With the increase in actions and movements from ICE and the Trump administration, it has become a daily occurrence to hear about more and more people being unjustly apprehended. While most people either stay silent or take part in large-scale protests, one Redditor from Los Angeles, California, decided to take things a step further. Fed up with stories of families being torn apart and innocent people being detained, a Reddit user known as Vesudeva developed Firewatch, a free civil rights protection app aimed at helping communities under threat.
“I can’t sit on the sidelines anymore watching what’s happening to innocent people in our communities,” Vesudeva wrote in a viral Reddit post. “The stories coming out of LA, Chicago, and everywhere else are absolutely heartbreaking.”
The Firewatch app provides real-time ICE raid alerts powered by community reports, Know Your Rights education in multiple languages, secure documentation tools with legal-grade chain of custody, and emergency features such as panic buttons, legal hotlines, and family notifications. Most importantly, it is completely private. There is no account system, no tracking, and all data stays on the user’s device.
Los Angeles has become a focal point for Vesudeva, who specifically mentioned the city three times when emphasizing the urgent need for tools like Firewatch. The app is designed to remain accessible even during internet outages, as it works offline when installed as a Progressive Web App through Chrome.
“There’s no catch,” Vesudeva said. “I built this because everyone deserves constitutional protection, no matter their documentation status. The 4th Amendment doesn’t say ‘only for some people.’”
Redditor Vesudeva shared that they spent several sleepless nights working on the Firewatch app. Still, they said it was worth it. “If this helps even one family stay safe or know their rights, it was worth every sleepless night coding it.” They also encouraged others to share the app with anyone who might need it and added, “If you have feedback or want to help translate into more languages, hit me up.”
Many Reddit users praised Vesudeva for taking the initiative and building Firewatch. However, some raised questions about the app’s use of Gemini. One user wrote, “Curious about the use of Gemini in this, and I’m aware that the model can be run offline. As we saw with Grok lately, models aren’t neutral. I guess I’m not seeing the feature that genAI is improving.”
Another commenter appreciated the effort behind Firewatch but pointed out that similar apps already exist. They wrote, “This new app looks great, but is it too late to move people over from the other apps already in use? Now, if this new app cross-reported to the other apps and incorporated their reports, that’d be the ultimate app.”
