FOR THE BUYER
Let them reach you without having to find you.
Dad slipped in the bathroom in February. He spent half an hour on the floor before it occurred to him to crawl over to where the phone was charging. He rang you afterwards, sitting back on the sofa. The chat you had with your sister that night is what brings you here.
In the worst moment, the screen is in the way.
Picture your dad on his worst five minutes. Hands trembling. Dizzy. What is three taps on a good day (unlock, open Contacts, find your name) becomes a maze. The screen times out. He forgets the PIN. The icon has shifted because he swiped a page by accident.
Medical-alert pendants work. But they cost around £30 a month and depend on him wearing them at all times. Many older people leave them on the nightstand "so I don't lose it in the shower". Exactly when they would matter most.
The reasonable alternative is for the phone already in his pocket to have, on the home screen, an unambiguous button for help. No unlock. No fumbling.
What actually happens when your dad presses SOS.
The Quiles Mayor launcher reserves a red square on the home screen. It is the first thing visible when the phone wakes. It says "SOS" in large type. There is no other red button anywhere in the interface, so there is nothing to confuse it with.
An intentional press, not an accidental one
To rule out pocket bumps, the button must be held down for 3 seconds. On release, a confirmation screen opens with a 5-second countdown and a large Cancel button. If he pressed it by mistake, he cancels. If he meant it, he lets it run.
What gets sent
Quiles Mayor sends an SMS to the number you configured, in this format:
"SOS alert from [Dad]. Last known location: [street and number, if available]. Time: 21:47."
The SMS goes out over the device's own cellular network. If he has coverage, it lands. It does not depend on the internet, on WhatsApp, or on any provider app being open.
Up to three numbers at once
You can configure one, two or three contacts. The SMS reaches them all in parallel. Useful when siblings share the load, or when there is a neighbour with a spare key.
WHAT IT DOES / WHAT IT DOES NOT: read this before buying.
Quiles Mayor is not a replacement for emergency services. SOS sends a text message with location to a contact you configure. For urgent medical help, call your local emergency number.
It is not a medical device. It has no CE marking as a health product and no FDA clearance. It does not call emergency services (999 in the UK, 112 in the EU, 911 in the US). It is an SMS to the contact you configure. That is it.
The reason is legal and practical. A system that dials emergency services needs agreements with each country's public services, origin validation and regulatory liability that a €59/year app cannot honestly take on. If we promised otherwise, we would be lying to you.
What we can promise: configure the contact carefully. The SMS goes to whichever number you enter. If you enter your own mobile, you receive it. If your dad lives alone in another city and you are travelling out of coverage, the alert goes unanswered. That is why we recommend configuring at least two contacts: you, and a relative or trusted neighbour who lives near him.
Explain to your dad that this alerts the family, not the ambulance. If he is conscious and the situation is serious, he should still call 999 directly. Quiles Mayor reduces friction; the public emergency service is something else, and is still there.
Five honest choices you make at setup.
When you install Quiles Mayor, the SOS asks you five things. Spend ten minutes thinking them through; do not just tick boxes.
1. Who receives the SMS? Your number, and at least one more. Ideally someone who lives near your dad. A cousin, a neighbour on the floor below, a nephew with a spare key.
2. What happens if your dad cancels the countdown? By default, the alert is cancelled and nothing is sent. You can enable cancellation logging if you want to know that he pressed SOS and cancelled three times in one day. Sometimes that is anxiety. Sometimes it is him using the button as a shortcut to see if you are listening.
3. Share location always, or only on SOS? Only on SOS. Continuous location has little real value and a high privacy cost. Your dad popping out for a pint with a friend is not your business.
4. Show the SOS on the lock screen? Yes, by default. No PIN required. The risk that someone might press it as a prank weighs less than the risk that he cannot trigger it because he cannot remember his PIN.
5. Enable fall detection too? We do not. Phone-sensor fall detection is unreliable: false positives when the phone falls off a table, false negatives on a slow collapse. Mediocre fall detection confuses more than it helps. If you need real fall detection, contract a medical-alert service with a dedicated device.
Pricing: yearly subscription, 14-day free trial.
Quiles Mayor costs €59/year (~€4.92/month) with a 14-day free trial. It includes SOS, medication reminders and the full launcher. No monthly fees like traditional medical-alert services.