SPOT Connect turns your smartphone into a satellite communicator by using the GPS satellite system to determine your location and global communication satellites to transmit that information to your contacts and emergency response personnel from virtually anywhere on the planet. You can update Twitter and Facebook, send short email and text messages, and in the case of a critical emergency, send an SOS message requesting emergency assistance. The SPOT Connect app runs on your smartphone and pairs with the SPOT Connect device via Bluetooth. Bluetooth is a short range wireless connectivity standard that allows electronic devices to communicate with one another, and pairing is simply establishing a link between two electronic devices. You can use the smartphone to operate all the modes of SPOT Connect and access optional features like Type & Send, which lets you send short emails, text messages, or post messages to social networking sites like Facebook. The SPOT Connect device receives location information from GPS satellites and, when instructed by the smartphone application, sends location information and short messages through a commercial satellite system. These satellites relay your message to your contacts or in case of an SOS message, to the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC). The SOS feature can also be activated directly with the button on the SPOT Connect device, should your smartphone stop functioning. The "Getting Started" and "Initial Setup/Test" sections of this SPOT Connect User Manual step through all aspects of the setup, testing, and operation of the SPOT Connect device. Be sure to go through all setup actions in these sections prior to using SPOT Connect in the field.