in

Show HN: Offline SOS signaling+recovery app for disasters/wars

Show HN: Offline SOS signaling+recovery app for disasters/wars

Igatha

Igatha is an open-source SOS signaling and recovery app designed for war zones and disaster areas, enabling offline emergency communication when traditional networks fail.

Status

iOS: v1.0
Android: v1.0

Usage

Signaling

Manual

Open the app
Grant permissions
Enable bluetooth
Click “Send SOS”

Automatic

Open the app
Grant permissions
Enable bluetooth
Click the gear icon in the app’s top right corner
Enable “Disaster Detection”

The app will now run in the background to detect disasters.
If it does, you’ll be notified with an “Are you okay?” notification.

If you respond with “Need help” or don’t respond in 2 minutes, it will signal SOS.
If you respond with “I’m okay”, it will ignore the disaster.

Recovery

Open the app
Grant permissions
Enable bluetooth
If you’re on Android 11 or lower, enable location
Check “People seeking help”
Walk in the direction where the distance gets lower
Stay attentive for any siren playing

How It Works

Igatha uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to:

Broadcast SOS signals
Scan for nearby signals
Estimate approximate distance

The app works completely offline to prevent manipulation and uses BLE instead of GPS to avoid signal jamming. Location permissions are required to enable background sensor monitoring for automated disaster detection.

Important Notes

This is a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with significant room for improvement
Testing has been limited to controlled environments
While not guaranteed to work in all scenarios, it provides a potential lifeline where no alternatives exist

Why Open Source?

Igatha is open-sourced under the GNU General Public License v3.0 because:

Transparency: In crisis situations, people need to trust the tools they use. Open source allows anyone to verify the app’s security and privacy measures.

Accessibility: Making the code freely available ensures the technology can be used, studied, and adapted by anyone who needs it.

Community Impact: War and disaster response tools should be community resources, not commercial products. Open sourcing enables collaborative improvement and adaptation for different crisis scenarios.

Contributing

We welcome contributions to improve Igatha’s effectiveness:

Testing and bug reports
Documentation
Translations
Feature enhancements
Code optimization
Security reviews

To contribute, open an issue or submit a pull request.

Privacy & Security

No data collection
Offline-only operation
Pseudonymized identifiers
No internet connectivity required

Contact

For questions or suggestions, please open an issue in the repository.

Report

What do you think?

Newbie

Written by Mr Viral

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings

Toxic Leak in Hunan Traced to a Former Cement Plant

Toxic Leak in Hunan Traced to a Former Cement Plant

Why Are Credit Card Rates So High?

Why Are Credit Card Rates So High?