What is a stationary alert?

How a stationary alert works

While you are out, the app compares your recent positions. As long as you keep covering ground, nothing happens. When your position stays within a small area for the length of time you chose, the app treats that as a possible problem and shows an "Are you OK?" prompt.

If you tap to say you are fine, the timer resets and you carry on. If you do not answer, your contacts get an alert that includes where you stopped. Moving on again usually cancels a pending check on its own.

In Holler, the stationary alert is optional. You choose how long you can be still before Holler asks, and if you do not answer, your Guardians are alerted by email and push with your location.

Why a quiet stop matters

Plenty of things that go wrong on a run, ride or hike do not look violent to a sensor. You might sit down with heat exhaustion, lose footing on a slope and slide rather than slam, or feel faint and lie down. None of those create the spike that crash detection looks for.

What they share is stillness. A stationary alert watches for exactly that, which is why it pairs well with any impact-based feature. Holler cannot sense heat illness, seizures or heart problems directly. A stationary alert is one of the ways it can notice that something may be wrong anyway.

Picture a trail runner who rolls an ankle on a descent, hobbles a few steps and sits down on a rock. There is no crash, just a sudden stop. The chosen window passes, the phone asks "Are you OK?", and she taps yes because she is sore but fine, so nothing is sent. If instead she had fainted from the heat, the same prompt would go unanswered and her Guardians would get her location. Our answer on what to do if you fall while trail running alone covers the self-care side.

Choosing the right time

The setting that matters most is how long you can be still before the app asks. Too short and it nags you at every red light, water stop and photo. Too long and help starts later than it could.

Think about the longest normal pause in your outing. A road runner who waits at crossings might pick something longer than a crossing. A hiker who eats lunch at a viewpoint needs a longer window than a cyclist on a fast loop, or should plan to answer the prompt during the break. There is no single correct number; the right one is the shortest time you will not constantly have to dismiss.

Limits and false alarms

A stationary alert is only as good as your phone's location readings. GPS positions drift a little even when you are standing still, especially near buildings or under trees, so apps allow some wiggle room before deciding you have stopped. That same wiggle room means very slow movement can look like stopping, and small shifts while stopped can look like moving.

Signal matters too. If your phone cannot reach the internet, the alert may not get out until it can. Your contacts will still see your last known location on the live link.

It is also slower than an impact sensor by design. It waits the full time you chose. If you are hurt and able, calling 911 yourself is always faster.

How it compares with other alerts

An overdue alert fires when you miss a return time. A stationary alert fires when you stop moving mid-outing. The first catches "never came back"; the second catches "stopped somewhere and did not respond." They cover different failures, and many people use both.

Fall detection fires quickly after a hard fall but can miss soft ones. A stationary alert is slower but does not care how you ended up still.

A manual SOS needs you to press it. A stationary alert is for when you cannot.

Getting your Guardian ready

A stationary alert hands the next step to a person, so that person needs a plan. Agree in advance that they will try calling you first, then check the map for where you stopped, and call 911 with that location if they cannot reach you and the situation looks wrong. Our guide on what to do if your runner stops moving walks a Guardian through those steps calmly.