Lantern: Someone Knows

Lantern is for people who live alone, and for the people who would want to know. It answers one question, once a day: are you okay. You do not have to check in. Lantern watches for the ordinary signs that you are up and about — the phone being picked up, the step count going up. If it sees them, it stays quiet and nobody is told anything. That is the point. An app you have to remember to open every day is an app you will have switched off long before the day it matters. If the day goes quiet, it goes one careful step at a time. First it asks you, gently, and only you can hear it. If there is still nothing, it asks again in a way that is harder to miss. Only after that does it tell one of the people you chose — never a stranger, never a map, never a service. Your allies see a lamp, and nothing else. They see the name you gave them and how bright the lamp is. They do not see when you were…