Support and contact

Need help with NWatch? Start here or email support@nwatch.com.au. If police, fire or ambulance assistance is required, call the local emergency number first. NWatch is not an emergency service and notification delivery is not guaranteed.

Getting started

How do I sign in?

Choose Sign in with Google, Sign in with Microsoft when enabled, Sign in with Apple on iOS, or Sign in with email. Email sign-in sends a one-time secure link to your inbox; it is not a numeric OTP and NWatch does not issue a separate NWatch password. If an existing account already uses the same email through another provider, sign in with the original provider first and link the second provider from account settings; accounts are not merged from an email match alone, and providers must resolve to the same Firebase uid.

How do I join a group?

Ask the group manager for an active invite code. Sign in, enter the code on the Join screen, and choose Join. Codes can expire, reach their use limit, or be revoked.

Is my address required?

No. A saved address remains on the device until you choose to include it in an alert. When sent, alert details are encrypted separately for intended recipients and for a controlled service-recovery path before they leave the app. Precise GPS is also optional and is requested at the point of use.

Sending and receiving alerts

How do I send an alert?

Enter the information your group needs, optionally include GPS, then slide the alert control right and hold it for two seconds. Completing the hold attempts to store the encrypted incident and asks push services to notify eligible recipient devices. The result reports how many registered devices were targeted and how many immediate push attempts failed; it cannot prove that every device displayed the alert.

What happens on another member's phone?

An eligible registered device may receive a high-priority notification and can fetch and decrypt its recipient envelope. Actual behaviour depends on connectivity, push-provider acceptance, device settings, operating-system policy and notification permissions. On an entitled iOS build, Critical Alerts may bypass Focus or silent mode only when the user has granted that permission. Android full-screen or DND behaviour also depends on special access and Play/device policy.

Can I trigger an alert accidentally?

The standard control requires a continuous slide right and two-second hold; releasing before the hold completes cancels without submitting an incident. When VoiceOver or TalkBack is active, the accessible alternative requires two separate activations and automatically disarms after ten seconds. Treat the alert control as an urgent group communication tool, not as a replacement for the local emergency number.

Pricing, billing and service status

Is paid enrolment open?

Not yet. Billing remains in sandbox/test configuration until all eight live regional Stripe prices are configured and an end-to-end checkout, cancellation and webhook smoke test passes. The approved customer totals and billing rules are documented on Pricing and billing. The portal and Stripe show the applicable currency and tax treatment before payment.

Will checkout renew automatically?

Live paid enrolment opens only after online cancellation through Manage billing has been verified. Once open, a monthly plan renews monthly and an annual plan renews yearly until cancelled. The manager portal and Stripe Checkout must show the exact customer total and billing interval before confirmation; after a subscription is created, Manage billing shows its next charge. Managers can stop future renewal there, and ordinary cancellation normally preserves access through the paid period.

When seats are increased, the portal must show the exact prorated amount, whether it is a charge or credit, and how and when it will be collected before confirmation. Do not confirm a seat increase if that quote is absent.

Is the 30-day trial available?

Do not assume it is. The portal may offer the approved trial only when live pricing and the signed-in account's eligibility response display no charge today, the exact 30-day end/first-charge date, the selected customer total in its billing currency and the automatic-renewal terms. If that dated summary is absent, the checkout shown is a paid checkout. Manual grants and institutional pilots are separate and are not card-required self-serve trials.

Will an existing subscription be repriced automatically?

No. The approved rollout rule keeps an existing live subscription on its current Stripe price unless its manager expressly chooses another package or accepts a later change. Manage billing shows the active subscription and next charge.

Account and privacy

What data does NWatch handle?

Depending on how you use the service, records can include identity details, provider/user identifiers, group membership and roles, device and push identifiers, encrypted alert envelopes, optional address/location content, delivery/readiness diagnostics, audit and moderation records, invitations, and applicable billing or support records. See the Privacy Policy for purposes, sharing, retention and choices.

We use providers including Firebase/Google, Cloudflare, Stripe, Apple and Microsoft. They may process information in the countries where their services and support operate, including the United States, rather than in the country where you live. For a privacy concern, contact support@nwatch.com.au first; you may also contact the Australian OAIC, New Zealand Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, or the relevant US state regulator or US Federal Trade Commission, depending on your location and the issue.

How do I delete my account?

Open Settings in the app and choose Delete account. A recent sign-in is required. A sole manager must first promote another manager or archive the group, and unresolved billing must be cancelled or transferred. Apple-linked deletion also attempts the required Apple authorisation revocation. If you no longer have the app, use the account-deletion page.

What happens when I archive a group?

Archiving is the production closure path. It stops new alerts, joins, invitations, membership changes, delivery checks and seat increases, while retaining the group, memberships, licences, invitations, incidents, encrypted envelopes, notes and audit history. It is not automatic and is not a substitute for cancelling a subscription: use Manage billing separately when renewal should end. An open incident must be resolved before the group can be archived; restoration requires an audited support review.

Can I sign out without deleting my account?

Yes. Settings → Sign out unregisters the current device token, clears local NWatch account data and then signs out. Sign in again to restore server-held membership state and register the device.

Can I rotate my security keys?

Yes. Settings → Rotate security keys creates and verifies a new keypair before registration. Retired device keys remain locally available so older envelopes can still be opened; account deletion removes current and archived private keys from that device.

Troubleshooting

I am not receiving notifications

1. Open Settings → Emergency alerts in NWatch and review every readiness item.
2. Confirm ordinary notification permission is enabled in system settings.
3. On iOS, check Critical Alerts if the signed build is entitled and the option is available.
4. On Android, review notification and Do Not Disturb access when offered; denial must still leave the ordinary high-priority notification visible.
5. Confirm you are signed in, your membership and group are active, and the group licence is active.
6. Check connectivity, reopen the app, and ask the manager to review the incident's push-attempt summary.

My invite code is not working

Check the characters with your manager. The code may have expired, reached its use limit, been revoked, or the group may be full or inactive.

The app reports an error

Record the displayed support reference, what you were doing, the time, device model, OS and app version. Do not send alert text, private keys, sign-in tokens or screenshots containing sensitive member data by email.

Report a problem or security concern

Email support@nwatch.com.au with the minimum information needed to reproduce or investigate the issue. For a security report, use the subject NWatch security report and avoid including live credentials or private keys.

For safe group operation, also read Community Safety, Security, Privacy and the public Terms.