Individual ownership
Each person chooses their Backer, their Back By time, their Grace Period, and what goes in the note. The organization does not own their Plan.
For guides, clubs & outdoor programs
Teach the habit. Keep the plan with the person who made it.
BackBy is being shaped with guiding companies, hiking and climbing clubs, university outdoor programs, river outfitters, and SAR volunteer outreach. The goal is a trip-plan habit you can teach without a roster of who is on which trip and without an organizer dashboard. BackBy is a development preview. It is not a rescue service and not a tracker.
- No roster of who is on which trip
- No organizer dashboard
Where BackBy fits
A habit next to your trip-plan form, not a new system to run.
Guide, club, or program
Teaches the habit
Planner
Owns the Plan
Trusted Backer
Follows the note
No roster or Plan data returns to an organizer dashboard
No program-wide roster
BackBy does not create a central list of who is on which trip or who backs whom. Connections live with the people involved.
Calm response language for Backers
Backers learn when to wait, when to send an ordinary message, and when to follow the steps in the note, including which non-emergency number to call first.
Complements your form and your beacons
BackBy does not replace your trip-plan form, your permit, a personal locator beacon, or a satellite messenger. It gives one person in town a time, a sealed note, and a clear next step.
Useful without taking ownership
Give people a habit, a private way in, and the right numbers.
Teach it at the pre-trip meeting
Introduce BackBy at the pre-trip meeting, the skills course, or the club orientation. Use fictional practice Plans so everyone learns both roles.
Put it where people plan
Offer a poster or QR code at the trailhead board, the gear shop counter, or the club page. People can learn more and set up privately, without joining a roster.
Publish the numbers that belong in a note
Keep a public list of the local SAR and ranger non-emergency numbers for the areas you cover. Each person decides whether to put any of them in their own note.
Ready-to-run trainingRun a 10-minute pre-trip briefing View the five steps
Practice only during development
Use fictional trips and harmless details. Do not enter real personal information or rely on BackBy for a real trip while it remains a development preview.
Create one fictional Plan
Pick a made-up day trip. Set a Back By time for today and a Grace Period of an hour or two.
Choose a trusted Backer
Select one to three practice partners and privately share the fictional Plan by QR code or recovery words.
Write a fictional Emergency Only note
Practice a trip plan: route and turnaround, trailhead and vehicle, companions, and a made-up non-emergency number. No real details.
Walk through the status sequence
Have Backers open the app and practice Scheduled → Grace Period → Needs Attention.
Reset and rehearse the response
Complete or reset the exercise, then practice the first call and review what BackBy does not do: no tracking, no messages from the server, no rescue.
Fictional prompts
- Day hike: “If this test Plan needs attention, send an ordinary message first. The note tells you what comes next.”
- Ski tour: “Practice finding the partner’s number and the lot where the car is parked.”
- River trip: “Practice a Back By three days out with a Grace Period of a full day. Who calls the river ranger, and when?”
A responsible pilot
Test the habit before anyone depends on the technology.
- 01
Map the response
Define who messages, who calls, what Needs Attention means for your trips, and when SAR or a ranger enters. Write it in plain words people can copy into a note.
- 02
Practice with fictional trips
Use training scenarios only. Every participant practices I'm safe, Add time, and responding to a missed test Plan.
- 03
Review privacy together
Explain what is stored, when the note opens, the optional pin and its map risk, device risk, and what BackBy cannot do.
- 04
Gate real use
Do not move to real trips until every public-release blocker is closed and your own reviewers approve the deployed setup.
The boundary
What a guide, club, or program should never be asked to do.
- Do not build a shadow rosterDo not copy who is on which trip, their Backers, legal names, or Plan details into a shared spreadsheet or dashboard.
- Do not promise a response or rescueBackBy supports a habit; it does not guarantee a search, a rescue, or contact with authorities. It is not a beacon and not a satellite messenger.
- Do not pilot under real riskDevelopment access is for training and feedback until the readiness checklist is complete.
Bring your field knowledge to the design.
We want feedback from the people who already run trip plans, know what happens after someone is overdue, and understand where a tool can make things worse.
Email hello@backby.date