The check-in app with automatic alerts that escalate the right way

I'm Alive is a check-in app with automatic alerts built as a ladder: it reminds you first, waits out a grace period, then escalates a missed check-in to the people you chose — reminder, reminder, then contact — so a silent phone becomes action, not a false alarm.

Download Free

SOMEONE I WATCH

MumChecked in · 8:40

DadChecked in · 9:05

Aunt IvyDue · closes 11:00

You can see their status — you can never check in for them.

“Someone I watch” contact widget — read-only

Key Benefits

Automatic alerts if you miss a check-in — you don't have to remember to check on anyone

A real escalation ladder: reminder to you, second reminder, then your emergency contacts

A grace period comes first, so a nap or a busy morning never triggers a false alarm

Reaches your own trusted contacts by push and email, with SMS added on paid plans — never 911

The free Check In plan still sends one capped alert a month if you go quiet, at no cost

Escalation widens with your plan: more contacts, SMS, last-known location and an AI voice call option

How It Works

Set your daily check-in time and add the contacts you want alerted. When a check-in is due, I'm Alive reminds you; if you don't respond, it sends a firmer reminder after a grace period — both just to you, so ordinary forgetfulness never raises a false alarm. Only if the check-in is still missed does it escalate automatically to your emergency contacts: push and email on every plan (capped at one alert a month on the free Check In plan), with unlimited alerts and SMS escalation to up to ten contacts on Stay Protected ($29.99/yr), and your last known location plus an optional AI voice call added on Complete Safety Net ($39.99/yr). Every alert goes to your own chosen people, never to 911.

What 'automatic alerts' really means here

Plenty of apps claim 'automatic alerts', so it is worth being precise about what I'm Alive actually does. The app watches your scheduled check-ins, and if one is missed past its grace period, it reaches out to the people you chose without you lifting a finger. You are not the alarm; the app is. That is the difference between a check-in app with automatic alerts and a simple reminder app — a reminder only nudges the person, and never tells anyone if that person cannot respond.

The key word is automatic. On a normal day you tap 'I'm Okay' once and nothing else happens; no one is bothered, because no news is good news. The machinery only wakes up when a check-in is genuinely missed. That keeps every alert meaningful: when a contact hears from I'm Alive, it is because something may actually need attention, not because of routine noise. And because the check-in itself can be completed from the app, a home-screen widget or a paired Apple Watch, the 'okay' signal is easy enough to send that a missed one really is a signal worth acting on.

The escalation ladder, step by step

The alerts are built as a ladder, and the first two rungs are aimed at you, not your contacts. When a check-in comes due, I'm Alive sends a gentle reminder. If you don't respond, it waits out a grace period and sends a second, firmer reminder — still only to you. This deliberate 'reminder, then reminder' design is what prevents false alarms: a lie-in, a long shower or a busy morning gives you every chance to check in before anyone else is contacted.

Only when those reminders go unanswered does the ladder reach outward to your emergency contacts. That escalation is the automatic part families rely on: instead of one worried person phoning repeatedly and hoping, the app notifies your chosen contacts on your behalf, over defined intervals, so the follow-up happens whether or not anyone was watching. The reach and the channels grow with your plan, but the shape is always the same — nudge you first, protect against false alarms, then, and only then, tell the people who look out for you.

How far the alert travels on each plan

What changes between plans is how widely and how insistently a missed check-in escalates. On the free Check In plan you have one emergency contact, and if you go quiet that contact still gets one alert a month, by push and email — a genuine automatic backstop at no cost. It is capped, but it is real.

Stay Protected ($29.99/yr) opens the ladder up: up to ten emergency contacts, unlimited alerts, and SMS escalation on top of push and email, so a missed check-in reaches more people through more than one channel — useful when a single push notification might be missed on a silent phone. Complete Safety Net ($39.99/yr, with a 7-day trial) adds the top rungs: your last known location, where available, attached to the alert so a responder knows roughly where to go, and an optional AI voice call to your contacts. Across every tier the principle holds — the alert reaches your own trusted people, and the paid plans simply make that reach wider and harder to miss.

