Your first Kautio check-in needs one contact who has accepted your invitation. Your contacts see the name you entered when you set up Kautio in every text they get (see Setting up Kautio › Setting the name your contacts see). Without a subscription, scheduling a check-in uses 1 credit; subscribers use no credits (see Plans, credits, and prices › How do credits work?). The Check-ins tab shows a three-step setup checklist to guide you: Add your first contact, Allow notifications, and Schedule your first check-in ("Use 1 of your free credits"). Tap Skip for now to hide it.
Step 1: Invite a contact
To add your first Kautio contact, send them an invitation from the app.
Open the Contacts tab and tap Invite.
On Invite contact, enter their phone number and tap Send invite.
On the Invite sent screen, you can tap Send them a heads-up. It opens your phone's share sheet with a short message from you, so they know the text is coming.
Tap Done.
Your contact gets a text from Kautio with a link. Replying to the text does nothing; they respond in the app.
An invitation expires after 30 days.
Your contact's number must be from the US or Canada.
For what the invitation text says, see Got a text from Kautio?. For more on inviting, see Managing your contacts › How do I invite a contact? If the invitation won't send, see Troubleshooting › My invitation isn't working.
Step 2: Your contact accepts the invitation
A Kautio invitation is accepted in the app by the person you invited.
Your contact taps the link in the text and installs Kautio.
They sign in with the same phone number you invited.
On Contact invite, they tap Accept. The other choices are Decline, Report, and Block.
After they accept, you appear in each other's Your contacts list on the Contacts tab. Kautio contacts are mutual.
To see invitations still waiting, tap the Pending invites icon at the top of the Contacts tab and open the Sent tab.
To cancel an invitation, tap Revoke on it. The link in the text you sent stops working.
Step 3: Schedule the check-in
To schedule a Kautio check-in, fill in the New check-in form.
On the Check-ins tab, tap New check-in.
Fill in Activity Details and Check-in Settings, using the table below.
Read the credit line above the button. Without a subscription it says "Scheduling uses 1 credit. You have N remaining." With a subscription it ends "No credit will be spent."
Tap Schedule check-in. Kautio opens the new check-in's details.
If your account has no name yet, tapping Schedule check-in first opens a Your name sheet. Tap Save and continue to save your name and schedule, or Cancel to go back to the form without scheduling. See Setting up Kautio › Why does Kautio ask for my name when I schedule?
Field | What to enter |
Share what you're doing | The check-in's title. Required. |
When does this activity start? | At least 5 minutes from now and no more than 30 days ahead. Required. |
Share where you'll be | Where your plan is: search for a place and select it. Required. |
Add More Details (optional) and photos | Optional. |
Send first check-in after | How long after the start Kautio first checks in on you. The default is 30 minutes. |
Grace window | How long you have to snooze or dismiss each time Kautio checks in on you: 1, 2, 5, 10, or 15 minutes. The default is 5 minutes. |
Tiers | Tap Add recipients on Tier 1 and choose your contact. Tier 1 is notified if your first grace window passes without a response. |
Wait between tiers | Required. It has no default. |
Follow-up, Share my location, Also call me | Optional. |
Every field, option, and limit is described in Scheduling a check-in.
Step 4: The check-in shows as Scheduled
A newly scheduled Kautio check-in appears on the Check-ins tab under Live & upcoming, with a SCHEDULED chip and a countdown such as "Starts in 2 hours".
Until the activity starts, you can open it and tap Edit check-in or Cancel check-in.
Cancelling never refunds a credit. The app says: "This will cancel the check-in. If it used a credit, the credit isn't refunded. This cannot be undone."
You can put your phone away. Kautio's servers run the check-in.
What happens when my first check-in comes due?
This example shows a Kautio check-in with Send first check-in after set to 30 minutes, Grace window set to 5 minutes, Wait between tiers set to 15 minutes, and one tier of contacts. Times are counted from the activity start.
Time after the activity start | What happens |
0 minutes (the activity start) | The check-in becomes Active. You get the notification "[title] is starting" / "We'll check in on you in 30 minutes. You'll have 5 minutes to check in before Tier 1 is notified." |
30 minutes | You get the "Check-in time" notification ("You have 5 minutes to check in before Tier 1 is notified."), and your grace window opens. The check-in's card shows Snooze, Dismiss, and the time left, such as "04:59 to check in". |
35 minutes, no response | Your Tier 1 contact gets a text. You get a notification titled "[name] notified". |
After the last tier | The check-in becomes Complete, or Follow-up pending if you set a follow-up. |
If you respond in any window, the timeline changes. See the next two sections.
Snoozing or dismissing in the grace window
During a Kautio grace window, the check-in's card shows Snooze and Dismiss.
Snooze closes this window. Kautio checks in on you again after your Wait between tiers time, with a new grace window of the same length, and every later tier moves back by the same amount. Only you are told: "Got it" / "We'll check in on you again in 15 minutes."
Dismiss ends the check-in and cancels every tier not yet notified. The app asks "Dismiss check-in?". Tap Dismiss to end it, or Keep active to go back. Dismiss is also available between windows.
For details, see When a check-in comes due › Snoozing a check-in, and › Dismissing a check-in.
If I don't respond in the grace window
If you don't respond in a Kautio grace window, the tier it belongs to is notified: Tier 1 after your first grace window. Kautio never extends a grace window. To give yourself more time, choose a longer Grace window when you schedule, or tap Snooze.
When a tier of contacts is notified, it means a timer you set wasn't stopped, nothing more.
Kautio is not an emergency service. It contacts no one but the contacts you chose.
For what your contacts receive, see Got a text from Kautio?.