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Show HN: HumanAlarm – Real people knock on your door to wake you up

I built HumanAlarm because I'm a heavy sleeper who's missed important things despite multiple phone alarms.

It's exactly what it sounds like - you book a wake-up time, we send someone to knock on your door for 2 minutes. If you don't answer, they wait 3-5 minutes and knock again. Simple as that.

We're live in select cities.

Would love feedback on the concept and execution!

It’s a fun, niche solution, but I’d posit when you start looking into the minimum financial requirements to operate this business in a way that “guarantees” everyone’s safety and insures against worst case scenarios, this is not a viable business even at the smallest scale.

I’m not sure how things are in America, but in Australia you can be made personally liable (both small and large businesses) for things that go wrong in your company, especially when someone gets injured e.g. https://www.ohsrep.org.au/prosecutions_sn_699_connect

2 hours agoby ben-gy

What's the logic behind this? You are such a heavy sleeper that you miss an alarm from a clock or phone, but somehow you don't miss a door knock? Maybe you can change your alarm tone to a door knock or door bell if that's what gets you up in the morning.

2 hours agoby BrokenCogs

The first question I have with a site like this is "in what regions does this operate" and I'm always surprised if a site doesn't immediately answer it.

3 hours agoby stevage

Wouldn't a timed breakfast delivery be about the same price for the same effect -- and also bring me breakfast?

2 hours agoby serbuvlad

How are you preventing the service being used to terrorize people by impersonating them and ordering knocks at 5am?

3 hours agoby spidersenses

Interesting concept! Reminds me of the “knocker upper” of old. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocker-up

3 hours agoby rickcarlino

Railroad workers had that as a union-negotiated right until at least the 1970s.

3 hours agoby Animats

How do you ensure that the address I enter is actually mine and not the one of someone I want to wake up?

3 hours agoby FinnKuhn

I was curious, but your FAQ and Contact links do not work for me (Firefox & Chromium on desktop Linux).

3 hours agoby sudobash1

I've been thinking about something like this, except it was scheduled phonecalls. That'd probably scale easier too right? I'd use it for sure.

1 hour agoby Dilettante_

I might suggest adding a list of cities you're live in. Right now I think you just have to intuit which cities work based on the address autocomplete.

Cute idea though! I'd be curious to see what your user-facing application looks like when you have an alarm set. Do you provide some sort of proof that the "alarm went off"? Package services usually take a photo of the door/porch as proof, might be a good idea in case anyone tries to dispute a charge for "not being woken up" heh.

Like another sibling comment mentioned, yeah, abuse potential is there. Could consider a snail-mail-letter-with-a-code verification method for addresses, though that's obviously rather slow.

3 hours agoby graypegg

This is what I need. Waiting for plan in Japan.

43 minutes agoby ekusiadadus

You can always put automation for your google home to blast music at full volume at right time. And if you don't wake up from sound of music yourself, your neighbour will knock on your door for sure!

3 hours agoby prats226

Starting from $19? And I assume those are American dollars? Wouldn't it be more cost effective to buy a loud alarm clock and place it across the room? If I buy two and set their alarm time 3 minutes apart, aren't I effectively doing the same thing cheaper and with no risks?

I'm not trying to shit on your idea, but I don't understand the consumer value proposition.

2 hours agoby averageRoyalty