Find helpful information about UNCW's safety app, LiveSafe.
LiveSafe is a free mobile app made available by the UNCW Police Department. Designed to prevent crime and enable better incident response, the LiveSafe technology includes an app for smartphone users connected to a cloud-based dashboard that is monitored by UPD.
The free mobile app includes many important features to help you enhance your personal safety while supporting the overall security of the UNCW campus.
The app’s core functions include:
If you are in a dangerous situation, and you have the opportunity to call 911, please take that approach first. If you are unable to make a direct call due to situational or technical issues, or if you must be discreet, then LiveSafe reporting becomes a valuable option. When the Emergency button is used to call 911 or contact UPD, location services help emergency personnel find your location.
Filling out the user profile will help UPD contact you if additional information is needed after you submit a tip. It is also helpful in emergency situations if you lose connection with UPD or if your identity is needed because you are in distress. If you use the Emergency button, UPD will have immediate accesh3 to your name and contact information.
Based on your location, you will receive relevant emergency information from UNCW [or from authorities in the area where you are, if you’ve signed into the app from that location]. In addition, by sharing your location, you are enabling safety officials to reach you more quickly in the event of an emergency.
No. Even if location services are not enabled, you can still submit tips, request help through the Emergency Options button, and access UNCW’s resources. However, in order for UPD to view your location and reach you in the event of an emergency, then location services must be enabled. This is why LiveSafe recommends always enabling location sharing.
Typically the app will consume less than 1% of your battery per day with location services set to "Always.” LiveSafe battery consumption information can be found in your phone's settings.
Enabling Wi-Fi when available improves the accuracy of your location, so it is highly recommended.
The app asks for access to your contacts to support SafeWalk, a peer-to-peer virtual escort tool. By allowing LiveSafe access to your contacts, you can even invite friends and family members who do not have the app to virtually escort you from place to place.
Push notifications will originate from UNCW to communicate real-time safety and security-related information. You will not receive marketing messages or advertisements from LiveSafe or any LiveSafe partner.
People who have not downloaded and activated the LiveSafe app will not receive LiveSafe notifications. They will still receive UNCW Alert notifications via cell phones (students are automatically signed up; employees must opt in) and via email.
Those who have activated LiveSafe will receive UNCW Alerts through the app, once the university activates that feature, as well as through their cell phone’s text message function. Those who have not activated the app will receive UNCW Alert notifications via cell phone (students are automatically signed up; employees must opt in) and email.
LiveSafe does not include independent weather alerts. Continue to monitor the National Weather Service, the UNCW homepage, social media and your UNCW inbox for information about weather emergencies affecting the university’s main campus and surrounding areas.
Under Settings, there is a button for in-app support with general questions about the app.
If you would like to leave the organization, you will need to have joined more than one organization. This is because you can’t remove your primary organization. If you only have one organization and you’d like to remove it, you’ll need to join the “LiveSafe” organization. After joining the LiveSafe organization, you should now see two organizations in your list and “LiveSafe” should be highlighted in blue.
No, you do not have to chat with UPD. However, in order to return to the home screen, you have to click on the "Chat with Security" button and then press the back button at the top left of the screen that appears.
You are encouraged to share information with UPD and will not be penalized for making claims that turn out to be untrue. However, those filing reports that are purposefully false may be sanctioned appropriately by the university or subject to criminal charges.
When you submit a tip through Report Tips, your current location is submitted, but tracking is not enabled. If you send a tip and then continue moving, police will only be able to see the location from which the tip was sent.
Yes, if you toggle the “Send Anonymously” option when submitting a tip or emergency message, your user information will show up as “Anonymous” in all of the fields. Even if university officials use the Live Chat feature to obtain additional information, you will still appear as anonymous.
When you select the “Call 911” button from the Emergency Options screen, a confirmation bubble will appear with the option to either “Call” or “Cancel”. This will help ensure that users do not accidentally call 911 if it is not an emergency. Once you place the call to 911, safety officials at UNCW will receive information about your call such as your location (if location services are turned on). This will help first responders reach you quicker in the event of an emergency.
When emergency calls or messages are initiated through the app, location sharing begins. Security personnel will receive a prompt letting them know that a call was placed to 911. UPD has the ability to send you a chat to ask further questions and confirm your location. UPD can then meet emergency personnel upon arrival and direct them to your location. This will assist in getting you the help you need in the event of an emergency.
Based on users’ locations when they have location services on, emergency options automatically populate with local emergency numbers.
The app will default to the last known location. From there, it will attempt to load the emergency number associated with that location.
Yes. Friends and family members can virtually escort you from one place to another without downloading the app or joining UNCW’s part of the app. When you invite friends and family members to watch you walk, they can connect either through the app or through a web view on their phone.
No, the SafeWalk feature is peer-to-peer; therefore, you share your location exclusively with the contacts you have invited to SafeWalk with you. UPD does not have the capability to serve as a virtual escort, but if you request a security escort, UPD will send either law enforcement or security personnel to do that.
No. Your location is only sent to UPD when you submit a tip (anonymous or not) or use one of the features within the Emergency Options button. If your location information is sent to the university, it is encrypted and no one, including UNCW faculty and staff, will see individual names if you choose to be anonymous, but the dashboard will show UPD where a tip came from. App users always have the option to not share their location.
No, LiveSafe users cannot be located via the web dashboard through a search or tracking function. The location data from your phone is encrypted, and location sharing is always at the user's discretion.
No, you will not since the app will not be able to find your location. However, if UNCW has a community that you can join when traveling, you may be prompted to join that community.