Introducing Emergency Alerts : A Free Safety Tool for Hikers

OVERVIEW

With better outdoor skills, accurate trail information, good trek planning, improved fitness and reliable trek buddies — the chances of an outdoor safety incident can be significantly reduced.

But despite that, there is always a risk when we go outdoors.

There are variables that are out of our control. Running out of battery and losing the trail. Running into bad weather when we didn’t expect it. Getting injured by a stupid stone you thought is good enough to step on. And so on.

Things can and do go wrong sometimes. And it can happen to anyone — including you — irrespective of your experience, knowledge, fitness, or group size. Nature doesn’t differentiate.

So when things do go south and you need rescuing — the one key factor that plays a major role between life and death is TIME.

Close your eyes, imagine you are in trouble and ask yourself this: How long would it take before someone realized I was in trouble if I couldn’t call for help?


THE EXPERIMENT

I ran an experiment few months back.

I asked hikers to let me know whenever they headed out on a hike (whether solo or in group). I would personally check in with them if they are back safely at the time they said they would be back.

Checking in with them gave them a sense of security - that someone is there looking out for them, and that if something was to go wrong, they’ll send help.

So I took the results of that experiment and built something.

Outdoor safety is not just giving lip service, it's about actually creating tools, solutions that help and can make a difference on the ground.


INTRODUCING : EMERGENCY ALERTS TOOL 🚨

It's the last line of emergency communication if you lose network connectivity on the trail & don’t have a satellite communication device to call for help.

A simple tool that alerts your emergency contacts about a potential emergency situation if you don’t come back when you said you would.

It's 100% free & open to all.

  • It works in any browser (chrome/safari, etc) and on any device (laptop/mobile, etc). No installation or download required.

  • Once you set up an alert, you will receive a check-in message on your WhatsApp number.

  • If you don't reply that you're back and safe — the system will automatically notify your emergency contacts and share your trip details with them so that they can ensure you're safe or initiate a search.


3 SIMPLE STEPS TO USE

  1. Go to app.manav.in

  2. Add your emergency contacts (like family or close friends)

  3. Create a new Alert whenever you head outdoors (where are you going and when will you be back).

Setting up an Alert is one of those things you might take casually and forget to do, but can save your life one day — so always set up an alerts, whether you are going solo or in group, whether it’s a short dayhike or a longer trek.

Important: Don’t rely 100% on this tool. Like any software, this might break sometimes. If you encouter any issues, please report to me at hi@manav.in


WHAT'S NEXT

Currently, the solution does one thing only. More features like one-click SOS, sending last known location, etc will be added in the coming versions

Huge thanks to all the early beta testers who helped test it out. For feedback, feature suggestions & bug reports, please write to me at hi@manav.in