S-08 Solutions · Ticketing and fan apps
A safety layer inside your app that works with no signal.
Your app reaches the fans. On a full night, the staff who run the building need a channel that does not fail with the cell network. The Cover4 SDK adds it for staff roles in your app, and can carry the venue's safety broadcast to fans.
For: product and engineering leads at ticketing, fan-engagement and event-app companies, and their venue and festival clients.
01 The gap in fan apps
Your app goes quiet in the building when the network does.
Crowds break cell service
Stadium data uploads failed up to 46% of the time on game day in a 2026 preprint; one carrier failed 16% of data connection attempts at a Super Bowl. A push notification cannot reach a phone with no data.
No way to ask for help
A fan in trouble cannot reach staff from the seat, and staff orders ride the same failing network.
The result
The app people rely on is silent when it matters most.
Sources: arXiv 2607.16008 (preprint); RCR Wireless, February 10, 2010. Checked October 30, 2026.
02 Fans and staff in one app Illustrative
A shelter order reaches fans; HELP reaches staff.
- 01
Broadcast
The venue sends SHELTER IN PLACE to one section. Built · flag
- 02
Fans see it
Your app shows it with no data, carried by Cover4 nodes.
- 03
HELP to staff
A fan sends HELP with typed text; the nearest staff see it.
- 04
Staff answer
Staff orders go to staff only, answered by name.
- 05
Record
Every broadcast and HELP is logged for the venue.
Fans receive broadcasts and can send HELP to staff; both are built behind a feature flag and not field-tested. There is no fan-to-fan chat or voice; ordinary chat stays on the cell network.
03 Integration SDK 0.2.0
About 30 lines of Cover4 code in our sample staff app.
| Platforms | iOS and Android, same version and API shape, with React Native and Flutter wrappers. |
|---|---|
| You build | The banner, the CONFIRM and I NEED HELP buttons, one backend call for the enrolment after your sign-in, and your lock-screen notification. |
| We do | Bluetooth scanning and sending, retries, signature checks, one alarm per alert, signed replies, the nodes, the control center and the site setup. |
| Identity | Users enrol through the login they already have. No new account. |
| Attendee data | Staff mode leaves attendee features and attendee data untouched. |
| Licence | A missing licence never blocks an alert or a reply. |
| SDK 0.2.0, November 4, 2026: tested on emulators and our digital twin; not yet inside a partner app or on real staff phones. | |
04 What you keep, what Cover4 adds
Your app, your sign-in, your brand.
You keep
- Your app, your users, your login and your brand.
- Your attendee features and data, unchanged.
- Your venue clients' PA, radios and alerting platform.
Cover4 adds
- A staff-safety feature for your venue and festival clients, inside the app they already use.
- For each client: orders that land without cell or Wi-Fi, confirmation by name, HELP with text, and a tamper-evident record.
- Optionally, the venue's safety broadcast to fans and fan HELP to staff.
05 Proof and security
Twin-tested SDK, bench-tested delivery.
| Stage | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Twin | 2026-11-04 | SDK 0.2.0 on iOS and Android, one API: a phone running only the SDK received a STOP, answered SAFE and NEED HELP, and the control center named the person. |
| Bench | 2026-10-25 | Two phones in airplane mode, never paired: a signed STOP acknowledged by name in 13.4 s and 18.5 s, reading and tap included (filmed). |
| Bench | 2026-10-26 | STOP confirmed by name in 3.1–4.6 s, tap included, Wi-Fi off. |
| Not yet shown | open | The SDK inside a partner app. Battery use on real phones, measured in the pilot. |
Keys stay on the phone
Enrolments are sealed to each phone and signed by the site, so your backend never holds a device key.
No names on air
Replies carry per-event codes. Nothing on air links a phone across events.
HELP is encrypted
HELP messages and replies are encrypted end to end. Security details
- Not yet inside any partner app; your pilot would be the first.
- On iPhone, a force-quit app or Bluetooth switched off stops alerts. Alarms through silent mode need Apple's Critical Alerts entitlement, which Apple grants to your app on application; we help prepare it.
- Voice is not on phones. Fan broadcast and fan HELP are behind a feature flag and not field-tested.
A 60-day pilot at one venue, inside your app.
The SDK in a test build of your app; staff tags, nodes and the control center at one venue; fan broadcasts and HELP tested in a drill. Pass mark: every staff order confirmed by name, and every HELP received or flagged. The first step is a technical call, then the SDK and sample apps under NDA.
partners@getcover4.com