Last week, while scrolling through tech news, I came across something that made me pause: a Chinese app called Demumu (literally « Are You Dead? ») had just become the #1 paid app in China and was climbing charts in the US. The concept? Users tap a button daily to confirm they’re alive. Miss two days in a row, and an emergency contact gets notified.

As someone who built Tribe Check, a safety check-in app, this news hit close to home. But it also made me realize something important: there isn’t just one way to approach personal safety. Different apps use fundamentally different philosophies to keep people safe. And understanding these differences matters, because the right safety app depends entirely on your specific needs and situation.

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