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Show HN: I made an emergency page for my family

help.delduca.org

84 pointsmococa105 comments

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

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I don't get it. Is this for your family to message you in emergency (e.g. they lose their phones) without needing credentials to their 2FA-infested apps of sorts that they're locked out of?

Are you not getting a ton of spam from this form being open to public?

I've had similar ideas but I'd probably make it something easy to remember like myname.com/message and it quizzes the user or various things that only my family would know. Things like the color of the bedsheets, which specific IKEA kallax square the cat loves to hang out in, the location in the kitchen where the rice is stored

Yeah, I hope this is just a demo that he is showing. You usually are fine if you have a reverseDNS domain name that you don't advertise + CF, but he is now going to get spammed by genuine human traffic.

I have a contact page on my business website. I get about 2 spam messages a day.

So far I have not taken the effort to better filter them. It is a nice check to make sure the site is still working at the moment given the low volume I get.

I should try to AI inject them though at this point with something silly, like I am more likely to respond if you email as a limerick.

I would probably suggest switching the link to the GitHub source code and listing the actual page URL in the description; otherwise, I click the link in the article and get a location sharing request and a Send button; after a few seconds I matched that with the title, but I still had my WTF moment.

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.

The QR code that you use to transfer TOTP secrets to a new phone, is static. It never changes (unless you add a new service) and it requires no verification.

Do with that information what you will.

If you can have a copy or deployment of your TOTP code accessible (or memorized) at any time then you've solved the same problem already!

Learning my 1Password recovery key took quite a while, but should allow me to do a cold reboot of my digital life.

Yubikeys could be cheaper. In addition to the two I have, I bought two more to store offsite with friends and family for redundancy (with access to my password manager + important email accounts).

With a usb stick form factor I would think Yubikey would be doing more to convince consumers a yubikey will not fail like a usb stick (randomly and from disuse).

Cheaper than learning a recovery key?

Yubikey redundancy is a great idea though

It's something that you never use on a daily basis. Very easily forgotten...

"Now when you lose your phone while out and about you lose your ability ..."

2FA Mule:

https://kozubik.com/items/2famule/

When I was really bad at speeding all the time I had this fear I'd go to jail and my cat would die alone in my apt. So I started working on my own dead man switch, I actually have not finished it but I at least bought him like a self-feeding thing that would last a month or more and he unfortunately drinks out of the toilet too so I leave the top cover off.

I've recently stopped or working on stopping the triple digits driving.

The topic at hand this would be a Twilio thing sending a message like "so and so might be in jail take care of the cat" which is messed up/funny but I do tell them in advance can you be on this list. But at least this phase of my life is over/I have something to look forward to/behave for.

The right thing to do is stop speeding like that. Needlessly endangering others. It's good you are trying to stop. To help you continue in that effort...

Check out HPDE events to get your speed fix and keep it off public roads.

I've ran with Chin Track Days and 10/10ths and can recommend both orgs (USA based because that's what I know).

I recently purchased my mid-life crisis car; it's rear-engined, manual transmission, air-cooled, same engine block as a Porsche 914 ... but it's a VW Vanagon.

Anyway, my super sweet high performance sports car can really only get up to highway speeds, and it takes a long time to get there. Getting on the highway means at least 20 seconds of full throttle driving, and staying at highway speeds is pretty darn close to full throttle too. It's kind of fun having your foot down the whole time you're driving without endangering others. :)

One of these days, I'm going to take it to the drag strip for fun. I'll get a better value, since I'll be on the strip for at 2-3 times as long as someone in a fast car :)

Really, I got it because I thought it'd be fun to get it running and hopefully keep it running, and it would probably be an easy manual to refresh my skills and teach the kiddo and maybe the spouse on. That and bugs and cuter VW vans were spendy, so I got the Vanagon instead.

> One of these days, I'm going to take it to the drag strip for fun. I'll get a better value, since I'll be on the strip for at 2-3 times as long as someone in a fast car :)

If you're paying for the track time, might as well get your money's worth!

I am past it but unless it's Nurburging track doesn't interest me although I am trying to buy a track car eg. Lotus Exige but I have time

I don't do the squeeze benz shit, if it's day time I see a gap in traffic that's when I floor it but yeah, even with a radar detector a lot of cops/troopers don't use their radar so not even helpful... and the tickets which I was dumb and paid... like I said I'm done with it as I want to stay out of jail

It's almost a curse discovering fast cars the thrill of the acceleration... I used to drive like mundane just part of life... and with the RD now I'm just on edge looking for the cops so yeah... I'm glad not speeding now

I agree with your almost a curse sentiment. My interest in fast cars, BMWs in my case, is a blessing and a curse. But HPDE gave me a "safe" (for others) out and I took it.

