FAQ
ABOUT HAMMER SECURITY COMPANY
HAMMER provides realistic and non-intrusive solutions to families in high-insecure locations.
HAMMER will send an alarm to your loved ones in case of an emergency.
1. REALISTIC
Current “solutions” are not realistic. They are good for tracking as long as your loved ones are okay. As soon as they are in an emergency they do not work because: They are unconscious / no time to notify contacts / criminals turned off their phone / criminals removed all electronic devices from them.
HAMMER, before launching, dedicated multiple years interviewing crime victims & experts to understand behaviors and to identify realistic solutions so you & your loved ones can be tracked in an emergency.
2. NON-INTRUSIVE
Current “solutions” are intrusive. Parents have access to their kids’ location 24/7, which compromises their privacy. HAMMER makes sure that your support contacts have access to your location, camera & microphone ONLY in emergencies.
As a non-intrusive app, we minimize the use of battery , & increase the chance of having enough battery when you need it the most (in emergencies).
Kidnapping: In the research HAMMER performed, they discovered that kidnappers keep the victim’s phone to obtain information and/or to sell it. Kidnappers make sure they cannot be tracked by shutting down the phone.
If they try to shut it down, HAMMER simulates a shutdown state.
Express kidnapping: Kidnappers will force you to open your financial apps. Hammer will lock them with a PIN. If they force you your PIN, provide your Emergency PIN. It will unlock the app, but instantly send live location, pictures & audios to your Emergency Contacts.
Thefts: To avoid being tracked, thieves act the same way as kidnappers. HAMMER avoids it likewise, allowing you to go to the authorities & recover your phone and all other belongings.
Car Accidents: HAMMER uses your phone sensors to automatically detect car collisions over 35 km/hr.
Other emergencies: For any other emergency press our accessible panic button to send a silent alarm to your support contacts.
Even though we specialize in these emergencies & logic is implemented based on real life, unusual behaviors of criminals (throwing away the phone) will make impossible to track the person.
Because unlike other solutions, we know:
– Kidnappers will take away all electronic devices.
– You will panic and not be able to react.
– How criminals think and act in reality.
– That 1 out of 10 deaths in car accidents could have been avoided if assistance arrived on time.
– How much your loved ones worry whenever you are not home.
HAMMER was designed so:
– The criminals themselves activate the alarm without your interaction.
– The accident itself notifies your loved ones.
– In any other event, notify your contacts with an accessible panic button.
– Your loved ones have peace of mind knowing that an alarm will notify them in case of an emergency.
– ALL these without compromising your privacy.
HAMMER is a tool to connect users with support contacts when it is really needed. HAMMER will not act as an intermediary. You can rest assured that HAMMER will never have access to your camera, microphone, & location.
Please note that, even though all the solutions were designed to work in real situations, HAMMER cannot guarantee that all circumstances will be the same for everyone.
PRIVACY OF USER
No, in HAMMER we know how important is your privacy.. Therefore your support contacts will have access to your location, camera and audio ONLY while your Emergency Mode is ON.
There are 4 ways to activate your EMERGENCY MODE:
1. Panic button
2. Shutting down your phone (accessing HAMMER’s Fake Shutdown)
3. Entering your Emergency PIN
4. Car accident
ONLY in emergencies, your support contacts will have access to your location, camera, audio & they will be able to turn your EMERGENCY MODE off in case it was turned on accidentally.
1. Signing in the app
2. Asking your support contacts
1. Logging in the app and giving the command
2. Logging in at: https://hammer-security.ca and giving the command
3. Send an SMS to your phone from any phone with this command: “HS1 STOP”
SUBSCRIPTION
The only way to maintain and improve Hammer is with your help.
App is COMPLETELY FREE and contains ads.
If you would like to remove the ads, you can choose one of the following plans:
- US$ 2.99 per month
- US$ 9.99 per semester
- US$ 14.99 per year
Download the app (or make sure you have the latest version) here.
- For PayPal subscriptions: You have to cancel your subscription directly from their website. Go to Settings – Automatic Payments – Cancel Hammer Security Subscription
- For Credit Card subscriptions: Open Hammer app on your phone – Sign in – Go to settings – Subscription – Cancel Subscription. NOTE: If you already deleted Hammer from your phone you can re-install it on any phone, sign in and cancel.
- For Google Play subscriptions: Go to your subscriptions in Google Play and cancel.
If you have any problem canceling, please contact us at support@hammer-security.ca so we can manually cancel your subscription.
Yes, we partnered with Stripe, PayPal and Google Play to make sure your payment is safe. These companies are known worldwide for their reliability.
