Read more AirFlare success stories!
Locations provided to friends, family, and rescuers in the last month: 430
Read more AirFlare success stories!
Locations provided to friends, family, and rescuers in the last month: 430
Retail price $4.99/year, more options available
AirFlare provides search teams multiple ways to find you on and off grid in the wilderness. AirFlare adds no weight or bulk to your pack, works with limited or no cellular service, extends off-grid battery life to a week or longer and requires no user action to be searchable. Leveraging the cell phone already in your pocket, AirFlare is a low cost, easy to use, lifesaving tool you don’t need to remember to pack.
Getting “lost” in the wilderness is what some of us live for, but if you ever need to be found, you can be invisible to a search team just a few feet off the trail. AirFlare is discoverable far beyond the range of sight and sound.
When accidents happen, you can’t always rely on being able to signal for help. You don’t need to remember to turn on AirFlare before you head out, and no user action is required to be discoverable by a search team looking for you.
AirFlare provides an extra level of safety and security for your outdoor adventures for less than the cost of a cup of coffee per month.
AirFlare guides you to configure your phone for the wilderness, ensuring protection for a week or longer.
Your privacy is paramount. Your profile is only accessible and your location only discoverable if you become the subject of a search. You are immediately notified via multiple means if this ever occurs.
Mobile phones are standard gear for even the most extreme fast and light adventurers. AirFlare is an app that weighs in at exactly 0 grams.
For Search and Rescue teams, AirFlare Search Technology provides multiple mechanisms to help locate a Lost Adventurer via their mobile phone. On-grid features like Location Caching and Location Return can identify a Lost Adventurer’s GPS coordinates before a ground team is even deployed. Off-grid features like AirFlare User Detection and Location Capture alert that the subject is in the vicinity, and guide searchers to the exact location. AirFlare Search Technology reduces cost and risk to personnel while offering a quantum leap in search speed and success.
AirFlare’s technology and service would be nowhere without these visionary organizations, tirelessly dedicated to keeping those they serve–and their teams–safer tomorrow than they were yesterday!
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AirFlare is an app that transforms a mobile phone into an outdoor safety and rescue device. AirFlare enables search teams to quickly locate an adventurer in need of assistance, whether in or out of cell service. AirFlare also provides a number of self-help features, for example, the ability to determine the exact location of a friend or family member with a single push of a button, and to quickly navigate to them.
AirFlare is designed to keep adventurers safe in the outdoors across multiple scenarios. Please see the full list of AirFlare features in How AirFlare Works – Abilities and Features.
Anyone who likes to adventure in the outdoors!
Our vision of 100% Found speaks to our desire to create a search solution which is low cost, reliable, simple to use and accessible to everyone who likes to venture outside – from the casual weekend warrior to the most extreme adventurer regardless the outdoor activity.
AirFlare’s Self-Help and Peer-to-Peer features will work anywhere there is cell service. AirFlare’s Search Team Discovery features (the features which help a search team determine your location in or out of cell service) relies upon search teams in the area to have AirFlare Search Technology. We are ramping up operations and adding new search teams all the time. Please see our Coverage Map to determine where you can expect AirFlare coverage.
About the cost of a coffee per year. We wouldn’t be delivering on the promise of safety technology built into every mobile phone if it wasn’t affordable for everyone. Our intent will always be to keep the cost of AirFlare as low as possible.
Also, AirFlare is free to the men and women who volunteer their time and put themselves in harm’s way to keep us all safe in the outdoors. We do not charge Search and Rescue teams for either our search technology, or for AirFlare on their own phones. Our revenue is generated from AirFlare app subscriptions from adventurers, and your subscription helps us sustain this model.
Very likely! AirFlare works on over 90% of the phones in use today.
AirFlare works with iPhones running IOS 10 or later and with Android phones running Android 5 or later. To check the operating system version on your iPhone, GoTo Settings –> About Phone –> IOS Version, and for Android GoTo Settings –> About Phone –> Android Version.
Yes, AirFlare can be set up in 2 minutes or less.
AirFlare is downloaded from iOS or Android app stores. A simple 4 question registration process assigns your phone a unique Search ID and creates a profile providing critical information to Search and Rescue in the event you ever need help. That’s it! You don’t even need to remember to open the AirFlare app before you venture out. So long as your phone’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth remain enabled, your phone is discoverable by a search team using AirFlare Search Technology.
If you are in cellular service, you can send an emergency message from the AirFlare app to 911 or to a contact that will automatically include your GPS coordinates. (AirFlare Main Menu à In an Emergency à Send SOS Message). AirFlare is not designed to initiate an assistance call outside of cell service. Especially when traveling into an area with spotty or no cellular service, it is always a good idea to let someone know where you will be and what time you are expecting to return.
In cell service, your phone is discoverable anywhere in the world. If you become the subject of a search, a notification is sent to your phone. If you do not respond to that notification within 20 seconds, your phone’s GPS coordinates are automatically sent back to the search team looking for you. If you are out of cell service when a search is initiated, your phone will automatically send its coordinates back to the search team as soon as it returns to cell service – even if only briefly, and even with marginal service.
Out of cell service, detection range depends on the method of search and the type of environment being searched. Boots-on-ground or aerial searches in open environments without significant terrain obstacles can have detection ranges of 1/2 mile or more. Detection ranges decrease in areas that are heavily forested or have significant ridges and depressions, but still well outperform what is achievable via human eye or by camera on a drone.
