Your community's eyes on the ground.

Your home screen shows a plain-language safety status - Quiet, Some activity or Heightened - for each place you save (home, work, your children’s school). It is scored from recent reports nearby and graded against what is normal for that area, so it flags recent activity without ever labelling a place as dangerous.

Yes. Check-a-route lets you enter a start and destination, choose walking or driving, and see whether your path passes any recent community reports before you leave - then start turn-by-turn navigation in Google Maps or Waze.

Yes - completely free to use, with no ads and no charges for reporting, alerts, SOS or load-shedding checks.

Yes. The Android app is on Google Play, the iPhone app is on the App Store and the Huawei app is on AppGallery. You can also install MzansiShield free straight from your browser - it is the same app, offline and full-screen. Links you share open directly in the installed app, and store versions update through the store instead of the browser.

Not yet - it is coming. Reporting criminal activity (hijackings, robberies, break-ins and the like) is switched off in the app while we put formal arrangements with law enforcement in place. The app stores require documented involvement of local law enforcement before an app may carry crime reports, and we will not switch it on until that exists and has been shown to them. Service issues, outages, road problems, lookouts such as a missing person or a lost pet, SOS, Walk with me and Fake call all work today. When it is switched on, reports will be protected: signed-out visitors see only the type, area and time; members see the report with the approximate area, and "A member nearby" instead of your name - unless you choose to show your name to your trusted circle, to people you follow and who follow you, or to everyone nearby, or report anonymously; the exact spot goes only to you, registered responders in the area, your trusted circle if you tick it, and MzansiShield. Reports of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse or human trafficking are private - members never see them - and the app shows the helplines first. SAPS sees who reported only on an open SAPS case - never for an anonymous report - and you are told. If you witness a crime, call SAPS on 10111.

A way out of a room. From the Emergency screen, choose how many minutes from now, and your phone rings at that moment showing the caller name and number you set. Answer it, say you have to go, and leave. On the store apps it rings even with the app closed. It is never posted anywhere and nobody else is told.

Yes. Switch on Spoken alerts in Settings and the app says what it is doing - the SOS countdown, the fake call, your walk check-in. Tap Listen at the top of Home to hear the latest reports read aloud, and the microphone button next to the search box or the composer lets you speak instead of typing. On the store apps, pressing volume-down three times starts SOS with a spoken five-second countdown you can cancel; on iPhone with VoiceOver, double-tap anywhere with two fingers.

No. You can report service issues and lookouts and confirm others' reports without signing in - they post anonymously. Create an account only if you want your display name on your posts, a history you can manage, and higher posting limits. Signing up takes an email address and a password, and we email you a 6-digit PIN once to verify the address; you can also continue with Google, Microsoft or Apple. Your email address is never shown to anyone else.

If you're in danger, one tap alerts your trusted circle, the nearest registered responders and nearby members, and it stays live for up to three hours or until you stop it. Your circle and responders get your exact live position and a "Get directions" button. Nearby members see the approximate area (about 500 m) - or, if MzansiShield switches it on, the exact spot for verified members only. You must be signed in to see an SOS, and every view is recorded. It's not an emergency dispatch service and a response isn't guaranteed - always call 10111 as well when you can.

Yes. From the Post button, choose Go live to stream from your camera while something is happening - a protest, a fire, a blocked road. Viewers nearby watch in real time. The stream automatically falls back through several delivery routes, so on a weak connection it keeps going at lower quality instead of freezing, and it ends the moment you stop it. Broadcasts can be reported like anything else.

Every surface has its own Report control: the ⋯ menu on a post, the report icon on a reply, "Report this person" on a profile, "Report this conversation" in a direct message, the report control on a live broadcast, and "Report this group" on a group. Reasons include spam, false information, abuse, "Appears to be under 18" and "Child safety concern" - and the last two reach a person immediately. You can also block someone, which is enforced on our servers rather than just hidden on your screen.

