ILSI Member App: Android setup guide

This guide takes about ten minutes. You need your phone, the number registered to your ILSI membership, and a connection for the first sign-in only.

Before you start

• Your phone needs Android 8.0 or newer. To check: open Settings, scroll to About phone, and look for Android version. Most phones sold since 2018 qualify.
• You need about 60 MB of free storage — the app is smaller than that, but Android needs room to install it.
• You must be able to receive SMS on the registered number for the first sign-in. If that SIM is not in the phone right now, see the troubleshooting section below.

Step 1 — Install the app

1. Open the Play Store app (the coloured triangle).
2. Tap the search bar and type ILSI Member.
3. Check the publisher shows as International Legal Support & Investment before installing. If it does not, it is not our app — do not install it, and please tell us.
4. Tap Install and wait for it to finish, then tap Open.

If you were sent an installation file (an .apk) directly by ILSI rather than a store link, Android will ask permission to install it. Only ever accept this for a file that came from ILSI itself — the same prompt is how fraudulent apps get onto phones.

Step 2 — Choose your language

On first opening, the app asks which language you want. It offers the same languages as this website, including Nepali, Arabic, Filipino, Malay, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Punjabi and Bhojpuri. You can change it later under Settings → Language.

Step 3 — Sign in

1. Enter the phone number registered to your membership, including the country code — for example +977 for Nepal, +44 for the United Kingdom.
2. Tap Send code. A six-digit code arrives by SMS, usually within a minute.
3. Type the code. The app signs you in and downloads your card and documents.

If the code does not arrive within two minutes, tap Resend once and wait. Requesting many codes in a row will temporarily lock further requests.

Step 4 — Set a PIN

The app offers to set a four to six digit PIN. Do it: after this, you sign in with the PIN instead of waiting for an SMS, which matters if you change SIM or lose signal. Choose something you will remember but that is not your birth year, and do not write it inside the phone.

If your phone has fingerprint unlock, the app will offer to use it in place of the PIN.

Step 5 — Allow the permissions SOS needs

The app asks for two permissions. Neither is used until you trigger an SOS or turn on check-ins.

• Location — choose While using the app at minimum. Without it, an SOS still reaches ILSI, but without the location that helps someone find you.
• Notifications — needed so you see replies from your adviser and check-in reminders.

To change these later: Settings → Apps → ILSI Member → Permissions.

Step 6 — Check your card works offline

1. Open the Card tab. Your name, member number, tier and QR code appear.
2. Turn on aeroplane mode, then open the Card tab again. It should still display. That is your proof of membership working with no signal.
3. Turn aeroplane mode off again.

Anyone can check the card is genuine by scanning the QR code — it shows only your member number, tier and whether the membership is current. It never reveals your name, phone number or address.

Step 7 — Learn the SOS button before you need it

The red SOS button is on the home screen. Pressing it asks you to choose what is happening — injured, detained, confined, unpaid wages, or something else — then sends an alert to ILSI with your location.

• There is a three-second countdown before it sends, so an accidental press can be cancelled.
• Silent mode sends the alert without any sound or visible change on screen, for situations where being seen asking for help would put you in more danger.
• On a weak connection the alert still sends: a short message goes first, and your location follows when the network allows.

Practise once now, and cancel during the countdown. Knowing where the button is matters more than anything else in this guide.

Step 8 — Add your documents

Open Documents and add photographs of your passport, your contract and your visa. Each file is encrypted on your phone before it is uploaded, so nobody at ILSI or anywhere else can read it without your account.

This matters because employers sometimes hold workers' passports. A photograph you took yourself is not a legal substitute for the document, but it is often enough to start a replacement at your embassy, and it proves what your contract originally said.

Step 9 — Add a family contact

Under Safety → Family, add someone at home you trust. Choose what they may see: whether your membership is current, whether you have an open case, and whether they receive your SOS alerts.

They are texted a private link to the ILSI Family Portal. From it they can raise the alarm if they cannot reach you — which is often how a problem first comes to light — without needing an ILSI account of their own.

Step 10 — Turn on check-ins if you are somewhere risky

Check-ins ask you to confirm you are safe on a schedule you choose, daily or weekly. Miss one and ILSI contacts you; miss the follow-up and your consented family contacts are alerted. Turn them on under Safety → Check-ins.

If something does not work

The SMS code never arrives

Check the number you entered includes the country code and matches the one on your membership. Roaming networks sometimes delay or block automated messages: if you are abroad and nothing arrives, sign in on this website instead, set a PIN under Settings, then use that PIN in the app.

"This number is not registered"

Your membership is under a different number, or the membership has not been activated. Check the number on your membership card, and if it has changed, contact ILSI to update it before travelling.

The app is slow or will not load

Open Settings → Apps → ILSI Member → Storage and tap Clear cache (not Clear storage, which signs you out and removes downloaded documents). Then reopen the app.

The SOS button does not send

An SOS with no connection at all is stored and sent as soon as any network returns. If you are in that situation and the matter is urgent, call your local emergency number and the helpline for your country — the app is not a replacement for either.

You changed phone

Install the app on the new phone and sign in the same way. Your card, documents and case history download again. Then open Settings → Devices on the new phone and remove the old one, so a lost handset cannot still reach your account.

Keeping your account safe

• ILSI will never ask for your PIN or a sign-in code. Anyone who does is attempting fraud, whatever they claim.
• If your phone is lost or stolen, sign in on this website and remove the device under Settings. Then tell ILSI.
• If someone is forcing you to open the app, the silent SOS sends an alert with nothing visible on screen.