Wildlife
Animals and insects that can bite, sting, charge, transmit disease, or otherwise injure people.
Know before you go™
The hazards are already out there. Now you can see them.
What Can Kill Me is a hazard map for hikers, campers, drivers, boaters, beachgoers, families and outdoor workers. The reports come from people who were just there. The warnings come from the National Weather Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the National Park Service, NASA, regional avalanche centers, and more. All sit on the same map.
- See what other people reported at your destination, with a photo, a severity and the day it was filed.
- Read live National Weather Service, wildfire, earthquake, avalanche and national park warnings in the same view.
- Get sourced first aid for 35 hazards — what to do, and what not to do.
- Save an area and its hazards to your phone before you lose signal.
- Tell the people who would come looking that you are safe, using your own Messages app.
8Hazard families
213Specific hazards
6Live public data feeds
35Hazards with first aid
Simple by design
How it works
Five steps, none of which require you to understand a data feed, a coordinate system, or anything technical.
1. Open the map
Start where you are, or move the map anywhere you are headed.
2. See what is there
User reports and live agency warnings, side by side, with distance.
3. Know what to do
Tap a hazard for sourced guidance, where guidance exists.
4. Report what you find
From a safe distance, or later from memory by pointing on the map.
5. Save it offline
A Trip Pack keeps the area on your phone for where there is no signal.
One safety view
Eight hazard families
Every hazard in the app belongs to a family, a subcategory and a specific hazard. That is what lets you filter the map, and what keeps a report from one person legible to everyone else.
Weather
Storms, lightning, extreme temperatures, snow, ice, wind, and rapidly changing conditions.
Fire
Wildfires, prescribed burns, smoke, evacuation zones, and dangerous fire conditions.
Water
Flooding, currents, cold water, surf, thin ice, and unsafe drinking water.
Terrain
Cliffs, unstable ground, rockfall, avalanches, landslides, trail damage, and low visibility.
People
Threatening behavior, unsafe crowds, road rage, and areas people are telling each other to avoid.
Infrastructure
Road closures, washouts, bridge damage, power lines, utilities, construction, and structural failures.
Plant
Poisonous plants, toxic mushrooms, thorns, irritants, spores, and other botanical hazards.
Designed for real decisions
More than pins on a map
Live public data
National Weather Service alerts, NASA FIRMS satellite fire detections, National Park Service closures, USGS earthquakes and stream gauges, avalanche forecasts, and iNaturalist observations.
What to do about it
Sourced guidance for 35 hazards, drawn from the National Park Service, CDC, Red Cross and state agencies: what to do before, what to do if it happens, and what not to do.
Photo reports
A photo, a severity and the time it was filed. Location and camera metadata are stripped from the photo before it is stored.
Community confirmation
Other people confirm a hazard is still there. Nothing is expert-verified, nothing is official, and the app says so plainly rather than implying otherwise.
Alert Places
A circle around a trailhead, a campsite or home. New reports filed inside it are waiting the next time you open the app.
Trip Packs
Save an area’s hazards and its agency phone numbers to your phone before you head somewhere with no service.
Inside the app
What it actually looks like
Screens from the build that is going to the App Store — not mockups.
Early prototype
Try the browser demo
This is the concept prototype the project started from. It runs on sample data, uses an older design, and shows several ideas that did not make the shipping app — a pre-trip scan, expert-verified reports, geofenced alerts and a risk score among them. What is and is not real in it. It is not the iPhone app, and it is not an emergency service.
What a report looks like
A photo says what a pin cannot
These are project photographs, shown to illustrate how a picture helps someone recognize a condition before they walk into it.
Rattlesnake on Trail
Keep a safe distance and allow the animal an escape route.
Wildfire Near Homes
Active flames and smoke near structures require immediate official guidance.
Flooded Roadway
Never drive through floodwater; the road surface may be gone underneath it.
Snow and Ice-Covered Road
Reduced traction and visibility may make the route unsafe.
Dangerous Surf and Rocks
Breaking waves and sharp rocks create a serious injury risk.
Road Collapse / Washout
Roadway failure and exposed utilities require closure and professional response.
For organizations
Where this is headed
None of this exists in version 1.0. The app that ships is for individuals. These are the partnerships the platform is being built toward, and the conversations worth starting now — if one of these is you, get in touch.
Parks and land managers
Closures, wildlife encounters, trail damage, fire risk and changing access conditions, reaching visitors who are already looking at a map.
Tourism and destinations
Helping visitors understand local hazards, seasonal risks and what to bring, before they arrive rather than after.
Emergency and public agencies
Wider reach for warnings that are already public, with community reports kept visibly separate from official ones.
Schools and outdoor programs
Trip planning, safety education and hazard awareness for groups going somewhere unfamiliar.
Nonprofits and volunteer groups
Field observations from people already out there, and preparation support for communities facing environmental hazards.
Travel and outdoor businesses
Destination awareness folded into customer preparation, guided activities and duty-of-care planning.
The road ahead
What Can Kill Me is coming to the App Store.
The iPhone app is built, tested and in submission. It launches in the United States, for adults, and the whole safety app is free: every report, every live feed, check-ins, offline caching, reporting and confirming. An optional Premium membership adds unlimited Trip Packs and Alert Places, bigger alert circles and per-place hazard filters. No advertising on either plan, no analytics or tracking, and nothing about you sold to anybody.
Early access
Join the list and you will hear the day it goes live, along with what changed between the prototype on this page and the app that shipped.
Founder story
Built from a lifetime outdoors
Founder Michael Harlow is an author, filmmaker, PADI Scuba Divemaster, USCG 100 Ton Master with Sailing Endorsement, naturalist, educator, and founder of The Adventure Travelers.
Years spent hiking, sailing, diving, traveling, teaching and documenting wildlife kept surfacing the same problem: you can compare restaurants in seconds, but the practical local knowledge about what will hurt you is scattered across a trail comment, a government page, a neighborhood post, and a sign you only read once you are already standing at the beach.
USCG CaptainPADI DivemasterFilmmakerAuthorNaturalistOutdoor educator
Read the full story
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is What Can Kill Me in the App Store yet?
Not quite. The iPhone app is finished and in submission with Apple. Join early access and you will hear the day it goes live.
Are reports official emergency warnings?
No. Reports come from other users and are unverified. Official agencies and emergency services remain the authority, and the app is built to complement them, not replace them.
Does it send me notifications?
No. The app has no push notifications at all. Alert Places collect new reports inside the areas you saved, and you see them the next time you open the app.
Does it work without a signal?
Save a Trip Pack before you go and the area’s hazards, map tiles and agency phone numbers stay on your phone. A report you file offline sends itself when you are back in range.