In the app: Settings → Delete profile permanently. Your profile is hidden straight away and everything is erased after 7 days - sign in before then to cancel. Already uninstalled? Email consulting@sysrely.com from the address on your account. Full details are on our account deletion page.

A timed safety check-in. Start it before you walk home or to your car, and a countdown is shared with your trusted circle. Tap "I'm safe" when you arrive - if the timer runs out and you haven't, they're automatically alerted with your last known location by push, SMS and a phone call. The check runs on our servers, so it works even if your phone dies or loses signal; it's battery-aware; and if you start a walk offline the app arms it locally and syncs the moment you're back. Your circle sees every walk and SOS they were asked to watch in their Emergency alerts inbox.

All 11 official South African languages - English, Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenḓa, Xitsonga and isiNdebele. Choose yours in Settings, and community posts can auto-translate into it.

Only while you choose to share it. Live location and SOS are opt-in and time-limited - a LIVE badge stays on your screen the whole time, and you can stop instantly. When sharing ends, your pin stops updating. We never track you outside a share you started.

Your name and handle are hidden from other users - posts show "Anonymous". For community safety we privately record the device (and account, if signed in) for moderation and lawful requests only; it's never shown publicly. Replies always carry your name, so we'll warn you before you comment on your own anonymous post.

Never. Only your chosen display name appears on your posts. Your contact details are used solely for signing in, in line with POPIA.

Yes - the app opens offline and shows your cached feed. Anything you post while offline is queued and syncs automatically the moment you're back online. And if you try to send an SOS with no connection, the app tells you loudly to call 10111 straight away rather than pretending your alert was sent - it never fakes an emergency.

Power status comes live from EskomSePush, the same source used by millions of South Africans - and since September 2026 the app also counts what your neighbours report: confirmed, unresolved power, water and internet outages within 10 km over the last 12 hours, with how many people reported and how recently. If EskomSePush says "stable" while three neighbours say the power is off, the app shows you both. Water and internet information is community-reported and best-effort. The app tells you plainly when EskomSePush could not be reached rather than showing a green tick.

Yes. The weather card shows now and the next five days; tap any day (or today's header) for the hour-by-hour view - the temperature curve, an icon every three hours, rain as bars along the bottom and the day's high, low and wet hours. It comes from the same forecast request, so it costs no extra data.

No. The first load is under 200 KB compressed - smaller than one photo - and screens you never open are never downloaded. Turn on Save data in Settings and no pictures are downloaded anywhere in the app. The app opens offline and shows what it last saw.

Yes. Follow neighbours, watch groups and official accounts to build a Following feed, and send private messages once a follow request is accepted. Profiles support a bio and a banner in South African flag colours, and important alerts can be reposted or quoted to your followers.

News is pulled from trusted South African sources like News24, SABC News, EWN and Daily Maverick - each tagged with its own source colour. Events come from major ticketing platforms and community listings, sorted by what's nearest to you. Jobs combine market vacancies, government openings and public eTenders, searchable by category - and you can search events and news with everyday codewords like "amapiano", "soccer" or "tech".

Register on the Provider Portal. Every provider goes through a due-diligence review by our team before they can list services, products or job posts - so the directory stays trustworthy.

Open the Business Portal, sign in with your MzansiShield account, find your business and claim it with proof that it's yours - or add it if it isn't listed yet. Once our team has checked your claim, you can keep your hours and contact details up to date from the portal - each change is checked by our team before it goes live, and your listing stays as it is until then.

Create your profile in the Tutor Portal (or in the app under Learn) and upload a verification document. Because children use Learn, every tutor is checked by our team before learners can see them. Learners pay you directly.

No. Approved organisations such as municipalities and security partners can access anonymised, aggregated community-safety insights only - never names, contact details or anything that identifies you. Access is vetted, key-controlled and POPIA-aligned.

Posts flagged by the community are hidden automatically pending review, sensitive content is held before publishing, and accounts that break the rules are suspended. Deliberately false alerts are prohibited in our Terms.

No. MzansiShield shares community information but does not replace official services. In an emergency, always call SAPS on 10111 or medical services on 10177.