Know Your Parent in Seattle Is Okay — Every Day

For adult children of a parent living alone across the Puget Sound area, and for Seattleites who live by themselves. One tap each morning says you're okay; miss it, and on Protect Me your family is alerted. No pendant, no GPS tracking.

Download Free See How It Works

Free forever • No credit card • iOS & Android

I'm Alive app showing the I'm Okay check-in button

The Problem

Sound familiar? You're not alone.

Worrying about an aging parent living alone in Seattle

Daily phone calls are hard to schedule across busy lives

No reliable way to know something's wrong without constant checking

How I'm Alive Solves This

A simple solution that actually works.

One-tap daily check-in takes seconds from their routine

You're notified the moment they miss a check-in — not before

No pendant, no hardware, no GPS tracking — location only in a real emergency, auto-deleted in 72 hours

Why This Works for You

Seattle has a high share of single-person households, driven by a tech workforce that relocated here alone, plus older residents aging in place across Ballard, West Seattle, Wallingford and the Eastside suburbs of Bellevue and Redmond.
It complements Aging and Disability Services of King County, an in-home caregiver or a weekly phone call rather than replacing them, quietly covering the ordinary 'are they okay through this gray stretch' that none of those answers each day.
On the free tier your parent keeps the daily check-in and reminders, plus one test alert so a contact can see exactly what an escalation looks like before they ever rely on it — no credit card required and no trial countdown running in the background.
The famously long, gray, rainy months keep people who live alone indoors and out of sight, and social isolation — the so-called 'Seattle freeze' — means a neighbor may genuinely not notice a quiet stretch.
The region also carries real earthquake risk on the Cascadia subduction zone, plus winter windstorms and ice that knock out power and isolate people who live alone.
Life Alert and similar medical-alert pendants run around $50 a month plus equipment and fees, and only help if the pendant is worn and the button is pressed. I'm Alive is free on iPhone and Android, needs no hardware, and raises the alarm from a missed check-in instead.
It works the way real emergencies do: your parent confirms they're okay each day, and if they can't — a fall, a stroke overnight — the missed check-in still reaches you.
Privacy-first, which privacy-conscious Seattleites appreciate: no continuous GPS and no cameras. An approximate location is captured only during an active emergency escalation and auto-deleted after 72 hours; the daily check-in records no location at all.
Built for the adult child who moved for a tech job and worries about a parent back in another state, or the parent who moved to be near grandkids on the Eastside. The app handles time zones automatically.
For solo Seattleites — engineers in Capitol Hill and South Lake Union apartments, older renters and homeowners across the city — it's a way to make sure someone would notice within hours if something went wrong at home.
In any emergency dial 911; I'm Alive is the early-warning layer that tells you when to make that call, before a neighbor would otherwise notice.
The daily check-in and reminders are free forever; Protect Me ($29.99/year) adds automatic alerts to up to ten contacts, SMS escalation and a caregiver dashboard — a small fraction of a year of pendant fees.
See our /location/usa page for the nationwide setup and /use-case/elderly-parents for checking on an aging parent who lives alone.

How It Works

Three simple steps.

Set Your Time

Choose when to check in each day

Tap I'm Okay

One tap confirms you're safe

Auto-Alert

Miss a check-in? Contact is notified

Features

One-Tap Check-In

Large, easy button - done in seconds

Customizable Schedule

Set your perfect check-in time

Smart Alerts (Protect Me)

Escalating notifications to your contacts if you miss a check-in

Check-In Notes

Add context like 'Going hiking today'

History Tracking

See all your past check-ins

Free to Start

Daily self check-in and reminders are always free; add Protect Me for contact alerting

Frequently Asked Questions

I moved to Seattle for a tech job and my parent is in another state. Does this help?

Yes — that's a very common Seattle situation. Your parent taps once each morning to confirm they're okay, and you're alerted if they miss it, even across the country and a time zone or two. The app handles the gap automatically, so you get daily reassurance without trying to line up a phone call around work.

I live alone in Seattle and don't really know my neighbors.

Then this is worth setting up for yourself. Between the long gray winters and the reserved local culture, it's easy to go days without anyone checking in. Set a parent, sibling or friend as your contact and tap once a day — if you miss it after reminders, they're alerted, so someone would know within hours rather than days.

How is this different from Life Alert?

A Life Alert pendant only works if your parent wears it and can press it, and it costs about $50 a month plus equipment. I'm Alive uses the phone they already carry, is free to start, and confirms they're okay proactively each day — catching the fall or stroke where they can't press a button, which is exactly when a pendant fails.

My parent won't accept being tracked.

Then this fits. There's no continuous GPS, no map of their movements and no camera. An approximate location is captured only during a live emergency escalation, shared once with your contacts, and deleted after 72 hours. The daily check-in is one tap that proves they're okay without anyone watching where they go.

Is it really free?

Yes — the daily check-in and the reminders are free forever, with no card required. Automatic alerting of your contacts on a missed check-in is part of Protect Me ($29.99/year), which adds up to ten contacts, SMS escalation and a caregiver dashboard. Most families start free and upgrade only if they want the alerting.