Rave vs QuickSecure
Rave and QuickSecure both help K-12 staff get help fast, but they are different kinds of product. Rave, now part of Motorola Solutions, is a public-safety software company: its Panic Button app places a 9-1-1 call from a staff phone and can connect the school to the local 9-1-1 center. QuickSecure is one school safety system: it tells staff what to do next in an emergency, shows administrators every room as it happens, and runs the safety work in between, from drills to repair tickets, on the same map.
By QuickSecure · Last verified October 27, 2026
What is Rave?
Rave, now part of Motorola Solutions, is a public-safety software company. Its Rave Panic Button app turns a staff phone into a panic button: five buttons built on the Standard Response Protocol (Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate and Shelter) each place a 9-1-1 call while sharing the location and building details and alerting staff on site. Where the local 9-1-1 center works with Rave, call-takers can also see floor plans and live video.
For schools, Motorola packages the app as K-12 Resilience, adding Clever rosters, campus maps, response plans and family reunification. An optional Wearable Panic Button, a badge or fob, works with Bluetooth beacons installed throughout the building. Rave Alert sends mass notifications by text, email, landline and public screens, and the same products serve government, businesses and healthcare as well as schools.
What is QuickSecure?
QuickSecure is one school safety platform, built entirely for pre-K through 12, and it is made of modules. Each module does its job on its own, and each one you add connects to the others, so the whole system knows more. Together they link the emergency response to the work of every other day (drills, procedures, tips, repair tickets, connected devices, cameras and safety equipment) through the same campus, staff and schedules. That is what lets QuickSecure tell staff what to do next and show administrators what is happening, live.
Getting 911 on the way is one part of the response; the rest happens inside the building. A teacher raises an Alert from the Panic app or a physical panic button, Dispatch sends it to 911 through RapidSOS, and responders can join the Alert's thread to read what staff are seeing. At the same time, every staff member gets the steps for that emergency and their room on their own phone, with a roster check that flags any missing student, while administrators watch every room turn locked on the map.
Between emergencies, the same platform keeps working. An urgent tip from the anonymous tip line reaches staff phones as a critical alert, a camera that goes offline opens a repair ticket for the right team, and drills run on the real Alert flow before they become compliance records.
How do Rave and QuickSecure compare?
| Rave | QuickSecure | |
|---|---|---|
| Raising an alert | ||
| How staff raise one | Press one of five buttons in the app: Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate or Shelter, or a custom set of buttons your school sets up. Rave says an emergency is indicated in 1.5 seconds on average | Tap any of your school's Alert types in Panic, preset or custom, each with its own workflow, or press a physical panic button. Every Alert asks for a confirmation, the buttons you choose need a press-and-hold, and an Alert raised far from campus is refused |
| What staff carry | Their own phone with the Rave Panic Button app, or an optional Wearable Panic Button: a badge or fob with one button and a battery that lasts three months or more per charge | The phone they already carry (iPhone or Android). No wearable |
| What gets installed | Nothing for the app. The optional wearable works with a network of Bluetooth beacons installed throughout the building and connects over LoRaWAN, independent of GPS or Wi-Fi | No wall hardware. A small on-site bridge connects the cameras and door controllers you already own; physical panic buttons are optional |
| Silent or announced | A press places a 9-1-1 call and notifies chosen staff at the same time. Activations can also broadcast to digital signs, desktops, sirens and other devices | Your school chooses whether an Alert goes out silently or announced |
| During the emergency | ||
| What each staff member does | Pre-planned protocols launch the moment help is called. Pressing Evacuate or Shelter prompts the person to share hazards or assembly points, and the app holds procedures, facility maps and protocols | Gets the steps on their phone. Lockdown: a checklist, then "I'm secured." Fire: their assembly zone on a map, worked out from their schedule, then a roster check that flags any missing student |
| What administrators see | A map-based picture of the incident with live status updates by location, injuries or requests for help. K-12 Resilience adds digital rosters to check each student's status | Every room on the floor plan turns locked, unlocked or empty as teachers check in. Who has secured, who hasn't, and a one-tap re-send to anyone who hasn't answered |
| Updates and responders | Status checks keep staff and first responders informed as the situation changes. On Motorola's CommandCentral Aware map, a press shows up beside 9-1-1 calls, nearby cameras and units | One thread per Alert that police, fire and EMS can join, plus a running summary for anyone joining late |
| Reaching 911 | The phone calls 9-1-1 (or a number you choose) and shares location and facility details. Where the local 9-1-1 center partners with the school, a press alerts it instantly, and Rave 911 Suite gives call-takers location data, live video, floor plans and text-from-911 | Dispatch sends Fire, Medical and Lockdown Alerts to 911 through RapidSOS. Switched on for each school with two people signing off |
