Overview
The Cryonics Institute iOS Check-In App is now available in the Apple App Store. You can download it here, and find additional information on the app page: https://cryonics.org/members/ci-check-in-app/ including the app's Privacy Policy, and a contact form. You can also find a demo video at the end of this article.
The app allows for customizable check-ins at exact times or intervals you specify, with the additional option to monitor activity, automatically checking in on you if no steps are detected within a set period. If you fail to respond to a check-in notification, the app sends a text message, followed by a phone call. If you still do not respond, your designated contacts are alerted. After another 30 minutes without acknowledgment, the app sends a follow-up alert to your contacts.
You can optionally have your location sent to your contacts, and customize the message they receive. Apple Watch integration is optional.
Alarm Features
You have the option of two different kinds of alarms:
Interval alarm - Set an alarm at regular intervals (e.g. once every 12 hours)
Exact Alarm - Set recurring alarms at exact times (e.g. every weekday morning at 7:05 am)
You can exclude times of day and entire days as needed.
One strategy would be to set an Exact Alarm as your morning alarm clock, or at any other time you know you will be able to respond to the device. You can set up to 3 recurring exact check-in times of this type.
Interval Alarms can be set to occur every 1 - 24 hours. In a critical situation you may elect to check in once an hour in the daytime. The interval is reset every time you check in, and you can configure a period of the day to exclude times when you will be asleep.
The default alarm check-in scenario is as follows:
1. Push Notification (Critical Alert) sent at alarm time
2. 10 min later, text message sent
3. 10 min later, phone call made
4. 10 min later, contacts texted (plus a push notification to user indicating this has occurred)1
5. 30 min later, contacts texted again, telling them that you still haven't checked in.
You can opt for longer times between each step in the escalation process so that a full 90 min passes before your contacts are notified. You can also modify the sound, making notification sound longer or silent. These options are found on the Settings page. Note that if you don't have notifications enabled, step #1 in the escalation process is skipped.
Step Alerts (A Passive Monitoring Option)
Users looking to avoid daily interaction with the app, i.e. looking for a more passive form of monitoring, should use the Step Alerts feature. It tracks your step count from your phone, or any wearable you have that syncs with Apple, and if your steps don't increase, it automatically sends a message to check in on you.
If you don't respond, the same escalation steps occur as in the alarm check-ins above.
Step Alerts can be used as a standalone feature or in addition to regular check in times. The app uses Apple Health to get your step count. For optimal performance, users should avoid extended periods where their phone is less than 20% battery, as this can prevent the app from accessing the latest step count information, which can lead to false alarms. You can enable and configure this feature on the Settings page of the app.
Apple Watch Integration
Apple Watch Integration allows the user to interact with the check-in system directly from their wrist.
You will be able to:
Indicate you are OK on the watch
Alert your contacts on the watch
View your next check-in time
Apple Watch users should also enable native watchOS monitoring features such as high and low heart rate alerts and fall detection. These features can be lifesaving and are available to all Apple Watch users.
To add the app icon to the Watch Face, first make sure that the watch app is installed. If not, tap 'Install' from the "Watch" app on your iPhone. Installation can take a few moments to complete. Then, follow the instructions n the 'Onboarding Steps' Adding the Cryonics Institute App Icon to the Watch Face to add the app to the watch face. Then, either tap the icon on the watch face, or, find the app from your list of apps, to open the app.
Your contacts will receive a message indicating that you have pressed an emergency button. Optionally, the message will include your last known location, as well as your phone number, and a request for the contacts to attempt to get in contact with you. Alertnatively, you could indicat "I'M OK", which will check you in, clearing any active alerts, and display your next time to check in if you have alarms set.
Monitoring System Architecture
There are a number of constraints imposed by Apple that make creating a reliable and convenient monitoring system challenging. And in general, creating a mobile app does not mean you have full access or control of the user's phone or system resources. Instead, it's similar to renting a conference room in a hotel, where your system is given a subset of the larger set of resources. When it comes to restrictions of these type, Apple is generally more restrictive than Android, and the iOS system had to be designed differently than the legacy Cryonics Institute Android Check-In App.
We obtained "Critical Alert' entitlement status for this app in order to make these push notifications more reliable, as Apple is less likely to deliver regular notifications during periods of constrained system resources.
How it Stacks Up
The important dimensions of monitoring I've outlined previously are: speed, reliability, usability. All three factors need to come together in order to create a suitable system for cryonics monitoring.
We are inherently limited in the speed dimension any time we move away from biometrics such as heart rate and continuous measurement of motion, at least without significant compromise to usability.
However, the addition of 'Step Alerts' in the Cryonics Institute iOS Check-In App closes that gap, and significantly improves detection times over other options in the field without compromise to usability. The daytime alert delay averages at only 2 hours, and hits an overall delay of about 5hrs.
With a daytime average alert delay of only 2 hours, and 5 hours overall, using the Cryonics Institute iOS App with Step Alerts enabled could make a significant difference in preservation outcome.
Tips and How To
The app guides you through the setup process, enabling you to have it fully configured and running within minutes. Afterward, you can fine-tune your settings and explore the various features.
Additional tips and a detailed step-by-step walkthrough are provided below. Also, find a demo video of app onboarding in the Cryonics Institute 2024 AGM video at the bottom of the article.
Downloading the App
Onboarding Steps
1. You'll start by granting the app permissions to send you notifications and track location. These permissions are optional although recommended for optimal usability and outcomes.
2. Next you'll create a user profile. You will have to verify your phone number (entering a code that is texted to you) to continue.
3. Then you will have the option to add your contacts. You must tap "verify" to send your contacts an opt-in request, which confirms the number was entered correctly and that they agree to receive SMS from the app.
4. Lastly, you'll have the choice of setting an Exact Alarm or an Interval Alarm.
For Users With an Apple Watch
1. Check the apps on your watch to see if the CI app has already installed. If it hasn't yet, you will need to open the "Watch" app on your iPhone and tap 'Install'.
2. Open the CI iOS app on the watch. You will be prompted to sync the app with the phone to begin. Have your phone nearby in order for this to be successful.
Note: Occasionally the Apple Watch falsely identifies arm movement by itself as a 'step', adding steps to your step count. Therefore, if you wear an Apple Watch and don't receive a Step Alert after extended inactivity, this could be the reason why.
Adding the Cryonics Institute App Icon to the Watch Face
Future Features and Feedback
New features will be added to subsequent versions of this app.
You can reach out to the Cryonics Institute using the contact form at the bottom of the page here: https://cryonics.org/members/ci-check-in-app/ for any help, feature requests and general feedback you may have.
Lauren and I continue to work on this app as we plan for subsequent versions, additional features, and improvements to the legacy Android version.
