I spent several months building an AI safety app for my elderly parent — here is what I learned

My parent lives alone. After a fall that nobody noticed for hours, I decided to build something that would. Four months, 121 versions, and approximately 79,000 lines of Kotlin later, the app is live on Google Play. Here is the story — the technical challenges, the things that broke, and what I would do differently. What the app does Install it on your parent's Android phone. It watches. That is it. For 7 days, it learns their routine — when they wake up, how active they are, where they go. After that, it monitors 24/7 and emails your family if something seems wrong: Unusual stillness (potential fall or medical event) Did not wake up on time At an unfamiliar location at an unusual hour Phone silent for too long No buttons to press. No wearable to charge. No daily check-in calls. Install and forget. The technical stack Kotlin + Jetpack Compose + Material Design 3 Room + SQLCipher for encrypted local storage Google Gemini API for behavioral analysis (cloud, anonymized summaries) Resend AP