There’s a particular kind of worry that’s easy to dismiss because nothing has actually gone wrong. My father-in-law is active, healthy, and fiercely independent. He travels often, lives alone, and genuinely doesn’t need help. But he’s in his mid-70s, and our family is spread across the US — my side is in the UK. We’d sometimes go a week or two without connecting, not out of neglect, just life getting in the way. And quietly, in the background, the question would surface: what if something happened and nobody knew?
I’m Adam, the founder of CheckinBee. I live in Chicago with my wife, young daughter, and our dog. CheckinBee started as something I built for our family, and has since grown to serve independent seniors and their families all over the US.
Like many seniors, my father-in-law prides himself on his independence. He is very active, lives alone, and travels often. While this brings many benefits, it also brings the kind of low-level worry that’s fairly typical among families of someone who is aging alone. He’s in good health — but we still felt a quiet concern for his day-to-day safety and wellbeing.
We started searching for a solution. I’d heard about check-in services and wellness checks, so I did some research to see what was out there. There was no shortage of options — from automated calls at set intervals to someone visiting each day. The more I searched, the more I found. But there was always the same problem.
My father-in-law didn’t want to speak with someone checking on him each day. A service like that would make him feel dependent and monitored, when independence is something he genuinely values. One alternative could call each day with an automated message, but that required him to be near his phone at a specific time. With his frequent traveling, that wasn’t realistic. We wanted something more hands-off — a solution that let him keep his independence while giving the rest of us some peace of mind.
After an exhaustive and unsuccessful search, I decided to build something myself. With my background in web development, I knew I could create something more suitable for our family. I wanted a system that allowed simple daily check-ins without him feeling monitored or inconvenienced — and because he travels, it needed to work anywhere. That’s what led me to text messages. He’s comfortable with his phone, always has it with him, and a text doesn’t demand he be somewhere at a specific time the way a phone call does.
The system I built sends an automated text each day: “Hello, please check in before 11am. Reply with ‘yes’ or ‘okay’ to check in.” On his end, all he needs to do is reply with a simple “Yes.” There’s a response window built in for flexibility — if no reply comes through, an automatic message goes out to family members asking them to check in. After a few small tweaks, it worked well for all of us. Our family had the peace of mind that he was okay each day, and he was happy with something that asked so little of him. CheckinBee didn’t replace regular calls — it just quietly filled the gaps.
After hearing from others in similar situations, I wanted to make this available more widely. CheckinBee launched publicly in early 2023, and we now have users across the US, Canada, and UK.
Something I mean genuinely: I personally respond to every message we receive. As the main developer, I can act on feedback quickly — and I do. The people using CheckinBee aren’t abstract users to me. A lot of them are in exactly the situation we were in, and that matters.
If you’ve found your way here because you’re navigating something similar — a parent who’s doing fine but getting older, a family spread thin across different cities, a worry that doesn’t have a name yet — I hope CheckinBee can offer what it offered us. Not a solution to every problem, just a small, reliable signal each day that the person you love is okay.
If you have questions or just want to talk through whether CheckinBee is the right fit, feel free to reach out at adam@checkinbee.com. I’ll write back.
— Adam, CheckinBee Founder
