Beta Access

Here is how you can help

Before you begin — read this first

What is Shepard's Beacon?

When someone goes missing, the first hours matter most. Shepard's Beacon is a missing-persons awareness and search-coordination platform that connects everyday people who might spot something with the law enforcement officers working to bring the missing home.

With the free iPhone and Android app, community members can see missing persons in their area, send in tips directly from the app, and access contact information provided by law enforcement. Verified officers receive secure, investigative access to the tips in their jurisdiction, backed by AI tools that help match photos and voice details across reports, always reviewed by a human. Community members can also join authorized search parties to help on the ground.

Shepard's Beacon strengthens the hands of law enforcement rather than working around them — giving officers more eyes and faster tips while protecting every family's information with enterprise-grade security. Operated by Shepard's Collective Ministries, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it exists for one purpose: to bring more missing and trafficked people home.

Use a practice case. Not a real person.This beta runs on a test environment. Please invent the person you report — a made-up name, a made-up address, made-up details. Start the first name with TEST (for example, TEST Jane Doe) so we can tell practice reports apart from anything real.

Use your own real phone number and email. This is the one exception. The app sends you a secure sign-in link, and we need to confirm that link actually arrives. Your contact details are used for the beta only.

You do not need to be an expert.There is no wrong way to use the app. If you get stuck, that is not your mistake — it is the exact thing we need to know about. Note where it happened and keep going.

What you'll test: describing the person, adding photos, submitting the report, and getting back into your case with a secure link. What you won't see yet: volunteer mobilization, flyers, tips, and search coordination. Those are in active development and are not part of this round.

Tap the link for your phone. That's it — no invite code and no waiting to be added.

iPhone

  1. If you don't already have TestFlight (Apple's free beta-testing app), install it from the App Store
  2. On your phone, tap the join link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/6Zrz3gdG
  3. In TestFlight, tap Accept, then Install.
  4. Open Shepard's Beacon from your home screen.

Requires iOS 16 or later. You do not need a "Redeem Code" — if you ever land on a screen asking for a TestFlight redeem code, you took a wrong turn; go back and tap the join link above instead.


Android

  1. On your phone, tap the join link: https://play.google.com/apps/internaltest/4701035884599268938
  2. Tap Become a tester, then Download it on Google Play.
  3. Install and open Shepard's Beacon.

If you previously installed a test build, uninstall it completely first.

Step 2 — Tap "Report a Missing Person"

Open Shepard's Beacon. On the first screen, tap Report a Missing Person. 

Step 3 — Answer the questions and add photos

The app walks you through it one question at a time, the way a person would ask — describe the person you're reporting, in your own words.

Have a few made-up details ready before you start — it goes faster, and it's closer to how a real reporter would arrive:

  • You'll be asked if you have already contacted law enforcement, for this exercise, say "Yes" - THIS IS ONLY TESTING
  • A name (starting with TEST) and roughly how old they are
  • What they look like and what they were wearing
  • Where and when they were last seen (use a real local address or landmark such as "McDonalds on W. Broad St and Arthur Ashe Blvd in Richmond, VA")
  • When it asks for photos, add 1–3. Any photo will do — a stock image or your image. Only upload a photos of a person who has consented.

Don't study the screen. React the way you would if you were rushed and worried. That's the condition the app has to survive.

Step 4 — Add your contact details and submit

At the end, before you submit, the app asks how to reach you. Use your own real phone number and email here — this is the one place real details matter, because it's how your sign-in link gets to you.

Please type — don't dictate — your phone number and email. ASR can mishear digits and spelling, and a wrong contact detail here means the link never arrives. Then submit.

Step 5 — Get back into your case

After you submit, we'll text or email you a secure sign-in link. Tap it, and you should land on your case.

This step matters more than it looks. In a real case, this link is how a family stays connected to their report. If it doesn't arrive, or arrives and doesn't work, we need to know immediately.

 Step 6 — Tell us what broke

[ Open the feedback form → ] (https://forms.gle/yc3WVa2BXyFJ58QY7)

10 questions, about 5 minutes. Please fill it out the same day, while the friction is still fresh.

Be blunt. "It was fine" helps no one. The moment you hesitated, re-read a question, or thought what is it asking me? — that's the moment we're paying you in gratitude to describe.

Something urgent or broken?

Email info@shepardsbeacon.org — screenshots welcome.

If you are dealing with an actual missing person, do not use this app. Call 911 or your local law enforcement agency immediately. There is no waiting period to report someone missing.

Join our early access and help reunite families faster with cutting-edge missing persons search technology that transforms lives globally.
CURRENTLY OPEN TO BETA PARTICIPANTS

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