It's expensive. So, FWIW, buy a car that's really reliable and parts relatively inexpensive so you can spend your money on track time and not the car. I have an F80 M3 dual purpose car and would have got an older dedicated track car (E46 maybe) if I ever got to do it all over again.

I doubt I'll ever get to Nurburging, too far and too expensive, but I've had a lot of fun on some relatively small and simpler tracks. Turns out I like the skill needed and experience of nailing a turn more than I like raw speed on a straight.

People's car interests are interesting like for me I'm looking at visuals, I like the 2-door rounded back (Coupe?) design like Porsche 911 or Nissan 370z Nismo, Lotus Exige is not like that but damn what a sexy car 240 S in Chrome Orange. This is not the same car but love this video https://youtu.be/0c9prOTdp_M?si=7q7ffymWuGKZvmaf&t=155 I drive a manual I like downshifting closest thing I can get for now lol.

For Bimmers though my friend wants to get an M4. Oh and one of my friends gutted his old Bimmer, bucket seats inside that was crazy.

As I'm watching videos like this shot with very fast shutter speed cameras, it's really hard for me to get a sense of how fast the car is actually going. Even the static shots of the car driving past, there's just no sense of is that really that fast? I've attached plenty of cameras to cars and have shot at the Indy 500, but the video has just never given me that "wow that's fast" sense.

I get that, Barry's videos with the Lotus Elise on the alps are like that, feels like he's going really fast but only like 60mph

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5vF7ApxbAg

For the Exige above just the racking and down shifting sound, blip the throttle damn love that, that's why I'd never get an electric sports car even if it is faster, though the C8 can do a sub 2 second 0-60.

Just get a EV. Your average tesla runs circles around ICE when it comes to acceleration.

Granted. But, on the track, acceleration is only one component.

I've been passed on the track by cars with hundreds of horsepower less with a better track setup, lighter, and with better drivers.

There are reports of people taking EVs to the track but they are usually hampered by charging availability and heat dissipation. I've also heard that braking can be a challenge because you want to use regenerative braking as much as possible but that can make the braking unpredictable. The last thing you want coming in hot on a corner is to have any doubt about how well your heavy EV is going to shed speed.

I don't know for sure, but I'd make an educated guess that the EVs are really hard on tires. Lots of torque and relatively heavy is a bad combination for tire longevity.

The other problem EV owners face is that tracks have banned them due to the fire risk in the case of an accident. The tracks aren't equipped to handle a large LIB fire.

This is why people buy miatas. You can wail on the car and still be driving the speed limit.

Not sure jail is the outcome you need to be worrying about.

please don’t drive that fast (I’m assuming you mean triple digits MPH). It endangers both yourself and others.

Triple digits kph on residential steeets (limit 30-50kph) would also be dangerous as hell and I’ve seen people do it.

The worst part of reckless driving is that you can take away someone else's life or maim them forever by your action.

Buy a bicycle and ride that instead until you're mature enough to get behind the wheel. Speeding around endangering people's lives is rotten behavior.

Fear you'd go to jail, but not crash and die or be in a coma? I think cats can tolerate a week without food which should be longer than your jail sentence.

Yeah fear is funny, I'm/was(?) afraid to talk to women, but no problem with 160mph or whatever, I mean really it's the car if it's solid it rides smooth. But yeah at least I'm pursuing a new thrill now (women). Keep in mind though I'm in the midwest and this is on a big ass highway during the day.

Good luck to you. I also share the fear about approaching women, so you're not alone there. Good luck, I hope you find success in love.

> I think cats can tolerate a week without food

What cat would this be? My cats act like the world is ending because the bottom of the dish is visible. Tolerate is clearly the wrong word here.

oh it would be terrible, I dont think they would die though. I would never do that to any pet!

The right thing to do is to use your one call to phone your cat and make sure they are ok - or take them with you when you drive.

Yeah I hope I don't find out but the one time I was arrested (too drunk at a bar) I was released ROR or something no bond. That was a scary experience like you just disappear.

This is one of the most bizarre though processes I've read.

Selfish. Don’t speed.

A "simple page" but it needs multiple SaaS API keys (Openrouter, Resend, Textbelt) AND requires Temporal? I can't see how this will last/be reliable for an extended period of time.

Also, how do you prevent spam?

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?

