Noonlight Review

Noonlight is an emergency dispatch app that’s beyond clever. It’s faster, safer, and more accurate than calling 911. The only catch? You need an iPhone to take advantage of Noonlight’s extra features.

Noonlight is also making a name for itself in the home-security sphere thanks to its monitoring partnership with Wyze. This IFTTT-compatible app also pairs with some of our favorite security cameras for affordable pro monitoring.

All Noonlight plans include the panic button and timeline.

Because Noonlight’s panic button is completely free, we recommend everyone download it just in case. Here’s when Noonlight might come in handy:

• When walking alone
• After noticing someone following you
• To silently call for help during a domestic attack
• To get help in a medical emergency
• To get help during a break-in
• When lost on a hike (cell reception required)
• To get help during Uber/Lyft rides
• As a safety net for first dates
• As an alternative to dialing 911 for anyone with limited speech or dexterity

• Timeline: Jot down some notes about who you’re meeting and where. If you go missing, police use these clues to find you.
• Tinder integration: Easily add Tinder chat info to your Noonlight timeline directly from the Tinder app.
• Advanced profile: Add a photo of yourself and some additional notes, like medical information, to help emergency responders identify and take care of you.
• TASER Pulse+ integration: Noonlight’s dispatchers automatically receive your location data when you fire the TASER Pulse+.
• Safety Network: Your Safety Network acts as a backup to the panic button just in case you can’t use it. Let them (friends/family) know you’re heading out and what time you plan to be home. Your Safety Network can request a check-in to make sure you made it, see your location, and even dispatch emergency responders on your behalf if they think you’re in trouble.
• If you have an iPhone, your free Noonlight account also comes with these features:

Your friends get a text as soon as you add them to your Safety Network. They’ll need to sign up for a free Noonlight account and might have some questions about the app or your current safety, so it’s helpful to explain Noonlight ahead of time.

If you own an iPhone and are willing to spend around $5 to $10 monthly for a few perks, you can integrate other smart devices.

Here’s what you get with the $4.99/month Instant Access plan:

• iOS widget: A faster way to signal for help, the widget can be accessed by swiping down from the top of your locked iPhone screen. No need to enter a passcode or wait for your phone to recognize your thumbprint.
• Apple Watch and Wear OS integrations: Add the Noonlight app to your Apple Watch or Wear OS watch for speed and convenience.
• Uber and Lyft integrations: Noonlight shares your Uber or Lyft driver’s information with police if you signal for help during a ride.

For the $9.99 Total Protection plan, you get all of the features in the Instant Access plan plus the following:

• Crash response: Noonlight senses a car crash and alerts dispatchers. You’ll get help even if you’re injured, dazed, unconscious, or simply can’t reach your phone.
• Alexa or Google integrations: Pair Noonlight with an Amazon or Google smart home hub to get help with your voice. Wake up the smart hub by saying “Alexa” or “OK Google.” Then say, “Tell Noonlight to send help.”
• IFTTT integrations: Noonlight pairs with IFTTT to monitor popular smart home devices from Blink cameras, Wyze, Nest Protect, Abode, Arlo, Scout, and Canary.

You may have come across Noonlight thanks to its partnerships with national home security companies like Wyze, Hex Home Security, Notion, and Kami Security—as well as local security companies. You can also use Noonlight IFTTT applets to monitor Abode and Scout equipment.

With Noonlight’s home monitoring service comes Noonlight Household. Everyone on the Household account gets notified when a smart home device, like the Nest Protect, triggers an alarm, and everyone has the opportunity to cancel the alarm with the shared PIN.

If you want to request a discount on your home insurance or renters insurance, you can ask Noonlight for an alarm monitoring certificate. Noonlight confirms your sensor connections and tests them before issuing the certificate.

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Noonlight’s main feature is a digital button that you tap and hold on your phone when you’re in a threatening situation. This function is completely free for both iPhone and Android users.

1. Open the Noonlight app.
2. Press and hold the button.
3. Once you feel safe again, release the button and enter your unique four-digit PIN within 10 seconds to deactivate the alarm.
4. If you don’t feel safe and want the police to come, release the button and do not enter your four-digit PIN.

Just in case you forget your four-digit PIN, Noonlight dispatchers confirm each alarm through text. If you don’t respond to the text, they assume you need help and send emergency responders.

You’re welcome to respond to the text (if it’s safe to do so) to give more details about the kind of help you need (such as fire, EMT, or law enforcement). They know exactly where to go thanks to your phone’s location tracking tech.

The beauty of Noonlight is that you’ll send an SOS even if something bad happens and the phone is knocked from your hand. It requires very little effort to summon help, and you don’t have to talk to anyone to explain what’s going on or where you are. Although it’s unfortunate that this app needs to exist, we have to admit that it’s a brilliant design.

There’s very little to criticize about the Noonlight app, but we do have a few nit-picks:

• Android users can’t access most features, but Noonlight promises additional Android functionality in the future.
• Noonlight doesn’t currently work outside the US.
• Curious toddlers who get their hands on an unlocked phone could easily set off a false alarm.
• If your attacker knows about Noonlight, they can cancel the alarm through text or look up your PIN under account settings. Keep your phone in your pocket if you need to use Noonlight around a controlling partner.

We recommend downloading Noonlight regardless of these small flaws.

Since it’s free and incredibly useful, Noonlight’s emergency button is worth adding to your phone, period. You don’t have to know where you are or utter a single word to get help, and that could save your life one day.

We’re excited to see Noonlight develop even more integrations and monitoring partnerships, but we hope it remains affordable.

To review Noonlight, we downloaded the app ourselves and signed up for the free version. We tested the button, added people to our Safety Network (hi, Mom!), dug into the company’s support page, and cruised through IFTTT to find as many applets as possible. Learn more on our methodology page.

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