A checklist answers someone else's question
Most emergency preparation starts with a checklist: so many bottles of water, so many packs of dry food, a flashlight, a power bank, a first-aid kit. Checklists are useful. They answer the question "what do households usually keep?"
They leave two other questions open: what is your household still missing? And once you have it all, who remembers when it is running low?
The two new things in Lâi-Sûn READY answer one question each.
First: ask about the household, then do the arithmetic
The first time you open Lâi-Sûn READY now, it asks two things:
- Who lives here? Adults, elders, children and pets, each with a counter.
- How many days do you want to be ready for? 3, 7 or 14. Seven days is the official home-stockpile benchmark; three days is a first milestone.
From that it works out the drinking water, staple meals and phone backup power this household needs. Daily water for adults and elders is a setting you can change; children count as 2 litres a day and pets as 1 litre a day, which are reference estimates rather than official figures, and the app labels them that way. Pets count toward water only; the meals step says directly that pet food is not included.
The "Guide Me" tab then turns what is missing into one step at a time, starting with the step with the lowest coverage. Under the readiness figure there is a line such as "Calculated for 2 adults, 1 child, 1 pet over 7 days", so when the household changes, the assumption is right there next to the number, one tap away from being corrected.
Second: after the first shop, look after what comes next
The hard part of keeping supplies is rarely buying them the first time. It is everything after: how much rice is left, when to buy toilet paper, how long it has been since the water filter was changed.
Our view is that rather than maintaining a separate stash that only exists for emergencies, the things you use every day should themselves be looked after. If the rice, water and toilet paper at home never quite run out, the days without water or power are already partly covered.
That is what "Daily supplies" is for. It does three things: track, check, remind.
Track: pick one method
Anything in your inventory can be tracked, or you can use "Add from common supplies": coffee beans, rice, milk, household cleaner, laundry detergent, toilet paper, water-filter cartridges, diapers. Pick one, enter how much you have, and it starts.
There are only two tracking methods:
- Gets used up gradually (rice, coffee beans, toilet paper): enter how many days one unit usually lasts, for example about 20 days for a bag of rice.
- Regular replacement (filter cartridges, toothbrush heads): enter the days between replacements and when you last replaced it.
Check: record what is actually there
Each item has four buttons: "Check amount", "Restock", "Used it up" and "Replaced".
A check asks one question: how much is actually left now? Count the unopened units; for the one already open, choose 0.25, 0.5 or 0.75 rather than weighing anything. When you restock, enter what was left before restocking and then what you bought, and optionally the earliest expiry date. If something is finished, "Used it up" records the quantity as 0; the item stays, ready for the next restock.
Remind: nothing to remember, it is there when you open the app
You do not have to keep track of dates. Lâi-Sûn READY works out how long each item will last from your records and lines up what needs attention on the "Daily supplies" card on the home screen:
- "Rice: expected to run out in about 5 days"
- "Water-filter cartridge: due for replacement in 3 days"
- "Coffee beans: expected to run out today"
- "Filter: past its replacement date"
By default an item appears 7 days before it runs out or is due, and you can change that per item. The inventory tab can also filter to Daily supplies so you can see all of them at once.
One thing we say plainly: it does not send push notifications. Reminders appear on the home screen when you open the app. We would rather you see what needs doing the moment you look than be interrupted while you are busy.
Estimate: better with use, and honest when it is not sure
"About N days left" starts from what you entered for how long one unit lasts. Once you have checked the amount a few times and your records span more than a week, it switches to the rate your household actually uses things: if a bag of rice lasts your family twelve days, it counts twelve, not what the packet suggests.
It also does not pretend to know. If a count is old, it says so ("last checked 50 days ago; the quantity may be inaccurate") and asks you to check again; if it has been a while and two checks in a row show no decrease, it asks whether you are still using it. When an estimate reaches zero it says "estimated to be used up. Check the actual amount." rather than declaring it gone.
Expiry dates follow the same idea: expired, within 30 days, and within 31 to 90 days, with the three most urgent items on the home screen. Once a month it reminds you to walk through the list, and the date is recorded only when you mark the check done.
Also: your travel bag is half an emergency kit
Trips and big shopping runs use lists too. In the travel and lifestyle lists, each item can be marked durable or consumable. When you get back, end the trip from the list: durables go back in place, you enter what is left of each consumable, and what you used comes straight off your inventory.
If an item is not in your inventory, it is skipped and listed. If two inventory entries share the name and it cannot tell which one to deduct from, it stops and explains why, and you can choose "Skip deduction this time" or tidy up your inventory, rather than have it guess.
What it is and what it is not
Lâi-Sûn READY is free and needs no account; your data stays on your phone. Once added to your home screen it opens and records without a connection. Sharing a list with family creates a short link, and only then does the list content pass through a third-party URL shortener; maps and share links also need a connection.
It will not pick brands for you and it will not try to scare you with numbers. It does something simpler: work out who your household is and how long you want to be ready for, help you fill the gaps one step at a time, and then, day to day, keep an eye on the things that are about to run out.
It runs in a browser, and it can also be an app
Lâi-Sûn READY is not downloaded from the App Store or Play Store. It is a web page, but you can add it to your home screen and then open it from an icon like any other app, instead of looking up the address each time. This is called a PWA (progressive web app), and current iPhones and Android phones both support it.
- iPhone: open it in Safari, tap the Share button (the square with an up arrow), choose "Add to Home Screen", then tap "Add". You then have to open the new icon once for the install to finish.
- Android or desktop: open it in Chrome or Edge and choose "Install app" or "Add to Home Screen" from the browser menu.
One easy trap: if you tap the link inside LINE, Facebook or Instagram, you are in that app's built-in browser. There is no "Add to Home Screen" there, and anything you enter will not carry over to the browser version. Use "…" or "Open with" to switch to Safari (Chrome on Android) first, then follow the steps above. The app also warns you about this and walks you through it at the "Add to Home Screen" step.
Start by telling it who lives with you.