| Drills | ||
| Planning the year | Built-in drill management, with drill forms each school can customise | An annual planner built from your state's drill requirements, with prep briefs and NIMS-aligned roles for each drill |
| Running a drill | A practice mode in the app, for drills covering all types of emergencies | On the same phone flow as a real Alert, marked as a drill: fire, lockdown, weather, earthquake and AED drills, announced or unannounced |
| Proof for compliance | Compliance reports by building, date range and drill type, with the date, time, participants and campuses for each drill | Compliance reports show which required drills are done and which are still due |
| Every other day | ||
| Procedures (SOPs) | A content directory in the app holds procedures, facility maps and protocols. Rave Collaborate, a separate product, turns procedures into task checklists during an incident | On every staff phone, with read acknowledgments, version history and review reminders |
| Anonymous tip line | Not listed among Rave's K-12 products* | A web page in the reporter's own language. Each tip is scored 0–100 for urgency; the most urgent go to staff phones as a critical alert |
| Messages | Rave Alert reaches people by text, email, landline, social media, public screens and FEMA IPAWS, by site, department, custom group or an area drawn on a map. Staff Assist messages on-site groups day to day | You choose who gets it (everyone, a campus, a group or one person), what kind of message it is, and how it's delivered, from a routine notice to a critical alert |
| Repair requests | Not on Rave's public pages* | Ticketing: IT, facilities, nurse-supply and safety requests from the Panic app or Nexus, routed to the right team |
| Device monitoring | Not on Rave's public pages* | System health: a camera offline for five minutes opens a ticket, which closes itself when the camera comes back |
| Cameras | Activations can broadcast to video systems, and Rave 911 Suite can stream live video to 9-1-1 | Up to four live cameras at once, picked from the floor plan. Threat detection (Beta) runs on the same cameras |
| Safety equipment | Not on Rave's public pages* | AEDs, extinguishers, alarms and exits as points on the floor plan, with inspection schedules emailed to the person who does them |
| Visitors | Avigilon Alta Visitor, Motorola's guest check-in software, is listed as a compatible product | Visitor management: kiosk sign-in |
| Setup and buying | ||
| Built for | State and local government, schools, businesses and healthcare facilities; K-12 Resilience is the school package | Pre-K through 12 schools only |
| Floor plans | Rave Facility, sold as an add-on, lets you share building details with public safety ahead of an emergency | QuickSecure draws them from your architectural drawings and updates them whenever you ask |
| Connects to | Clever rosters, digital signs, desktop alerts, access controls, sirens and other connected devices, plus Motorola's own CommandCentral Aware | Your student information system, single sign-on, Axis, Avigilon, UniFi and RTSP cameras, Ubiquiti and Axis door control |
| How it's sold | Separate products (Panic Button, K-12 Resilience, the wearable, Rave Alert), with Facility and Command View as paid add-ons | One module at a time, so you start with what you need and add the rest later |
* Checked against Rave's pages on the Motorola Solutions website (ravemobilesafety.com now redirects there) on October 27, 2026. Rave may offer it without describing it there; ask them, and tell us if we've missed something.
Where Rave is the stronger fit
Your local 9-1-1 center already works with Rave
Rave 911 Suite gives call-takers location data, live video, floor plans and text-from-911, and a partnering center is alerted the moment a button is pressed.
Your state or county already provides it
Some states have funded Rave Panic Button for every public school district; check whether yours does.
Your state law or district policy calls for a wearable
The Wearable Panic Button is a badge or fob; a phone app is not a wearable device. Check your state's wording.
You want one alert system for the wider community
Rave Alert reaches phones, landlines, social media, public screens and FEMA IPAWS, and is FedRAMP Moderate certified.
Where QuickSecure is the stronger fit
You want the response inside the building run end to end
Every staff member's steps by room, roster checks and administrators watching rooms turn locked, alongside Dispatch to 911.
You want a tip line in the same system
Each tip is scored 0–100 for urgency, and the most urgent reach staff phones as a critical alert.
You want cameras and safety equipment looked after too
A camera offline for five minutes opens a repair ticket, and AEDs and extinguishers carry inspection schedules sent to the person who checks them.
You want drills on the same system
Drills are planned from your state's requirements, run on the real Alert flow and written up as compliance reports.
Questions to ask any vendor
- After a teacher presses the button, what does the system tell them to do?
- Can administrators see which rooms are locked right now?
- During a fire evacuation, how do teachers account for every student?
- What stops a drill from ever reaching 911?
- Who builds our floor plans, and who updates them when a room changes?
- What happens when Wi-Fi, cellular or building power goes down?
- What hardware gets installed, and who maintains it?
See QuickSecure with your own campus
We set up your floor plans and maps, and walk your team through an Alert and a Drill.