Getting started with your Greenlight Safe Family device

Your Greenlight Safe Family device has arrived! Whether you know it as the Safe Kids, Safe Pets, or Safe Seniors device, you're officially one step closer to keeping the people (and pets!) you love most safe and connected. 

This guide is your home base for everything you need to know. Take it one section at a time and you'll be up and running before you know it!

Setting up your device? Start here!

Before anything else, you'll need to create your Greenlight account.

If you're only looking to manage your Safe Family device, you'll want to sign up for the Greenlight Safe Family plan. If you'd like access to Greenlight's full suite of financial tools for your family too, one of our financial plans might be the right fit — and you can still add your Safe Family device to it. See the full plan comparison here.

If you purchased your device on Amazon or Shopify, it's especially important to follow the right steps so you end up on the correct plan — don't worry, we'll walk you through everything!

Ready to dive in? Check out How do I set up my new Greenlight Safe Family device that I bought on Amazon or Shopify? if you're new to Greenlight.

Already a Greenlight customer? No need to start from scratch — you can add your Safe Family device to your existing account right from your app. Find out how here!

Activate your Safe Family device

Once your account is set up and your payment method is confirmed, it's time to bring your device to life! Power it on, pair it with the app, and you're off — activation typically takes just a few minutes.

Ready to get started? Walk through the full activation steps here.

Create Place Alerts

Want to know the moment your child arrives at school or your dog makes a break for the backyard? Place alerts have you covered — you'll get a notification any time your device enters or leaves a location you've set, like home, school, or a grandparent's house.

Start getting those notifications! Find out how to set up and manage your place alerts here.

Add family members as viewers

Safety is a team effort! Give other family members access to your device's location and alerts so everyone stays in the loop — no matter where the day takes you.

Keep the whole family connected. Learn how to add family members as viewers here.

Understand battery life, signal, and location update frequency

The Greenlight app gives you an at-a-glance view of everything happening with your device — connection state, battery level, signal strength, and how often the location is updating.

Want to know what you're looking at? Here's a full breakdown of what you'll see in your device tab.

Adjust how often your device updates its location

By default, your device sends a location update every 5 minutes when it's moving — but you're in control! Dial it up for more frequent updates or dial it down to save battery, whatever works best for your family.

Find the right fit for your family. See how to adjust your location update frequency here.

Trigger an SOS alert

In an emergency, one press of the blue button on top of the device sends an SOS alert — a push notification and SMS message — to the Primary Accountholder and any approved viewers. Once the SOS button is pressed, the device automatically switches to a faster location update mode for the next 60 minutes, so you can track their location more closely until help arrives.

Important: The Safe Family device SOS does not contact 911 or emergency services. If there is a genuine emergency, always call 911 directly.

Want to know exactly how it works? Get the full details on SOS alerts here.

Enable Fall Detection

Peace of mind, automatically. When fall detection is turned on, the device uses its built-in motion sensors to send an alert if it detects a potential fall — no button press needed. This setting is off by default but takes just a moment to turn on.

Ready to turn it on? Here's how to enable fall detection for your device.

Enable Pet Mode

Got a four-legged family member? Pet Mode is made just for them. When it's on, the device only tracks location when movement is detected but won't log location while your pet is riding in a vehicle — so every update reflects where they're actually roaming. This setting is off by default.

Set it up in just a few taps! Learn how to enable Pet Mode here.

Need a hand?

We've got you! If anything isn't working as expected, our troubleshooting guides are here to help you sort it out quickly:

• Having trouble with setup or activation? Visit our setup troubleshooting guide — we'll help you get back on track.
• Location not updating or place alerts not coming through? Visit our location and place alerts troubleshooting guide for step-by-step help.

Still need help? We're here for you. 

Text us at 404-974-3024 | Call us at 888-483-2645