When No One Knows Something Went Wrong

A Conversation with SoloWise Founder Dave Diez

Living alone is not the problem. The bigger concern is how long it might take someone to know when something has gone wrong.

That is the idea behind SoloWise, a personal safety check-in service that alerts chosen contacts when a scheduled check-in is missed.

When I met founder Dave Diez, I was especially interested in how the service had changed over time. Dave originally created HikerAlert for hikers and outdoor adventurers. But one member who used it simply because he lived alone helped Dave see that the need went far beyond the hiking trail.

SoloWise does not continuously watch or track someone. The member chooses when to check in, who should be contacted and what information should be shared if the check-in is missed. It can be used by an older adult living alone, a solo traveler, a remote worker, an outdoor adventurer or anyone who spends meaningful time on their own.

I asked Dave about the experiences behind SoloWise, how it works and why privacy and independence remain central to the service.

Tell us a little about your background. How did your experience as an EMT-paramedic and in wilderness search and rescue shape the idea behind HikerAlert?

HikerAlert was shaped by both my professional experience and lessons I had learned much earlier in life. I was taught the underlying concept for HikerAlert long before I worked in EMS or search and rescue. I grew up in rural eastern Pennsylvania in the 1970s, when even as a young kid I was allowed to roam pretty freely through the woods and farmland for hours at a time. The rule was always to tell my mom roughly where I was going and, especially, when I expected to be home. I learned the same basic principle in the Boy Scouts as a kid.

Later, my years as an EMT-paramedic and in wilderness search and rescue reinforced just how important that can be. I saw it repeatedly, and it didn’t matter if the patient was in the city or in the mountains. The common factor was that they were alone. But being alone isn’t necessarily the danger. The real danger is often the delay between when something goes wrong and when someone else becomes aware and is able to respond.

People had been leaving behind trip plans and expected return times with friends and family for generations, sometimes as simply as a note on the kitchen table. HikerAlert didn’t invent that practice. It automated it, so that if someone didn’t check in when expected, the people they had chosen could be notified automatically and given useful information about the person’s plans.

Was there a particular experience that made you realize the danger is not always the emergency itself, but how long it takes for someone to know something has happened?

Yes. While I saw it happen countless times during my professional EMS career, there’s one personal experience that will always stand out for me. When I was about 15, my stepfather and I found my grandfather lying on the floor of his apartment where he lived alone, after he had suffered a major stroke. He had been there for quite a long time before we found him, and he was in bad shape. He survived and lived for several more years, but his neurologic deficits were significant.

I’ll never know whether finding him sooner would have changed the outcome, but it made the issue very personal. When someone is alone, the emergency itself may happen in an instant, but then another clock starts running: How long will it be before anyone even knows something is wrong?

HikerAlert was originally created for people hiking alone. When did you realize the same problem existed far beyond the hiking trail?

That realization happened gradually. From my childhood and professional experiences, I already knew that delayed awareness could be just as serious for someone living alone. But when I started HikerAlert in 2012, I was personally very active in virtually every mountain sport, including hiking, climbing, mountain biking and backcountry skiing. I was also doing a lot of traveling to remote areas, including the mountains of Nepal, Slovenia and Alaska, so it was for outdoor uses where I chose to apply the idea.

A few years later, one HikerAlert member changed the way I thought about it. He was a daily user of the service simply because he lived alone. One night, he passed away in his sleep, and when he missed his morning check-in, HikerAlert notified his family. A few days later, his brother sent me a short, very personal note thanking us for helping keep the discovery time to a minimum.

That stayed with me. It significantly changed the way I thought about what HikerAlert could be useful for. The value of the system had very little to do with hiking itself. The real common denominator was simply being alone and wanting someone else to know as soon as possible if something went wrong.

What led you to reimagine HikerAlert as SoloWise, and what does the new name represent?

It eventually became clear that the name HikerAlert was actually limiting what the service could become. The underlying problem we were trying to solve wasn’t specific to hikers at all. It applied to anyone who spent meaningful time alone, whether they were living alone, working alone, traveling alone, you name it.

SoloWise grew out of that broader understanding. I wanted a name that wasn’t tied to one activity or one type of person but still reflected the idea of being on your own while wanting someone else to know if something went wrong.

