VS Connects - Instant Public Messaging for Counties and Communities

The safest way home is the one you know is open

Instant public messaging by VS Connects

Hyper-local broadcasting on a protected coast-to-coast network

No per message charge. No per recipient charge. No broken budgets–just an open channel to your residents at all times.

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REAL TIME

Protects life and property during active emergencies + recovery

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INTEROPERABLE

Maintains a public alert history for mutual aid and outside responders

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CROSS-JURISDICTIONAL

Aggregates real-time updates across all enabled U.S. jurisdictions

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VERIFIED

Distributes lock-screen alerts exclusively from confirmed public information sources

How Helene Transformed Emergency Communication

VS Connects was developed after a simple question from a Sheriff:

"Why can every app on a resident's phone reach the lock screen instantly—except the agencies that protect them?"

Public safety agencies were posting urgent messages to social media on Monday that residents wouldn't see until Wednesday. Important updates were buried under ads, politics, and fraud. Some systems reached only a fraction of the county. Others required slow signup processes or charged more when usage increased.

And none of those systems made it possible for anyone outside the county to track developments in a single, authoritative, real-time public record.

The Sheriff explained the need clearly: One channel. Instant delivery. County-verified sources. Safe, quiet, and accessible to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

VS Connects is the answer.

Today, counties use it to send real-time alerts, urgent updates, and operational messages directly to residents' lock screens—no scrolling, no searching, no algorithm standing in the way.

The system works because it was built with public safety from day one, connecting multiple counties in a single, verified network that residents and mutual aid partners can rely on.

Your Public Safety Broadcast Channel

"The purpose of our public safety broadcast channel is to keep people informed and apprised of situations that are ongoing and developing, sometimes rapidly, that have potential for loss of life or property. Our public safety broadcast plan is to keep residents informed as quickly as possible. If they're informed, they can make informed decisions. The method or the mechanism that gets critical information to them is the public safety broadcast channel."

— Lead Development Partner, Chief Deputy Todd Wingate, Clay County NC Sheriff's Office

Two Tracks: Keepers and Watchers

KEEPERS—FOR AGENCIES

Broadcast and Publish Instantly

Broadcast:
An instant messaging channel built for the people responsible for keeping a community informed and safe.

Publish:
A single, authoritative public record of what is happening in your county—updated live so outside agencies and mutual aid partners can respond without delay.

Send messages anytime
Unlimited recipients at no extra cost
Simple to use—no training days or certification
Works for all public safety agencies and county offices
Broadcasts instantly to every subscriber's lock screen
Designed for reliable, everyday use
No ads, no politics, no outside noise
100% verified agency channels
Standardized weekly testing to keep systems active

VS Connects is easier to operate than social media, faster than email, and more trusted than anything running through Big Tech.

A county can roll out the system in two weeks with full coordination, set-up, and support included.

WATCHERS—FOR THE PUBLIC

Choose Who Can Reach Your Lock Screen

Receive:
Live updates from your public safety agency, local businesses – even your entire town can go instantly to your lock screen.

Done:
Just a simple announcement received. Nothing to like, comment on, or respond to.

Live updates delivered directly to your lockscreen. Shown: Real-time updates about flooding in Clay County on April 7, 2025

Every Public Safety channel has a complete public record published on every app and Virtualstorefronts.com with image and text posts up to 20,000 characters for as much detail as needed.

Watchers are residents who choose who they want messages from:

Public safety
County government
Local leadership
Local businesses
School systems
Utilities
Local news sources and newspapers

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"It's a state of mind, a way of thinking... You're not thinking about the technology, right? You're thinking about what the technology brings you." – Frank Weber, Beta User Review 2025

Your lock screen becomes a clean, local, reliable source of information you actually care about.

No ads. No politics. No fake accounts. No national noise.

Just the people and places that matter to your everyday life.

How VS Connects Compares

Feature	VS Connects App	Facebook / Social	Nixle / Legacy Systems
Delivery Control	You control delivery	No control	You control / automated
Message Awareness	Trusted local source delivers message	Most residents never know the message exists	Trusted source delivers message
Message Retrieval	Information comes to you	Information must be hunted for in a feed	Delivered to device by text, phone, or email
Delivery Method	Instant lock screen push notification	Algorithm-filtered feed, unpredictable	Mixed methods, operator bottleneck
Broadcast Channel Capacity	Supports multiple agencies easily	Complex Facebook Page Manager rules	Only trained operators
Information Environment	No fraud. No politics. No metered costs.	High fraud, AI content, trolling, politics	Emergency-only channel; strict limits. Metered usage.
Public Records Integrity	Complete published historical record	Severely degraded	No published public record
System Validation	Weekly testing standard	None	Optional
Agency Support	7am–7pm text support, usually under 30 minutes	No civic agency support	One technical support call per month
Public User Support	Included ongoing support	None	Automated, limited access to humans

Welcome to Main Street 2.0
Where information comes to you.

Government & Civic Inquiries

We’re ready to meet with your Sheriff, Emergency Manager or your complete Public Safety Team