How many people should be in my trusted circle?

Two or three is usually enough. On Traxl's free plan a Circle holds up to three people, and Traxl Plus allows up to ten.

Who should I not add to my safety circle?

Anyone you met recently, anyone who pressures you, an ex, and people who wouldn't answer at midnight. You don't owe your location to anyone.

Can the people in my circle see each other?

Yes. In Traxl everyone in a Circle can see who else is in it, and there is no hidden mode. Tell each person who else you are adding.

What if someone is pressuring me to share my location?

You can say no. Pressure to share or to keep location on can be a warning sign, and it's worth speaking to someone you trust or a relevant support organisation.

How do I change who can see my location?

Leaving a Circle stops sharing with it straight away, so the simplest way to change who can see you is to leave and start a new Circle with the right people. Review the list every few months.

Trusted contacts: build a safety circle and who to skip

A trusted circle is only as good as the people in it, so be picky. Choose two or three people who will actually look at your location when something seems off, who keep their phones nearby, and who will never use what they see against you. Leave out everyone else, however politely they ask.

The midnight test

Here’s a quick way to sort your contacts. Picture a night when you’re stuck somewhere and your phone is at five per cent. Whom would you ring? Whom would you rather not ring, even though you like them? The first group is your shortlist. The second group might be lovely company at lunch and still not belong in a circle.

Add a second filter: who would answer. Someone who’s a heavy sleeper, or whose phone is always on silent, is a poor choice for the person who needs to notice a late-night alert.

Who usually belongs

A parent or sibling who is calm in a crisis and not prone to panic over a stopped dot.
A friend or flatmate who lives close enough to do something practical.
One person in a different time zone or city, if you can, so you aren’t relying on a single neighbourhood.

Three is a good number, and it’s also what the free plan allows in a Circle. Traxl Plus raises that to ten people, and you can compare plans on the pricing page. Most people will never need ten.

Who to skip, even when it’s awkward

Someone you started seeing last month. A colleague who asks “just in case”. A friend of a friend. A landlord. An ex, especially one who has a habit of turning up. Any person who treats your location as something they are owed rather than something you’re offering.

Saying no gets easier with a ready line. “I keep that to family and two close friends” is true, short and hard to argue with. You don’t have to explain further.

Tip: If someone wants your location to control you

Pressure to share your location, or to leave it on, can be a warning sign in a relationship or a household. Traxl is a consent-based app and has no hidden mode, and it’s not the right tool in that situation. If you feel controlled or unsafe, speak to someone you trust or a relevant support organisation or authority.

Tell each person why they’re in

Invitations land better with a sentence attached. “I’m adding you because you’re awake late and you live near me. If my dot stops somewhere strange, please ring me before you do anything else.” Now they know what they are for, and they know it’s not an invitation to track your weekends.

You can invite people by link or QR code, and everyone in a Circle can see who else is in it. This is deliberate. It means nobody is quietly watching, and you can always check who has access.

Agree what counts as worth a call

Spell out a couple of triggers so your circle doesn’t over-react or under-react. For example: a stalled dot after eleven at night, a missing “I’ve arrived”, or an SOS. Traxl also shows a likely reason beside a quiet name, such as a flat battery or location switched off, which is helpful before anybody rings in alarm. For ideas on safe-travel routines, see getting home late at night.

Traxl’s SOS sends a high-priority alert with your live location to everyone in your Circle, and it needs a data connection. Our explainer on how Traxl SOS works walks through it. It doesn’t call the police or an ambulance, which is why who is in your Circle matters so much.

Not everyone has to be in the app

Some people you trust won’t want another app, or are not adults, or live somewhere without reliable data. For a single evening you can send them a live link instead, which runs from 15 minutes to 8 hours and opens in a browser. Teenagers are different: a person aged 13 to 17 can only join through an invite that a parent or guardian confirms, and live links are for adults only, so a teenage cousin is not someone to add casually.

It also helps to remember that a circle is not a ranking of affection. Leaving your best friend out because her phone is always dead is a practical decision, not a slight, and most people take it that way once you explain.

Review it every few months

Friendships change, people move, phones get replaced. Every few months, look at the list and ask whether each person still passes the midnight test. Ask anyone who doesn’t to step out, or start a fresh Circle with the right people; leaving a Circle ends sharing with it straight away. If you’re new to a place and building your first list, our post on the first weeks in a new city has a suggested timeline.

Traxl is a free Android app with iPhone coming soon. It shares your location with the people you pick and alerts them if you press SOS. It isn’t an emergency service, and it can’t choose your circle for you.