To me, “SoloWise” represents that balance. “Solo” reflects the reality of being on your own, while “Wise” reflects being thoughtful and prepared about it. It isn’t about treating being alone as inherently dangerous. It’s about recognizing that when something does go wrong, timely awareness can matter.

For someone hearing about SoloWise for the first time, how does it work when a scheduled check-in is missed?

When a member schedules a check-in, they choose the time they want to check in and which trusted contacts should be notified if they don’t. SoloWise sends a reminder email and text message to the member when that time arrives and, if the check-in is ultimately missed, automatically notifies the member’s contacts.

The alert reports that are sent to the contacts can also include useful information the member provided in advance, things like where they were going to be, who they were with, information about their pets and vehicles, or other details that could help the contacts understand the situation and decide how to respond.

SoloWise supports older adults who live alone without constantly tracking or monitoring them. Why was preserving that privacy and independence important to you?

I wanted to preserve privacy and independence for our members because I never wanted SoloWise to feel like surveillance. Living alone or spending time alone doesn’t mean someone should have to give up their privacy or be constantly watched.

The check-in model creates a different kind of safety net. The member stays in control and simply confirms that things are OK on the schedule they choose. Their contacts don’t need to track them or constantly check on them. Any location information that the member recorded in advance will be shared, but only if a check-in is missed, not as the normal default.

With that said, SoloWise does offer members the ability to drop “breadcrumbs” when and where they feel that location information could be useful, but that feature is optional.

For aging adults especially, I think that flexibility matters. The goal is to support independence, not undermine it.

How are people using SoloWise in everyday life, and have any uses surprised you?

Recording specific activities is optional when scheduling a check-in with SoloWise, so we don’t always know what our members are using it for. Most of what we learn comes from personal stories and testimonials they share with us. From that, I know that our members use it for a pretty wide range of everyday situations, from routine to adventurous.

We also learn a lot from partner organizations that either provide or promote SoloWise to their own members. Those organizations reflect a wide range of uses too, including hiking clubs, a field science group, a cave rescue group and a paragliding club, to name just a few.

But among all of our audiences, aging adults living alone are by far our fastest-growing group, and I couldn’t be happier about that.

At this point, I’m not sure any particular use would surprise me. What I do enjoy is hearing about a use I hadn’t thought or heard of before, because it reinforces how broadly the same basic need applies. People spend time alone in all kinds of ways, and sometimes they just want a simple way to make sure someone else knows if something doesn’t go as planned.

How does SoloWise complement, rather than replace, medical alert devices, satellite communicators or emergency services?

I see SoloWise as another layer, not a replacement for any of those tools. Medical alert devices, satellite communicators and emergency services all serve important roles when someone knows they need help and can activate them.

SoloWise addresses a different situation: What happens when something goes wrong and the person is unable to call for help? A missed check-in can create that added awareness and prompt someone else to take the next appropriate step.

I also wanted SoloWise to be affordable enough that people wouldn’t have to choose between it and another safety tool. It can be used as an additional layer alongside a medical alert device, satellite communicator or whatever other solution makes sense for that person.

In many cases, I think the best approach is a combination of tools. They’re complementary because they solve different parts of the same larger problem.

What do you hope SoloWise makes possible for people who live, work, travel or explore on their own?

When everything is going right for our members, I hope SoloWise provides them, and the people who care about them, with a little more peace of mind as they live, work, travel or explore on their own, by knowing there’s a plan in place if a check-in is missed.

When something goes wrong, I hope SoloWise helps shorten the time gap before someone else becomes aware of it. If it can do that while allowing people to maintain their independence and privacy, then I think it’s doing exactly what it was meant to do.

A Simple Plan for Time Spent Alone

What I like about SoloWise is that it does not begin with the idea that people who live alone need to be watched.

It begins with a simple agreement: I will check in at this time. If I do not, let the people I trust know.

SoloWise does not replace a medical alert device, emergency services or personal contact. It fills a different gap by creating a plan for the time between something going wrong and someone else realizing it.

That plan may be helpful for an older adult who lives independently, but the idea is much broader. It can also support someone who hikes, travels, works or spends time alone and wants a simple way to keep trusted contacts informed without giving up privacy.

Being alone does not have to mean being monitored. It can simply mean being prepared.

Learn More About SoloWise.

SoloWise is not an emergency response service and does not prevent accidents. Members and their trusted contacts should decide in advance how a missed check-in will be handled and when emergency services should be contacted.