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

You have to set up those backup codes and keep them in your wallet or somewhere independent of your phone and in your person at all times.

I get your point, but believe it or not there's more email services than just Gmail

Really, because I’ve been working to move off gmail for 5 years and it’s slim pickings.

I’ve tried fastmail, protonmail, outlook and they all suck. Gmail is probably the only google account I still use.

I like fastmail but any provider worth using is going to have 2FA mandatory so that will be an issue regardless. Gmail was just a (popular) example.

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.

Why hide emergency contact info? Put it in Emergency group on everyone's phone.

The goal should be to send a single message with nature of emergency, what you need from them, and what they do like call police

I could see a private reference page with important info. Including checklist for various scenarios. That's what I thought you did. Then print out a copy and put in binder somewhere at home.

> 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.

Nobody in my friend group has a WhatsApp and I'm a millennial.

Depends where you are, in most European countries, everyone including their grandmas will use Whatsapp.

It doesn’t have to be just for one type of user.

WhatsApp is not universally used. Line, WeChat, and KakaoTalk are more common in East Asia

In the US, the only people I know who use WhatsApp are immigrants who use it to talk to friends and family back home.

With iMessage, Discord, and Signal, I can't imagine a use case for me or anyone I know to use WhatsApp.

The vast majority of the world defaults to whatsapp. But yes, other than convention, any of these could be equivalent.

I don’t see why you would care for Discord over whatsapp except that it’s what you happen to use already.

lol not 70, no Whatsapp.

In a wider disaster, such as a fire, earthquake, tornado or hurricane both companies and families want to contact employees or loved ones to make sure that they are OK. Unfortunately, land networks, Internet, links and mobile networks may be compromised by the emergency further, people may be caught away from home. Their laptop or mobile device might run out of power.

I thought a solution might be some type of “check-in” service - especially for employees. Are you OK? How can we reach you? Are you available for work? Do you need assistance? Etc.

Things like slack, teams, etc. can fit the bill so it was not really monetizable.

Or maybe ping their equipment and react in case the ping stops responding on all the devices ?

I get this error while visiting the site

Sorry, you have been blocked You are unable to access delduca.org

I'm from Germany

Same error, United States. Oh well!

I built life-link almost a year ago for the same purpose: https://github.com/ahmedsaoudi/life_link

I even created a generator so people can configure it with their Telegram/Pushover settings and have it generate a static app easy to host on Netlify or Clouflare Pages/Workers.

This is so simple and yet so useful!

Youre not alone with the problem: if device lost -> difficult to reach family

No matter what solution you choose you will need to remember something. I have two family members who always answer, so their phone numbers are the only two I know. By dialing them manually now and then I make sure my memory is working.

In the age of AI/voice generators I’ve also told them how I will identify myself. So if being mugged in Kiwiland, and they get a call where I ask them to transfer money they can do so knowing it would only be me making that request as I told them the secret phrase: ”yes, it was me who tipped over the Christmas tree”. Ofcourse not that, but something none of the inner family will ever forget.

I really like the idea of trying to solve an existing problem.

You forget your phone but how do you access a webpage in an emergency?

If this works for you and your personal use case, then everything is fine. But I see a lot of hurdles along the way here.

I would rather think of something like: If my phone hasen't been moved over an X amount of time (locations based or accelerometer) the phone drops a note to predfined receipients with "My phone hasen't moved in 60 minutes, maybe I forgot it somewhere". You can send a location point, but that is just where the phone is.

At least it would solve the point where you have to do something manually.

this seems very streamlined and i don't think it would be that hard to find someone to lend you their phone for like 30 seconds

(or ask them to type a message while they hold their own phone obviously. i once was approached and asked to send an email to a relative because they were locked out and without their phone)

Hey, I think the premise is good, being able to let someone know quickly you're without your phone. like another user has already pointed out, lastpass and 1password etc are worth it to ensure you can get into all of your digital sites and assets. And it should be behind authentication, hope you weren't spammed too much.

I'm also from Brazil and share the same fears. I built a family note taking app which has an internal contact form for the same purpose. One can use it to contact family members in situations of having the phone lost/robbed. Now I'm looking forward to implementing an ephemeral web conference room via API so we could have emergency voice chat. I tried with Jitsi, but it didn't work for me.

