Why I built a safety app (and what I learned along the way)

Hey Product Hunt 👋

I'm Chidinma, founder of Aegis by Hugz — a personal safety app launching here tomorrow.

The idea came from a truth most people don't want to sit with: emergencies don't wait for help to arrive. Whether it's a bad neighbourhood, a late-night commute, or a country where 911 just doesn't work — when something goes wrong, you don't call the authorities first. You call your people.

So I built around that reality. One tap sends your location to your guardians via WhatsApp, SMS, and push notification — simultaneously — even if they don't have the app. No app required on their end. No waiting. Your people know.

We also added:

• Guardian Dashboard — see your loved ones on a live map in real time. Know they got home. Know they're okay.

• Zone Alerts — set safe zones (home, school, work) and get notified the moment a loved one arrives or leaves.

• Follow Me sessions (share your live location for a trip)

• Shake-to-SOS (trigger without unlocking your phone)

• Fake call protection

• Voice SOS

• Offline SMS panic (no internet needed)

We launch on Android tomorrow. iOS is coming.

I'd love to hear: what does personal safety look like where you live? What's broken about it?