
Kitestring: An app that checks up on you - stepstep
https://www.kitestring.io/
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morgante
It's sad that a service like this exists. Taking a walk isn't a horribly
dangerous activity and it's sad that our society has conditioned us to believe
it might be.

Live a little.

EDIT: Sorry for the overly negative comment. I'd never personally want this,
but Afforess makes a great comment about alternative demographics.

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Afforess
I live nearby a older grandparent right now. I was over at her house a week
ago. While I was there, she asked if I could help her change the light-bulbs
in her garage. Actually, she could change them herself, she just didn't want
to use a 3ft step ladder alone, because she fell, it could have been hours
before someone discovered her.

After that, I suggested she could text me before she does a similar task
again, and if I didn't get a "all clear" text within a few minutes, to call
and/or investigate. She is pretty savvy with her iPhone and agreed this was a
good idea.

This seems to be exactly what this service offers, without having another
person needed.

~~~
morgante
You're right. I didn't think of alternative demographics where taking a walk
has a statistically higher chance of being dangerous.

Sorry for forgetting that not everyone is healthy and young. Though I fear
it's likely going to be an uphill battle for a little app like this to reach
the people who aren't.

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chimeracoder
> Though I fear it's likely going to be an uphill battle for a little app like
> this to reach the people who aren't.

Young people can use this too. Just one example: at a "safe sex" seminar
during freshman orientation, the organizer recommended letting your roommate
or a friend know where you are going before meeting someone off of Grindr[0],
etc. At the time I heard that, I actually thought of making something like
this, though I never actually got around to it. I'm glad that someone has,
though.

Another example: I haven't had to travel by plane since this summer, but my
friends have told me to let them know the next time I have to go through
security, so they can know that I made it through safely.

These are both somewhat niche use cases, sure, but the product is general
enough that it can satisfy both (and, I suspect, many others). The concept of
a "dead man's switch" is certainly not new or obscure.

As you can see, the application mimics behaviors that already exist in the
real world. So, their challenge will not be finding real-life uses for this
application, but rather marketing it in a way that people _understand_ the
variety of things that they can use it for.

[0] Grindr actually didn't exist then - it was probably Cragislist or
something. Also, it wasn't really a "safe sex" seminar - Columbia calls their
anti-sexual violence training their "Consent" campaign (colloquially referred
to as "Consent is Sexy": [http://health.columbia.edu/services/svprp/advocacy-
outreach](http://health.columbia.edu/services/svprp/advocacy-outreach)), but I
digress.

~~~
morgante
Fair enough. There are definitely use cases for this, including some that I
myself might consider (such as when I go out on random solo backpacking trips
in the desert).

So it's more an issue with the marketing choice of using taking a walk as the
example, which I think is one of the worst possible options and possibly
perpetuates a culture of fear.

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lowglow
I can see this going really wrong -- I tend to forget things. Also, the value
prop needs a bit of work. Show me the app or something. I want to feel like I
trust this app.

Also, is this app profiting off of fear mongering? It's an interesting sector
of technology that has sold to millions of people around the world. [See:
Antivirus, Home Security Sytems, Insurance, etc]

~~~
munificent
> I tend to forget things.

I assume that's why it texts _you_ before it texts your emergency contacts.

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elwell
I wonder what the text says:

> "Are you okay? (Please reply yes or no)"

Kidnapper hears phone vibrate... reads text... responds "yes".

What if your phone has no service at the time of text?

What if you forget and your leave your phone in a different room?

I suppose it all comes down to how your emergency contact choose to handle the
situation. It's not as if it automatically calls 911 (unless that's what you
make you emerg. contact?

~~~
JimDabell
I built an app like this a couple of years ago:

[http://www.staysafeapp.com](http://www.staysafeapp.com)

When the time is up, you have to put a PIN in to give it the okay. There's a
duress PIN, so even in the scenario where a kidnapper forces you to disable
the app, it still achieves its goal. The alert is triggered from the server,
so even if they smash your phone it still works (albeit without any more
location tracking, obviously).

There's ways to handle most worst case scenarios, so long as you accept the
possibility of false positives.

~~~
elwell
Sounds like a good idea.

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wikyd
I love this idea! I wanted something like this for kiteboarding, actually,
which an interesting coincidence given the name.

Some UX feedback: You should warn the user in advance that you are going to
send an SMS to their phone number to confirm the number. After getting the
first SMS to confirm my account, I started to add my emergency contact. I
stopped, though, because I was worried that you might send an SMS to them
asking to confirm their number, status as emergency contact, etc. The UI
doesn't make it clear what will happen when I add them as a contact.

