Official emergency apps for the Alps and the Pyrenees

Rega: the Swiss air rescue app

Rega, Switzerland's air rescue service, says its app raises the alarm with one tap: your location goes automatically to its operations centre and a phone call is set up with it. The flight coordinator also sees extra details on screen, such as your phone's battery level.

Its requirements are specific. Share My Location must be enabled in the phone's settings, the phone needs a SIM card, and there must be at least minimal network coverage. With a foreign SIM, sending your live position needs mobile data, and Rega warns that roaming charges may apply. If the app cannot raise the alarm, the number is 1414.

There is a catch for visitors: Rega says the app is in the app stores of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria, Italy and France, and not in others. Near the border, Rega advises trying its app first; if you are sure you are outside Switzerland, call the local rescue service or 112.

Spain: My112, where your region has joined

My112 calls the 112 emergency centre from inside the app and sends your current position to the operator handling the call. Its store listing names the 112 centres integrated with it, and for the Pyrenees the relevant ones are Catalonia and Navarra. Aragón is not on that list. The Community of Madrid describes My112 as its official app for contacting its 112 centre.

Two details matter in the mountains. The 112 service of Castilla-La Mancha explains that a setting in the app sends an SMS with your coordinates when you have no data connection, which it notes happens often in natural areas. And the listing itself warns that continuous use of GPS in the background can drastically reduce battery life.

The Basque Government has its own app, 112 SOS Deiak. It places a call to 112 that includes your GPS position and, when speaking is not possible, offers a voice-free route where you choose the type of emergency.

Italy: Where ARE U

On the Italian side of the Alps, the official app is Where ARE U, developed by AREU, the Lombardy regional emergency agency. Its listing says it calls 112 where the single emergency number service is in place and sends your location data automatically, along with the details you have saved in the app, such as contacts to call in case of emergency.

Two features suit the mountains and visitors. A silent call and a chat with the 112 operations centre let you report an emergency when you cannot speak. And abroad, the app switches from 112 to the emergency number of the country you are in. To use its location services you have to register, free, inside the app, which is a job for home, not for the trail.

Where no app applies

For the French and Austrian sides of the Alps, for the French Pyrenees and for Aragón, we did not find an official general emergency app comparable to these three. That is not a gap in protection: 112 is free from any phone across the EU, and many phones can send their position to the emergency centre during the call on their own, as our guide to calling for help with no signal explains.

When there is no network at all, none of these apps can help either. Rega says so directly: without any coverage the app cannot raise the alarm. That is where satellite messaging on recent phones comes in, covered in our guide to emergency SOS via satellite.

What these apps need from your phone

• Location switched on: Rega and My112 both depend on it to send your position.
• Some mobile network: Rega needs at least minimal coverage; My112 can fall back to an SMS with coordinates when data is missing.
• Mobile data abroad: Rega needs it to share a live position from a foreign SIM.
• A line that can call: the alarm call goes through the phone's voice line, not through a data-only plan.
• Battery: GPS running in the background drains it, and Rega's coordinators see your battery level for a reason.

If your data comes from a travel eSIM, your usual line still handles the calls and any setup codes by SMS, so keep it switched on. A Snoozim Europe pack includes Switzerland, so Rega's live position travels on data you have already paid for; Andorra is not part of that pack.

Set them up before the first walk

• Install the app for each country on your route at home, on Wi-Fi, and check you can find it in your app store.
• Complete any registration and initial setup, and fill in your emergency contacts.
• Use Rega's test alarm, which it recommends to check that an alert would work. Rega notes it also works abroad, and that your operator may charge for it.
• Save 112 and, for Switzerland, 1414 in your contacts.

Then think about power. A full battery, a battery pack and the phone kept warm in an inside pocket do more for these apps than any setting; our guides to signal in the mountains and battery drain while travelling cover the rest.