesafe) will be allowed to ring or notify you.

Step 3: Review and Adjust Blocking/Silencing Settings (optional)

Even after saving the contacts, please then review your phone's settings to ensure the highest reliability.

On Android (Google Phone App/Samsung Galaxy)

1. Go to Settings > Spam and Call Screen (or Caller ID and spam protection).
2. Ensure that settings like "Block calls from unknown numbers" or "Block all spam and scam calls" will not affect numbers in your saved contacts. Your saved Peoplesafe numbers should now be recognised as a safe contact.
3. If your device has a "Route to voicemail" or "Block Contact" feature for individual contacts, ensure this is turned OFF for the Peoplesafe entry.

On iOS (iPhone)

1. Go to Settings > Phone.
2. Check the "Screen (or Silence) Unknown Callers" setting.
   • if this is Never, all calls will get through.
   • If this is ON/Ask Reason for Calling/Silence, the Peoplesafe calls will still get through because you have saved them as a contact.
   • If you are concerned, you can temporarily turn this to Never, but be aware it may allow other spam calls to ring. The best practice is to keep it ON but ensure the Peoplesafe contacts are saved.

By taking these steps, you are actively creating an exclusion to prevent your phone's safety features from interfering with a call that is critical to your personal safety.

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