IMPACTS ON YOUR PHONE
If your Emergency Mode is on, HAMMER uses internet to send your location, picture and audios that your support contacts request. Internet is used according to what your contacts request.
While your EMERGENCY MODE is off HAMMER does not consume data.
Given that the app is non-intrusive, battery consumption is minimized. The app only uses your location on Emergency. This helps you increase the chances of having enough battery when you really need it.
1. All permissions granted
2. Location services enabled on your phone
3. Data enabled
4. Not on airplane mode
5. Have enough data to send commands and media to internet
6. Enough signal and access to GPS
Permissions are necessary for Hammer’s features and the flow of information between you and your support contacts. You can rest assure that HAMMER will not have access to your camera, audio and location.
Is highly recommended that after signing up you test all features of the app to make sure they work correctly on your phone.
PANIC BUTTON
Click Hammer’s permanent notification to activate.
HAMMER’s panic button is silent and your support contacts will have access to your microphone, camera and location.
FAKE SHUTDOWN
If someone tries to turn off your phone while it is locked, a fake shutdown button will show. By pressing it the phone will simulate a shutdown state.
If you are not on an emergency and you want to exit fake shutdown state, disable you EMERGENCY MODE.
Open Hammer App, disable the Fake Shutdown feature, and power off your phone as you normally would.
There are 3 ways:
- Charging your phone
- Logging in at: https://hammer-security.ca and giving the command
- Send an SMS to your phone from any phone with this command: “HS1 STOP”
If you cannot exit after trying the 3 ways shown above, contact us at: support@hammer-security.ca
You will have to disable this setting manually. You will have to turn off one of this options (name varies according to brand): “Always on display” o “Ambient display” o “Moto display”.
You will have to disable this setting manually.
Open your Lock Screen settings -> Manage fingerprints -> Disable “Show fingerprint icon when the screen is off”.
You will have to disable this setting manually, otherwise criminals might suspect that the phone is on:
Settings – Notifications – Do not disturb – Hide notifications – TURN ON: No LED indicator
This setting will only disable the LED on Fake Shutdown.
FAKE AIRPLANE MODE
Criminals, to enable Airplane Mode, they just open quick settings (the menu that shows when swiping from top to bottom), and enable Airplane Mode – is that easy.
When your phone is in Airplane Mode, Hammer can’t send SOS alerts to your Emergency Contacts. Therefore, we created fake tiles that will make criminals think your phone is in Airplane Mode.
Hammer blocks any type of notification while your phone is on Fake Airplane Mode.
Open quick settings (swipe from top to bottom on your phone TWICE) > click on edit > search for Hammer’s fake tiles (Airplane Mode, Mobile Data, GPS) and drag them to the main menu.
There is no way of knowing at a glance. You can enable one, if you have an active network, this is the fake tile.
Is recommended to set your real tiles at the end of Quick Settings. This way, criminals will enable the first ones they see, and you can swipe to enable the real ones.
Another option is to completely remove the real tiles from Quick Settings. To enable airplane mode you will have to do it manually from your phone’s settings.
GPS/Location, Mobile Data, Airplane Mode.
By default, no. We know that at the beginning you will accidentally trigger Fake Airplane Mode and alert your contacts.
However, when you get used to it, is possible to send SOS alerts when Fake Airplane Mode is triggered: Open Hammer’s settings > Fake Airplane Mode > ENABLE Trigger Emergency Mode.
If you have “Trigger Emergency Mode” enabled, this buffer gives you 5-seconds to disable Airplane Mode again, before sending an SOS alert.
This will help you to disable it, in case you enabled it by accident.
APP LOCK
Hammer locks with a PIN your selected apps.
If someone is trying to enter one of your selected apps and forces you the PIN, Hammer allows you to have an Emergency PIN, which upon entered, sends live location, pictures, and audios to your Emergency Contacts. Do not worry, criminals will not know you provided an Emergency PIN.
All the apps are unlocked when your PIN is entered, and all the apps are locked again as soon as your screen is off.
LOST OR STOLEN PHONE
Sign in at https://hammer-security.ca
- Access to your camera, audio and location of your phone.
- Send a 30-second loud alarm that cannot be stopped.
- Show a “PLEASE RETURN TO [your email]” on your phone. Your phone’s screen will remain on. If someone dismisses this message we will take a picture and send it to your email. — THIS MESSAGE CAN ALSO BE TRIGGERED SENDIND AN SMS TO YOUR PHONE WITH THE FOLLOWING TEXT: “HS1 MESSAGE”
Yes, website was designed so you always have access to your location/camera/audio regardless of your emergency mode.
