The story behind BuddySOS
BuddySOS is built by Kingbird Solutions LLC, a US-based company focused on real-time safety tools for the moments when standard messaging apps are not enough.
Why we built BuddySOS
BuddySOS started from a simple, frustrating observation: at every large festival in the United States, somebody in every group gets separated, loses signal, runs out of battery, or has a moment that needs help — and the apps everyone already has on their phone fail in exactly those moments.
We built BuddySOS from the ground up for that environment. Lightweight data packets that push through congested cell networks. A one-tap SOS that keeps broadcasting after the screen locks. A live group map that handles dense pin clusters at festival ground scale. A chat that works when iMessage and SMS are stalling.
The app launched on iOS and Android, has been downloaded over 5,800 times, has a 5.0★ average App Store rating, and is used by 10,000+ active groups across 90+ countries — with a clear focus on the US festival, event, and nightlife communities where the problem is most acute.
Chris King, Founder
Chris founded BuddySOS after seeing the safety gap at large US festivals and events firsthand. He leads product, partnerships, and works directly with event organisers who deploy BuddySOS to their staff teams.
Contact: chris@kingbirdsolutions.com · Kingbird Solutions LLC
What we care about
Privacy by default
Your location is shared only with people you have explicitly added to a group. No public tracking, no background sharing outside groups, no selling data to third parties.
Works when it has to
Every engineering decision is benchmarked against the worst-case festival environment — overloaded cell towers, low-battery phones, low-light maps, one-handed operation.
US-first, globally available
We focus deeply on the US festival, event, and nightlife communities while keeping the app fully usable in 90+ countries.