Built to avoid false alarms — and to be honest about limits

A safety feature that cries wolf gets ignored, so the escalation is tuned to avoid that. The grace period and the two reminders to you are there precisely so an ordinary missed moment never fires an alert to your contacts. Accidental check-ins are harmless too — tapping 'I'm Okay' when you are fine simply confirms you are fine. The goal is that when the ladder does reach a contact, it is worth their attention.

We are also plain about what the escalation does not do. I'm Alive alerts your own emergency contacts — it never calls 911 or dispatches emergency services on its own, so a human in your circle decides whether to phone you, send a neighbour, or request a welfare check. It is a wellness check-in, not a monitored medical alert. And because alerts travel over the internet, no delivery can be guaranteed instantly in every circumstance; the value is closing the 'nobody noticed' gap, not promising a fixed response time. For a medical emergency, always call your local emergency number directly.

What escalation is not: passive activity and location

It is worth drawing two clear lines. First, automatic contact escalation is based on an explicit, missed check-in — not on inferred 'activity'. Some products try to guess whether you are okay from whether you used a device or moved around the house. That kind of passive activity is, at best, information for a contact to weigh; it is never a confirmation of safety, and I'm Alive does not treat it as one. The escalation ladder fires on a real missed check-in, a signal you deliberately did or did not send, which is far more reliable than a guess.

Second, the everyday routine does not track your location. A normal check-in records only that you are okay, not where you are. Location enters the picture in one narrow place: on Complete Safety Net, your last known location, where available, can be attached to a missed-check-in alert so help knows roughly where to go — and that snapshot is emergency-scoped and automatically deleted after a short window, never an always-on map. Between misses, nobody is watching a map, because there is no map to watch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this a check-in app with automatic alerts?

Yes. I'm Alive watches your scheduled check-ins and, if you miss one past its grace period, automatically alerts the emergency contacts you chose — without you having to do anything. On a normal day you just tap 'I'm Okay' and no one is bothered; the alerts only fire when a check-in is genuinely missed, so every notification is meaningful.

How does the escalation ladder work?

It nudges you first. When a check-in is due you get a gentle reminder, and if you don't respond, a firmer reminder after a grace period — both only to you. Only if the check-in is still missed does it escalate to your emergency contacts, over defined intervals. That 'reminder, reminder, then contact' design is what prevents an ordinary lie-in or busy morning from triggering a false alarm.

Who gets alerted, and does it call 911?

Your own emergency contacts get alerted — never 911. I'm Alive is a wellness check-in, not a monitored dispatch service, so a trusted person in your circle decides whether to call you, send a neighbour, or request a welfare check. For a medical emergency, always call your local emergency number directly.

What does escalation include on each plan?

On the free Check In plan, one contact gets one alert a month by push and email if you go quiet. Stay Protected ($29.99/yr) adds up to ten contacts, unlimited alerts and SMS escalation. Complete Safety Net ($39.99/yr) adds your last known location on the alert and an optional AI voice call to contacts. The ladder's shape is the same on every plan; the paid tiers widen its reach.

Will I get false alarms if I'm just busy or napping?

That's exactly what the design guards against. The grace period and the two reminders to you come first, so an ordinary missed moment never fires an alert to your contacts. Accidental check-ins are harmless too — tapping 'I'm Okay' when you're fine just confirms you're fine. The aim is that when a contact does hear from the app, it's worth their attention.

Does the escalation use my location or my phone activity?

Not on a normal day. The alert is triggered by a missed check-in you explicitly did or didn't complete — not by inferring 'activity', which is only ever a hint and never a confirmation of safety. A routine check-in doesn't track your location; location is only attached to a missed-check-in alert on Complete Safety Net, as a last-known snapshot that's deleted after a short window.

Is automatic escalation reliable enough to depend on?

It's a strong safety net, but we're honest about its limits. Alerts travel over the internet, so no delivery can be guaranteed instantly in every circumstance — the value is closing the gap where nobody notices you've gone quiet, not promising a fixed response time. It's best paired with a plan for who acts on an alert, and for high fall risk, with a monitored medical alert that can dispatch help directly.

← Back to Features