Send a message to your phone from any other phone with the following codes:
- HS1 STOP: Stop Emergency Mode
- HS1 TRACK: Location sent to Emergency Contacts
- HS1 MESSAGE: Displays “please return” message on your screen
- HS1 ALARM: Triggers a loud alarm
- HS1 FS ON: Triggers Fake Shutdown mode
The following commands only work if your Emergency Mode is on:
- HS1 FRONT CAMERA: Front picture sent to your Emergency Contacts.
- HS1 REAR CAMERA: Rear picture sent to your Emergency Contacts.
- HS1 AUDIO1: 1-minute audio sent to your Emergency Contacts.
- HS1 AUDIO5: 5-minutes audio sent to your Emergency Contacts.
- HS1 FRONT VIDEO: Front video sent to your Emergency Contacts.
- HS1 REAR VIDEO: Rear video sent to your Emergency Contacts.
CAR ACCIDENTS
Airbags use an accelerometer to detect car accidents. We take advantage of your phone’s accelerometer, along with other sensors in your phone to detect car collisions.
The patterns that the accelerometer generates when you drop it or when you break hard, versus the ones at a car accident are not the same. We manage to differentiate and filter those kind of events.
Nevertheless, if Hammer’s algorithm detects a car collision when there is none, we will first send an alarm to you for 15 seconds to cancel, and your contacts will not be notified.
During the testing period, and using real data, the algorithm detected 100% of the car collisions with no false-positives above 40 km/hr.
1. Travel must be over 1 km and above 20 km/hr
2. Speed of at least 35 km/hr before the accident
3. All permissions of Hammer granted
4. Location of your phone on
5. Data of your phone on
6. Not on Airplane Mode
7. Have enough data to send commands
8. Have signal and GPS access
9. Google Play Services installed and updated (usually this is always the case)
10. Accelerometer and gyroscope on your phone (nowadays Android have both)
To minimize the use of battery:
– The collision detector uses battery only when you are inside a car.
– The GPS is used only when the accelerometer and the gyroscope reach certain limits.
Even though the use of battery is minimized, if you are constantly in a car, the impact in battery could be significant. If you like, you could turn off the detector after signing in.
1. Make sure all the requirements mentioned above are met
2. Drive for 5 minutes above 30 km/hr
3. Park your car, and drop your phone to the seat of your car at a height of 70 cm – ONLY ONCE
4. Without moving the phone, and without moving the car, wait for 1 minute
5. After 1 minute, an alarm should be triggered in the phone
If you need more assistance please contact us at: support@hammer-security.ca
LOW BATTERY SMS TO CONTACTS
When you have less than 5% of battery Hammer will send an automatic SMS to your contacts with the following text:
‘Automatic message: I have low battery. If you want to contact me now is the time. I may be out of battery later.’
No, the SMS does not turn your Emergency Mode on. The objective is only to notify them that you may run out of battery, and therefore access to your camera/audio/location is NOT granted.
INTRUDER SELFIE
After entering a wrong PIN multiple times, a selfie of the person who tried to unlock it will be sent to your e-mail. This action does NOT trigger your Emergency Mode on, therefore your contacts will NOT get an alarm and they will NOT have access to your camera/audio/location.
OTHER TECHNICAL ISSUES
If you do not have an internet connection and you are in an emergency, Hammer will still send an emergency SMS with your live location to your Emergency Contacts. However, it will not be able to send pictures and audios.
To re-activate Hammer, you have to go to your Settings – Accessibility – Services – Disable and enable Hammer.
If this does not work, restart your phone.
Some Android brands tend to kill apps to save battery. This is nothing we can prevent, it comes from the system. To fully solve it check this guide: https://dontkillmyapp.com/
If you do not find the answer to your problem in any of these FAQs, contact us at: support@hammer-security.ca
Could be many reasons:
– Your EMERGENCY MODE is off
– No signal on your phone, airplane mode is on, or no GPS signal
– No internet or no data on your phone
– HAMMER does not have the required permissions granted
– Not enough data on your phone
– Location is off
If you cannot make it work after making sure you meet this requirements, please contact: support@hammer-security.ca
Open the Hammer app > Settings > Click on UNINSTALL.
No. iPhone’s Operating System (iOS) does not allow most features of Hammer as a user, but your support contacts will still be able to support you with an iPhone.
Remember to keep your Emergency Mode off, Emergency Mode off is constantly using your GPS and consuming battery.