Yes! You should definitely still carry an avalanche beacon wherever there is avalanche risk. While AirFlare has been proven effective in scenarios such as tree wells and snow caves, avalanche beacons are specifically designed for deep snow immersion and related avalanche circumstances. Please don’t substitute AirFlare’s broad capabilities for a purpose-built tool! Know your risk and get the training needed to handle these specific threats at avalanche.org.
Avalanche beacons, PLBs, SEND devices, they’re all great! We wish everyone had them when they needed one. But to conflate AirFlare’s capabilities with theirs does justice to none. To explain with a metaphor: bulletproof vests are great and save lives every year, but they’re also expensive, bulky, don’t protect your whole body, and don’t help if you don’t have it or didn’t put it on yet. In other words, they’re great at what they do, but also not the only way to save lives. Every day, people are kept safe via training, communications, protocols, and other technologies. AirFlare is a new type of protection that everyone can have all the time. We don’t see it as an “either/or” with existing technologies, but “better together” because everything has its strengths and limits.
Your profile information is how a Search and Rescue team identifies you in the AirFlare Registry and retrieves your AirFlare Search ID to find you. Your cell number is the most reliable way for a search team to identify you. Email is one of the ways we communicate to you that your profile has been accessed by a Search and Rescue Team and that you are the subject of a search. It is incredibly important your profile information is complete, accurate, and kept up to date.
Your AirFlare Profile can only be accessed by Search and Rescue personnel authorized by their team to perform a Registry search and will only be accessed when an official search is initiated to find you. If your profile is ever accessed, you will immediately receive both an email and a notification identifying the specific search agency which conducted the search. All Registry activity is monitored by the AirFlare team, as well as by responsible parties within each search team using AirFlare search technology. Please see our Privacy Policy for additional information.
No. The only time your location becomes visible to anyone is when you become the subject of an official search, or if your location is requested by a friend with whom you’ve previously connected via Peer-to-Peer. If and when you become the subject of a search, you will immediately receive an email and a notification identifying the search team actively searching for you. If a friend requests your location via the Peer-to-Peer feature, you will receive a notification.
AirFlare cannot be used by anyone to track or otherwise determine your location outside of these mechanisms.
Absolutely not. We are in the business of helping search teams find you, not advertisers. Please see our Privacy Policy for additional information.
If your question is not answered in our Privacy Policy, please contact us. We take privacy and security very seriously, and we want to hear from you if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions.
Open the AirFlare app and ensure the status bar on the home screen indicates “Beacon Installed” and “Beacon Active.”
Follow instructions on the screen to clear any configuration warnings.
AirFlare does not need to be open and running to be discoverable, but we do recommend you open AirFlare periodically to ensure AirFlare is up to date and configured properly.
The AirFlare home screen will prompt you to optimize your phone’s battery. This is optional. If you’re only out for the day, optimizing your battery probably isn’t necessary, but if you’re out for days or longer, optimizing your battery is recommended.
On iPhones, optimize your battery by putting your phone into Low Power Mode (Settings –> Battery –> Low Power Mode ON). This setting will conserve your battery for a week or longer, and will not disable any AirFlare features.
On Android, optimize your battery by putting your phone into Airplane Mode (Settings –> Network & Internet –> Airplane Mode ON) and re-enabling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth This setting will conserve your battery for a week or longer, but will disable AirFlare’ in-cell-service features such as Location Return and Location Sharing. However, your phone will still be discoverable by a search team using an AirFlare Detector. Alternatively, most Android phones have a “Battery Saver” setting that will not preserve your battery for quite as long, but will retain AirFlare’s in-cell-service features.
No. AirFlare is a passive technology, so power consumption is negligible. AirFlare does not transmit a signal unless your phone’s location is requested by a search team looking for you, or by a friend via Peer-to-Peer.
We specifically designed AirFlare to be highly power-conscious, and we choose which features to include based on their power consumption requirements. We will not develop features that consume a lot of power.
The various technologies we use rely on one or both of those radios to be listening and responsive to AirFlare Search Technology carried by Search and Rescue teams looking for you. Unless you need to preserve your phone’s battery for a multi-day outing, we also recommend keeping your cellular data on to take advantage of AirFlare’s on-grid rescue features.
No. Unlike cellular service detection, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth detection is a passive activity that consumes virtually zero power. When your phone has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled, it essentially only “listens” for signals and only broadcasts a response when it comes within range of a signal it recognizes. With AirFlare, your phone is listening for a signal from a Search and Rescue team searching specifically for you.
No. AirFlare is designed to be discoverable by a search team looking for you with no action required on your part. You do not need to remember to open it before you head into the outdoors.
The AirFlare app does guide you, however, in ensuring your phone is properly configured. We recommend you open it periodically to ensure AirFlare is up to date and configured properly.
Not only does Airplane Mode disable your in-cell-service features, such as Location Sharing and Location Return, but on IOS, Airplane Mode also disables your Beacon, making it more difficult for search teams to find you out of cell service. We recommend using Low Power Mode on IOS to preserve your phone’s battery.
Disabling Cellular Data on IOS disables your in-cell-service features such as Location Sharing and Location Return. On IOS, if you become the subject of a search and your Cellular Data is OFF, your phone will not automatically send your coordinates to the search team. Additionally, your phone will not automatically return its coordinates when you turn Cellular Data back ON. You will receive a notification, however, and can elect to have your coordinates sent by acknowledging the notification.
Yes. Each Android phone manufacturer has its own set battery saver features. They are too numerous to keep track of and provide guidance on. Airplane Mode will typically provide the most
