Safe Relay
A critical, Android-native personal security application that allows users to instantly broadcast their live location and emergency status to trusted contacts.
Timeline
2 Months
Role
Android Engineer
Status
CompletedTechnology Stack
Key Challenges
- Managing Android battery optimization constraints to keep the background location service alive during an emergency.
- Ensuring the panic button triggered instantly from the lock screen or via hardware button sequences.
Key Learnings
- Developed deep expertise in Android Foreground Services and aggressive wakelocks.
- Mastered the integration of the Google Maps API for high-precision, real-time coordinate plotting.
Safe Relay: Technology That Protects
In an emergency, every second counts. Fumbling to unlock a phone, open a messaging app, and type out an address is often impossible in high-stress situations. Safe Relay was engineered to completely automate the distress process.
With a single tap (or hardware button sequence), the application instantly begins broadcasting the user's high-precision GPS coordinates, battery life, and audio snippets to a pre-defined list of trusted contacts.
Bypassing the Android OS
The greatest technical hurdle in building a modern Android security application is the operating system itself. In recent versions, Android aggressively kills background processes to save battery life. If the OS kills the location-broadcasting service while a user is in danger, the app is useless.
I had to dive deep into the lower levels of the Android SDK. I engineered a robust Foreground Service tied to an ongoing, un-dismissible notification. This acts as a digital anchor, explicitly telling the Android OS kernel that this process is critical to the user and absolutely must not be terminated.
Real-Time Tracking
When the panic protocol is initiated, the trusted contacts receive an SMS containing a secure link.
This link opens a real-time dashboard powered by Firebase Realtime Database and the Google Maps API. The location data is pushed via WebSockets, ensuring the pin on the map moves smoothly and instantly as the user's phone polls the GPS satellites, providing a lifeline of data when it matters most.