Check‑in Apps Monetize Loneliness

Apps that require periodic 'I'm alive' confirmations turn social vulnerability into a subscription product: users pay to have their absence converted into an alert and a reputational signal to an emergency contact. These services can help in real need but also create new surveillance vectors, false‑alert harms, stigma (naming/UX choices), and data‑monetization pathways that deserve regulation. — If unregulated, check‑in apps will normalize corporate mediation of basic welfare, create privacy and liability risks for solitary adults, and shift responsibility for community care onto paid platforms.