ADT ‘My Safety’ turns your phone into an always-ready, portable security system [Gallery]

Ben Schoon | Apr 14 2026 - 6:01 am PT

ADT is launching a new feature for its ADT+ service, with “My Safety” able to turn your phone into a portable security system, including a useful always-listening “Emergency Phrase.”

Rolling out now to all ADT+ subscribers as a part of their existing plan, “My Safety” is an in-app feature that gives users three new tools to increase their safety on the go, leveraging ADT’s existing resources.

This includes the ability to directly call or text an ADT agent if you feel unsafe, with that agent able to contact emergency services on your behalf, 24/7. Almost an extension of that, a “Safety Timer” offers check-ins at time intervals that will dispatch emergency services in those check-ins are missed. An ADT agent can also use the app to track your location “during a set time interval” when Safety Timer is in use to help direct emergency services.

The final pillar here is also perhaps the most interesting, “Emergency Phrase.”

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This feature uses your phone to create an always-listening alert. You can set up a secret phrase in the app and, when active, the phone will listen for that phrase even if the ADT app is not actively open. If you say the phrase, ADT’s monitoring team steps in and can contact emergency services for you.

ADT explains:

Emergency call or text: Discreetly initiate a phone call or SMS to an ADT agent when feeling unsafe. ADT’s 24/7 monitoring team will contact emergency services on your behalf.

Safety Timer: Enables proactive monitoring when users may feel vulnerable, with emergency services dispatched if check-ins are missed. Using the Safety Timer, an ADT agent can track your location during a set time interval.

Emergency Phrase: A proactive safety feature that activates an SOS alert to ADT. Speak a “secret phrase” and ADT’s 24/7 monitoring team will contact emergency services on your behalf.

For “Emergency Phrase,” saying the chosen phrase out loud, even in the context of a sentence or conversation, triggers the alert, at which point you receive a notification before ADT contacts emergency services on your behalf. As such, ADT recommends you use a phrase that uses a combination of two words that are distinct, don’t include names, and also avoid words that have something to do with an emergency such as “help” or “fire.” The app asks you to say the phrase out loud a few times so it knows what to look for.

The idea is excellent, and having ADT’s resources at the helm offers some great peace of mind. If you’re already using ADT for your home security, too, this could potentially be a better value than some other personal safety apps, services, or devices out there.

You do need ADT Professional Monitoring for this, which starts at $24.99/month, and “My Safety” can be used by any full users (so not Trusted Neighbors) on your account. Each member on the account can only see their own activity.