~~~
stepstep
Great point. (BTW. It doesn't ask your contacts to confirm their numbers, and
you can list yourself as an emergency contact to test it out.)

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jnorthrop
While the concept of this app is noble, why would anyone give up there phone
number, full name and location to a site that says absolutely nothing about
what they will do with that data.

There is a privacy policy and terms of use on the site, but those only cover
use of the website itself and mostly just protect the site creator.

There is a significant revenue opportunity to gather this information and sell
it and if that is the intent it should be clearly stated. If that isn't the
intent, then they are potentially losing users by not yelling that from the
rooftops.

~~~
stepstep
Totally. We certainly have no intent to sell your phone number.

We only ask for your full name because we think that will better identify you
in case of an emergency. (But you can put anything there.) And we actually
don't need your location. We do need your phone number, though, so we can
communicate with you on the go.

I'll think of ways to make this more clear.

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stepstep
Hi everyone! I made this app, and I just added an FAQ with some of your
questions: [https://www.kitestring.io/faq](https://www.kitestring.io/faq)

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fit2rule
Or .. you could use a Fall Detector app:

[https://play.google.com/store/search?q=fall%20detector&c=app...](https://play.google.com/store/search?q=fall%20detector&c=apps)

There are plenty of them. They watch your activity, if you're moving around,
and if the phone detects you have fallen over, it sends alerts to your
configured SMS/Twitter contact.

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dapak
I wish there was a bit more depth to describing this service before I just
hand over a name and number to it.

~~~
stepstep
I hear you! Just added an FAQ:
[https://www.kitestring.io/faq](https://www.kitestring.io/faq)

I'm also happy answer any questions here or via contact@kitestring.io.

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ccma
So what is this? A text only service? A web app? Native phone app?

I am on a tablet, so maybe the site isn't showing me all there is to see but I
can't figure out what this this is without signing up. All there is to read is
three sentences in the hero.

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stepstep
It's a mobile-friendly web app (and you also use SMS to interact with it). No
native app (yet!). I just added an FAQ at the bottom. Sorry for the confusion!

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gfalcao
Beautiful product, both aesthetically and conceptually. Very simple and
honest, very few apps start like that, but I think the ones who do,
legitimately deserve success.

Keep up with the great work!

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rgbrgb
Strange coincidence! A friend on fb posted a message tonight along the lines
of "going to a new friend's house, if I don't check in by midnight, call the
police". I've definitely let a friend know when making a craigslist or airbnb
transaction. I probably would rather just let a friend know where I was going
but it's nice there's an alternative and I'm sure this service can be run
rather cheaply.

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kitcar
There is a Toronto startup that plays in this space for the enterprise -
[http://www.guardly.com](http://www.guardly.com)

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Centigonal
Livesafe[1], although not as straightforward or elegant, is a general life
safety app that already does this and is already somewhat well-established.
(This counts as a plug, I guess, since I know people who work on that app)

[1] [http://www.livesafemobile.com/](http://www.livesafemobile.com/)

~~~
stepstep
Another app which has overlapping functionality is bSafe (getbsafe.com).

I like simple apps that do one thing and do it well, so I build Kitestring to
give them a little friendly competition. I'm hoping that it's simplicity /
ease of use will be attractive to people.

I think there are many people who could benefit from an app like this. Of
course I'd like them to use mine, but I'm also happy to see them using another
app as long as they're on top of their safety.

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telecuda
It's a shame to see so many negative comments. MIT compsci student has good
idea to help people, has a clean and simple UI/UX that I was able to test very
quickly, open-sources the code. Even if you have no need for it, I have
respect for attempts like these.

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slackpad
If you're on a large display the Get Started button seems like it's broken if
you don't notice the color change down below. I noticed after I clicked it a
few times.

Interesting idea!

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stepstep
Ah, of course. I'll see what I can do to make it highlight the sign up form in
a flashier way. Thanks!

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zapt02
US only? Doesn't recognize my european phone number.

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ancarda
A lot of European countries are supported according to the FAQ. There's also a
note at the bottom:

>If you do not live in the United States, you may need to prefix phone numbers
with the appropriate country code.

[https://www.kitestring.io/faq](https://www.kitestring.io/faq)

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svankie
Registration doesn't work here in Argentina. :-(

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stepstep
Hi! Can you try again now? :)