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

> Anyone will hopefully lend you a phone if you're in a pinch

I honestly wouldn't count on it, at least not where I'm from, not anymore anyways. IME, having been in that situation (and knowing the numbers I need to call) it's rare for someone to let a stranger use their personal device for something as mundane as a phone call due to risk of theft, scams, or other criminal behaviour, not just on the part of the person borrowing the phone, but the person on the other end being contacted from an unknown number. While the chances of something like that realistically happening are incredibly low, it's a surprisingly easy social engineering method that's got people wary of trusting others to handle effectively their entire life in one device. A lot of businesses don't even let customers make personal phone calls from their landline for the same reason.

Yeah with AI voice cloning I'd definitely be default suspicious now but at this stage I know close friends and relatives well enough to be able to ask one question to establish identity

I thought the unlabeled `<textarea>` was part of the prominent Cloudflare captcha that’s on the page. I sent intense swearing as a result. I’m sorry. But your UI could be made slightly better (by adding a label)!

Why did you let me send you a message? That’s what came up when I hit this page.

Why did it ask my location.

This isn't a terrible idea, but I'd password protect it and share the password with the people you want to be able to contact you. That'll help avoid spam/scams. "I'm your family member in trouble please send money now to X immediately no time to explain further" is a very common scam and a page like this would make it very easy.

I... I would not trust my emergency page to an LLM.

The LLM is just to make the message short for the SMS. The entire message is sent by mail without any AI.

That makes no sense. Why don't you just set a char-limit on the input and reject anything that's too long?

If I trim I may lost important context. I understand the concern here.

Who said anything about trimming?

Make your text box only hold as much data as you can transmit. Or send two messages if you need to. Do you think someone is going to paste a novel in there or something? This is a VERY stupid reason to use an LLM.

Have two inputs a summary and a longer text field... kind of like an email subject.

Then limit the text input to like 100 chars, giving another 60 for general "... continued in email to you@..."

Send the summary as the subject, and the full text in the email. easy peasy.

I'd also add a simple text auth/password prompt as well as list the contacts and their respective email and phone numbers too, so you can call easier.

Hmm I'm not sure why in an emergency situation accessing a webpage would be easier than making a phone call.

You remember the URL but not a phone number.

...then put the phone number at the URL

Exactly the point in the conversation... in this case it's a webform to notify directly.. I think a simple password prompt and including an actual list of emergency contacts would be prudent.

The problem is to remember numbers.

"LLM-summarized" lmao

I'm not especially anti-LLM but emergency messages seems like a terrible use case. If you're typing out a detailed emergency message then I would think you would need all of your details to be sent or you could simply type a shorter message.

Do you know another way to fit a 3000 long message into a 160ish SMS?

Don't write long messages in an emergency. If it can't fit in one message, it probably doesn't matter. Instead of trying to predict everything, allow communication. Let them figure it out, don't command them.

Also, you might consider using existing messaging app. Then you can interact if have them install the app. Matrix might work. I think Matrix can do SMS.

Why 3000 ? Set a character limit. If the detail is important they can just send 2.. or 10.

19 SMS messages.

Does anyone still pay per text?

> Does anyone still pay per text?

It makes much more sense outside the US than to pay for a text bundle. My phone plan includes 0 SMS messages, and I don't know what was the last time when I've had to send one was. It's only useful when someone doesn't have internet, which only happens once every few months at most.

You are generalizing quite a bit here, not everywhere "outside the US" is the same. Here almost all phone plans that aren't data only come with unlimited SMS - and we never paid for receiving them anyway.

write a shorter emergency message?

"I was in a car accident, come to general hospital downtown"

Ok I understand the usecase now.

I would have used two textboxes, Title and description, but this works as well.

I was trying to figure out if the bad gateway page was the page or an error

I was deploying a new version. For some reason sometimes I do not get zero down deployments with Dokku, probably missing the healthcheck.

Dokku maintainer here. Happy to help you debug why this is happening on our discord/slack. Links here: https://dokku.com/docs/getting-started/where-to-get-help/

I will confirm if it is not a bug on my code first, thank you very much!

Another idea would be to have a chatroom (eg Kraa) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47872083 - and preload a bunch of people into it, and have each one notified when someone posts into it (that feature does not exist.) The 'leaf' could be called "Panic."

The issue is verification - a password seems the most obvious. Something you can remember once your phone is gone.

The other issue from reading comments below - you need to be able to walk up to someone and tell them, "I've lost my phone, do you think I can use your phone briefly." Alternatively, you could walk into a box-store (or library) and use one of their PCs.

Also, a way to get transport quickly would be important - perhaps that is the first thing you do when on another computer.

maybe you can try this one with your family ? Alive partners (from IOS or Android)

Did you get my request for help?

I got ~300 requests :)

So far...

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