Show HN: I made an emergency page for my family. You should too

2 hours ago (help.delduca.org)

I have a bad memory and can't memorize some important numbers, so I created this project.

I've always been concerned about being without my phone (getting robbed - which is common in Brazil - running out of battery, having it break, etc.), so I decided to create a page that sends SMS messages (LLM-summarized) and emails with more detailed information such as geolocation, IP address, and the full message.

It’s a simple page that allows sending one or more messages, with recipients being myself and other people - for example, in case I or they need help or need to communicate something important.

The source code is available at https://github.com/skhaz/dokku/tree/main/apps/help

14 comments

delduca

Reply
sixhobbits  12 minutes ago

I did something similar, just a photo of handwritten phone mumbers and an easy to remember URL that's not indexed.

Anyone will hopefully lend you a phone if you're in a pinch but I realized that I don't know very numbers to actually call and it's kinda weird to start using email/Whatsapp whatever on a strangers phone compared to asking to visit one site and make one call

cbracketdash  44 minutes ago

Why is it more likely you'll have internet access when you don't have a phone? If you happen to find a computer, what's insufficient about writing an email?

  • SoftTalker  2 minutes ago

    How will you log into your email from a strange computer without your phone. Gmail has required 2-factor auth for a long time.

  • delduca  36 minutes ago

    My wife doesn't check email frequently, so SMS (or even better, WhatsApp) would be more reliable.

    Maybe an alternative is to store the WhatsApp contact information of people who could help behind a password.

    Then, if I need help, I can ask to borrow someone's phone on the street. If they don't have WhatsApp, I can just make a regular phone call instead.

    • fn-mote  21 minutes ago

      > If they don't have WhatsApp

      Is this really likely? I would guess only 70 year olds don't have WhatsApp.

      Seems more likely you forget the impoprtant phone numbers because you never enter them manually.

      4 replies →

zamadatix  19 minutes ago

Before MFA was mandated on every service this was an easy problem to solve. Now when you lose your phone while out and about you lose your ability to log in to even Dave's Speed Cow Milker's Enthusiast Forum unless you're at home with another computer already logged in to various things.